Ornamental kale

If you haven’t ever planted the ornamental kales that are available in the fall, you should consider putting some in a protected area and enjoying their unusual colors and texture. They are cool-season plants and thrive during the cooler days of autumn. I have seen them elongate when they are planted in spots that are too warm. But if you keep them cool (mine is in light shade except for late afternoon) they will usually stay low and compact.

Chrysanthemum fall sales

Image from chezbeate

Just a quick note about chrysanthemums... In the same way that you can plant faded bulbs that you bought in bloom, chrysanthemums move easily into the garden once you have enjoyed them in pots.

Check at the soil line. Some of the large pots have several plants in them. Although you can plant them as is, it would be better in the long term if you separate them and plant them individually. Cut off the flowers and a bit of the leafy stem, tease the roots apart (it sometimes takes a bit of muscle), and plant them as deep as the existing soil line. Remember to keep them watered if the winter is dry because they won’t have much time to regrow their roots.

Several of those I have planted over the last couple of years maintained their half-a-basketball rounded shape. Others reverted to the more traditional upright growth pattern. There is an amazing amount of variation in the greenhouse grown chrysanthemums, but it is mostly in their growth patterns. I haven’t seen many color changes from the traditional chrysanthemums that my mom used to grow. For comparison, think of the color varieties you find in petunias. Whatever determines chrysanthemum color is not as easy for plant breeders to tinker with.

Wintering succulents in containers

My pot of succulents sits near my garden during the summer. Something has germinated in the free space and I don’t know what it is. I bring this pot in for the winter because I don’t want the pot to break when it freezes.

I don’t know why but I am always surprised when a succulent changes color in response to fall weather. But I like it and leave the pot out until it is consistently cold. Because these plants are outdoor succulents, I put the pot in my unheated garage and sharply reduce the frequency of watering. 

Our winter sun isn’t strong enough to keep new growth from getting leggy. If it gets less water, this will slow down growth.  I don’t know how the seedlings will react and I may have to give them a bit more water until I see what they are. That will be a fun winter observation.

An easy winter garden

Late summer is the time to make a winter garden. Mine is quite simple, based on a cold frame - easier, but less reliable in the coldest months.

I found a double-paned window at a thrift store and I build the "cold frame" around its dimensions. I use sandstone garden edging leftover from the previous owner. You can use bricks or pavers for this, too. You want something that will absorb daytime heat and release it during the cold night, so boards or anything made of wood is less effective for my rudimentary design. However, there are numerous ways to build an actual cold frame, so if you have more get-up-and-go than me, check out the web. 

The edges don’t fit smoothly together so there are drafts. This works during the warmer fall days because I don’t always get out to get the window off the stones and the openings let the heat out. I do have to remember to water more often when it heats up in my little garden.

I plant kale and spinach, both of which have produced leaves for me over most of the winter – not enough for a family of 8 but certainly enough to add to a salad. And the leaves you are removing aren’t much bigger than 4-8". Ok, this is more of an adventure than actual food production but harvesting even a few greens in January is reassuring. 

When the weather gets colder, I will move these stones together, sacrificing a few plants which get squished. There will still be drafts, so in the depth of winter, I sometimes cover the whole thing with a beach towel at night. Last winter, the towel and garden were covered with deep snow for more than a week, so no sun made it through. Neither type of plant showed any signs of stress when they finally got some sun again. 

Comes spring, I dismantle it in about 20 seconds.  

Fall garden update

The weather this fall has been so warm that some seed is germinating prematurely and spring bulbs are being faked into sprouting. I will be interested to see how the bulbs do next spring because I have no doubts that we are in for months of regular winter temperatures and snow.

I sprinkle seed around my garden after deadheading and most of the newly germinated seedlings will not survive. But Mother Nature has methods for species survival, so I expect there will be some seed which did not germinate and will emerge comes spring. 

The lack of repeated killing frosts had allowed a number of my perennials to do an unusually slow decline into dormancy. The visual interest in my fall yard has never been better.

My garden at the end of August

In mid-October

The hose is out because Colorado finally made rain barrels legal and so I put one on both of the downspouts that carry most of the roof drainage. The main difficulty with my present set-up is that our rain comes infrequently but fast, heavier than my system can handle and the barrels overflow. If I am home, I can let water out through the attached hoses during the storms. Of course, I get wet. 

The amount of rainwater that drains off my roof is amazing and makes it worth the effort. By directing the water, I can deep-water my trees for free. I dismantled the system for winter, and will tweak the set-up before next spring so I have more overflow catchment in place.
 
My chipped wood path blew away during a big wind storm that took down trees. For the most part I like this path, even though it is messy when there's wind. However, the price was right (less than $10 for a truckload) and a bit of raking will pull the chips out of the garden and back to where they belong.

At the end of October

You can how the large ornamental grasses, which are inconspicuous in the August picture, are now an important addition to the visual interest.  

I have added a small section of plastic trellis to camouflage the area where I will store pots and equipment over the winter. The shed is for tools, my lawn mower and other items that need to be under cover for the winter. The trellis is quite (too?) flexible and needs support. I may opt to replace it with sturdier wooden trellis next summer.