Today was another summer day in October. I’m feeling quite a bit better so was happy to be out helping with some outdoor tasks that still needed doing. Husband and I shifted a big pile of rails and posts. Murphy did his best to be in the way or finding little hidey holes amongst the rails so we had to extricate him before we could pile more on.
Much was burned in the burn barrel. When son joined to help, the small chainsaw was used to do some trimming and cutting up of limbs that had come down over the past few months. Husband can get a little “Clark Griswold” when he gets a chainsaw in his hands so I was a bit nervous of what was being trimmed next.
I decided to do something that I was meaning to do, then didn’t, and now decided I had the time and the weather was perfect. I have enjoyed being able to pop out in the backyard to my vegetable garden to get snippets of herbs that I planted this spring. I know most of those herbs likely won’t survive the winter, so I dug some out and searched around for pots and crocks I could transplant them into. I just used garden soil. If they survive, then I’ll have fresh basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, thyme, and flat leaf parsley to use through the winter.
I filled up the bird feeders and put out a suet block, too.
Husband did the final (likely) lawn mowing, mulching up the leaves. I often rake up our leaves, but that wasn’t going to happen this year. Again, I freed myself from the “ should” and realized the world will not end if the leaves aren’t raked. The same with my vast amount of perennials that aren’t going to get cut back and piled behind the old apple tree to break down over the next year.
Do you bring your herbs indoors to use through the winter months? Do you rake or just “leave” them?
I've tried over the years (quite unsuccessfully) to bring herbs inside so I can use them fresh over the winter months. I guess I just don't have the proper window in which to put them where they'll be happy. We never rake leaves. First of all, there are no neighbors to see what they might consider a messy yard and secondly, they provide wonderful natural fertilizer for the soil. Why go to the time and effort to rake them up when they disappear and are no longer in evidence come spring time? (I might not want to add leaf raking to my fall list either.) ;o)
ReplyDeleteThe fall clean up list is long enough already isn’t it?
DeleteI brought in my basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, and Rosemary. I usually lose everything around February except for the parsley. I've had great luck with parsley. Someday I will get a grow light. Until then I will limp a long.
ReplyDeleteI have pretty deep window sills in my kitchen so I’m hoping they’ll do ok. Good to hear your parsley does well.
ReplyDeleteMy thyme and oregano are perennial, so I just clip a bunch, wash and spread to dry. I bring in the basil and parsley, but they eventually die off. I try to keep the good bits until they are a lost cause.
ReplyDeleteNow you’ve got me wondering if my thyme and oregano will be perennial. It’s been perhaps 20 years since I’ve grown them in my garden. I remember chives coming back. I hope the others do, too, but I’m quite sure the basil won’t.
DeleteMy thyme and oregano are many years old. They're in pots and here are left in the garden of course. It can snow now and again but they don't mind. Mint disappears in winter but reappears all by itself in spring. Chives are perennial but parsley and basil eventually die out and have to be replaced yearly.
ReplyDeleteMint is one thing I didn't want to plant, as it runs rampant. I suppose in a pot it would be ok, but I don't really use mint in anything.
DeleteLike many people in Maine, we live surrounded by woods. With six inches of leaves on the lawn, it really isn't practical not to rake. We do need a perimeter between us and the ticks, mice, voles, rats, squirrels and chipmunks that all thrive in leaf litter.
ReplyDeleteI imagine raking would be a bit ridiculous for you!
DeleteBeing outside is certainly part of your healing. I chuckled at your comment about your husband & the chain saw ... boys with toys! I only grow Rosemary & Basil & I've brought both in to try to over winter & I know both are safe for kitties. My two fur girls love to chew on plants, which is making the Basil look really sad at the moment. ... Mary-Lou =^[..]^=
ReplyDeleteOur two are indoor / outdoor cats, so I guess they get enough chewing on plants when they are outside.
DeleteI have read a lot of information about leaving your leaves on your lawn. Husband blew some of them onto my little veggie garden for mulch for my garlic this winter.
ReplyDeleteI did not dig up herbs this year not sure why.
my perennial beds I clean in the spring
Cathy
The one year that I purposefully covered my vegetable garden with leaves, I ended up with hundreds (thousands?) of tiny seedlings of the Manitoba maples that grow along one edge of our property, so I don't do that now.
DeleteI go over the leaves with the lawn tractor. Once the leaves are mowed over they do not move (blow around). I leave the mowed leaves in place and they decompose over the winter and add to the soil. For my driveway, I mow the leaves with the lawn sweeper attached to the John Deere. I dump all these leaves in to the compost pile. I'll need to mow once or twice more as my Beech, Dogwoods, Magnolias and Oak trees are still dropping leaves. I've had no success over wintering herbs in the house.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, well, I shall see in the coming weeks if I am successful with mine.
