Three Days To Go

We're getting down to the wire here.  Over half my packing is done.  Everything is done for my two conferences except the sandwiches for Thursday.  Even the cheesecake is done except for the blueberry topping which won't go on until Thursday morning.


I actually spent the afternoon in the garden.  Terry helped me put two vegetable bed frames in place and put four bags of black earth/compost/cow manure in each.  I planted the garlic.  I had saved two bulbs each of Music and Northern Quebec from what I planted last year and at the Perth Garlic Festival, I bought Polish Jenn, Georgia Crystal, and German Red.  They all (the cloves from each bulb, that is) got planted in one bed.  In the other bed, I planted 2 cloves (not bulbs) of Elephant Garlic.  I ran out of room for it last fall, so I was actually using it for cooking.  Two cloves were left, and seemed viable, so I thought I'd give them a try.  The remainder of the bed was divided in half and I planted four kinds of leaf lettuce in one half and cylindra beets in the other half.  It's a bit of an experiment.  I tried planting a few beet seeds in the winter sowing boxes last January and they actually sprouted and grew, so I thought I'd skip the transplanting part and just sow the seeds directly in the garden.  As for the leaf lettuce, I had some self-seed in the garden last year, so I'm thinking I can do it deliberately.  It will be interesting to try anyway.  


Almost all of the indoor/outdoor plants are in the house now.  It's all a jumble and I've a bit of organizing to do when we get back, but hopefully everything will still be alive at that point.

David Austin Rose 'Evelyn'

A Red Rudbeckia

It's sad to see the growing season end.  What with our cold wet spring and cold wet fall, it seems we've had so little time for gardening.  Optimistically speaking, next year is bound to be better!