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.