DeleteLovely post. So glad you are feeling better, and can get out and enjoy this amazing weather we've been having. The bit about Murphy brought back memories of my young feral cat who became inseparable from me, playing among the garden rows, jumping out and batting me as I worked.
ReplyDeleteI bring in basil, and once it gets leggy, I cut, re-root and re-pot it. It keeps going nicely that way. The oregano, chives, mint, sage and thyme are perennial. I've never had luck with rosemary indoors. All of the above, plus parsley are dried on a yearly basis. I collect the leaves needed for next year's mulch, and the wind looks after the rest of them. Perennials are left until spring, as homes for overwintering insects and for frost protection of the roots.
That's sweet, that a little homeless cat played with you!
DeleteYour garden will be happy with the leaves left on the ground and the perenials left intact, so will the insects. I cut things back in the spring and as for the leaves, I just pull them onto my garden beds.
ReplyDeleteI think for me, I just always found it so much nicer in the spring to see the perennials waking up and not worrying about damaging the daffodils, crocuses, and new sprouts of the perennials when I was trying to clean up in the spring. I have pretty extensive beds and would end up stepping on new growth. But yes, the overwintering insects will have a home for sure.
ReplyDeleteIf we could manage to keep herbs alive in the summer months, I would certainly bring them, but we never do -- and have given up. My hubby has been busy getting the yard ready for winter too, although he isn't the one who will be driving the mower to mulch up all these acres of leaves in the next couple of weeks. Good for you for moderating the "shoulds" with a healthy does of "want tos" and "cans." Glad to hear your healing is progressing. Take good care.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear you're feeling some better. This fall's weather has been so nice.
ReplyDeleteI do not bring in herbs, but this year I've brought in coleus and ivy slips with mixed success so far. The one coleus I hoped to keep growing died on me, the other two are struggling but still hanging in there. But it appears my ivies are going to make it.
I tend to leave the leaves in the back yard. In the front the wind tends to blow them over to the neighbours and beyond. I'm okay with that. :)
Hello! I don't bring herbs in - I need it to stop raining so we can cut the final cut. It's like a quagmire right now. ugh. You sound like you've had a few good days weather like here.
ReplyDeleteIt was nice to read about your outdoor activities, so fitting for the time of year. We don't rake leaves anymore either, just blow them into the flowerbeds. I don't bring in herbs although your pots are so pretty I am tempted! Oregano, parsley, chives and thyme are hardy here, but I usually lose rosemary, daggonebit. It's one of my very favorite herbs, especially with venison.
ReplyDeleteSee, this is the joy of being a non-gardening apartment dweller. I never have to do any of those tasks!
ReplyDeleteNot so cold here, the herbs generally survive. I do bring in some and dry them for winter use.
ReplyDeleteIf I had my way my perennial garden would not be cut back until the spring (or at least after the last frost). I don't bring my herbs in as I have nowhere to put them, but I have enough dehydrated to see us through the winter and spring.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
We are surrounded by evergreens here in the Pacific Northwest so I never have enough leaves to create a decent pile or use for mulch. I miss all the Fall colours too. I grow mint, peppermint and chocolate, in pots where they thrive. A good thing because I enjoy freshly made mint tea. Happy to hear you are able to enjoy your garden.
ReplyDeleteWe've been lucky with some amazing weather. I'll take it for as long as it's around. We spread the leaves around and mulch them with the lawn mower. Good for the lawn! We don't have as many leaves to deal with as we used to when we were living in Kingston, so it's a pretty quick job. I cut back some of the plants and others I just left as is. I find that dealing with most of them in the spring is a little easier.
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you for bringing those thriving herbs in for the winter. I'd have a hard time watching them slowly die out in the cold. Last year, I had my husband help me carry in my window boxes to store in the basement for the winter. I couldn't bear to watch all my wines and geraniums die. I put a grow light over them and they actually did quite well. The gnats flourished in the soil unfortunately but at least they only hung out in the basement and never made it upstairs to my indoor plants.
ReplyDeleteI just leave 'em. If they're perennial and can't survive a South Carolina winter, I don't need such puny plants in my garden anyhow! And if they're annuals, I don't bother to save something that I can restart from seed in March. I had SO MUCH basil this year and aside from a few garnishes and chopping a little to top spaghetti, I didn't use any of it.
ReplyDeleteRick mows over the leaves, which mulches them and leaves them there. Herbs -- If they are already in pots (namely, the rosemary) I bring it in -- it eventually dies but I try. The thyme and sage seem to go till we get too much snow over them but I do cut them back a lot and bring that in to dry!
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in Chicago I had a herb garden outside the backdoor to the kitchen. I have a vague memory of hauling in the rosemary bush but everything else stayed out of doors.
ReplyDelete