Harvest is… Done!

Well, summer’s bounty has come (mostly) to an end now and I am starting to draw back inside and begin my winter hibernation.

The only things still (sort of) producing in my yard are my beans (they are still giving a meal’s worth every few days) and my tomatoes.  The tomatoes, though, need to be pulled (very soon – it is the middle of October here and Jack Frost will not be very far away now) and hung somewhere dry in order to let them ripen on the vine in as much as I will be able to let them.  I really don’t want to lose what is still left on the plant – I have had such an amazing crop from it this year!

The rest of the yard is starting to die back, and the leaves are now starting to fall from my pear, apple and lilac trees. At this point in the season I’m trying to decide “what next.”

“What Next” thoughts include removal of the pear tree.  When all is said and done, I really do like pears, I don’t *love” them – and I have a small yard – which means that I either need to love it or cull it. This will mean cutting it down and then digging out the root ball.  Then I will need to over-seed the bare area with grass seed in order to get it to hopefully take root before the real killing frosts start – all in hopes that I don’t have mass areas of mud in the back yard for Jasmine to have fun in….

The other “what next” thoughts include digging out the aromatic evergreen at the end of my patio (right beside my Japanese Maple) and building another raised bed there.  Oh… and also filling in the pond and flattening the hump beside it. 

Ok – I will just have to admit to myself, and accept, that patches of my back yard are destined to be doggie mud pen areas this coming winter and spring.

The inside projects for the winter will include some more work on my kitchen, some painting and shelf building in my bathroom and maybe, if I can figure out how to do it, some closet reconstruction in the bedrooms… I’m pretty well decided that I will be (eventually) having proper stairs built from the front bedroom into the attic – thus opening up the entire attic space to make it into living space, (well, once dormers and electricity and possibly plumbing have been run upstairs) and what is now the front bedroom will become a small office – I mean properly an office.

Anyhow, this winter’s projects will NOT include stair installation…

For this weekend, though, or rather the one day left of it to me at present, I am going to spend it relaxing and enjoying the rainy days we are having.

With love across the waters…