A friend and neighbour has been poking me to write a post on gardening as I always have ideas to share on how to grow some veggies, ways to save time from endless watering & weeding, etc. Well alot of those ideas come from West Coast Seeds’ newsletter, a wealth of information and a great year round resource for all things gardening. Sign up for the newsletter especially if you’re thinking about growing a few veggies to harvest this winter. I’ve got some carrots and winter kale started and I’m going to get some salad greens going soon. Seriously, you can’t kill kale! I grow it and freeze it for smoothies.
To help streamline fall clean up around the garden, over the past few weekends I’ve been “editing” both my garden beds as well as outdoor decor including endless pots of plants. Parting with perennials has been liberating – things were getting overgrown. I literally pulled everything out in one bed, posted it on Varage and freely blessed it forward! I also cleared the clutter of potted marigolds and patio decor including a massive Hibiscus that I no longer had room in my house to overwinter. That idea spilled into giving away a bunch of houseplants to narrow to a few favourites. Again to make room for plants I’ll need to bring in to the house soon like my rose and lemon scented geraniums. Now when I walk around the garden, it feels more open and tidy ~ a few new ideas are flowing already!
While not a Tick off the List service, with fall quickly approaching, I’ll share my To Do list that might kick start things for you;
- Harvest seeds ~ sweet peas, snap peas, tall marigolds, zinnias as well as other plants around the garden that have gone to seed.
- Harvest remaining veggies and kale for the freezer, dehydrator, sauces, vinegars, etc.
- Clean up pots and check for damage before stacking them away for winter.
- Clean and organize the greenhouse.
- Clean up garden tools; sweep out & organize the garden shed.
- Start a list of plants to divide and transplant later in the fall.
- Clean up garden beds, weed tree drip lines and mulch tender plants & trees before the first frost.
Come winter, there will be plenty of time to update my Gardener’s Logbook, plan veggie beds for next spring, and make a list of what not to do to keep things simple and easy to manage next year! I’ll be sure to post about that too! For now I’m going to soak up the rest of this summer and get my To Do List done and dusted!
Do you have projects around the home or tasks that are keeping you from doing something you love to do? Maybe I can help! I offer 30 minute consultations and perhaps you just need a few hours of my time to get to the finish line. What a feeling it is to tick off your To Do List!
~ Niki | niki@tickoffthelist.ca