Hanging In There

It is Sunday night. We are half heartedly enduring the Denver Broncos as they play arch rivals, the Oakland Raiders. It is not a pretty game; thus, I am writing this post and probably one for the dollhouse blog, too.

Are you having a hard time recognizing that the first week of November is coming to an end? Really? Where does the time go? Here the weather has us fooled into thinking that it is late summer or early fall, not edging closer to winter. The high today was 70 degrees F, mild and dry. Very dry. In fact we haven't had any measurable moisture since the end of July, so now the "D" word is being slung around by the weather people: "D" for drought. We could either be in for a long dry winter, undoing all of the benefits of wet spring we had or we could have one heck of blizzard--sometime. While we love this mild climate, such weather is not healthy for the garden.

The Head Gardener has finished his farming duties, now he can get back to gardening with me. I still have my basket of daffodil bulbs to plant and the tulips that we dug up last summer when we planted the bushes that replaced the dead crab apple trees.

I had the HG dig large holes where I  planted multiple bulbs to make the chore go a bit more quickly.

This space in the center circle on the west side has little planted there, so I wanted the daffodils staggered in clumps. I think they will be very pretty next spring.

That's Boone. He's helping. He celebrated his 3rd birthday October 31st. Actually he was at the boarding kennel, so when we got him home we celebrated. No stuffed animals for he destroys them in the first 5 minutes. He loved his treats that I brought home for him.

Meanwhile, back in the garden: container of daffodils--we made a dent-- and a pile of tulips. I hate for them to go waste, so we will plant as many as we can find space for.

This clumpy, cloddy soil, however, hindered our progress and took away our enthusiasm because the ground was so hard to dig. The HG dug the holes, while I place the bulbs where I wanted them and then tried to back fill with hard, dry dirt clods that were so hard they wouldn't break apart and with my old, weak hands with a bit of arthritis, I gave up trying to break the clods; instead, I just scooped them on top of bulbs. The HG said rain or snow will break them up and dissolve them. Sure. We just need some moisture. 

 Look at what we have here, petunias too tough to die, hanging in there while the mild weather lasts. I haven't watered these pots in weeks, thinking that a killing frost would take the plants any night, but look at these little beauties. (Yes, that is a snow shovel in the back ground. Wishful thinking.) I will be planting a lot of bulbs in containers this week. I got my pots gathered and may buy a couple more. I will fill them with beautiful daffodils to set out around the front porch and the back pergola. 

 So that is how it goes at the Garden Spot in late Autumn.

The best part of the weekend was the completion of our Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) signing of our applications: Mother and both daughters. Jennifer on the left, and her big sister Heather on the right. Their Aunt Karen who submitted her application last month took our photo. My daughters qualify for the DAR on both sides their family tree and that is pretty special and honorable.

It was a proud moment for us.

Have a great week. Thanks for visiting. I'll see you soon.

I will be linking with Mosaic Monday, hosted by Maggie at Normandy Life.