I'm Going to Need a Machete

I just got back from defending my thesis last night, and this afternoon I took a walk around the garden to see what needed attention most urgently now that I have what seems like infinite time for house stuff. And of course, the whole thing is overgrown. The Fern Walk is the worst: the weeds are so tall you can't see most of the plants. Definitely a few solid days of weeding are in order.

The tomatoes in the back patch are ready to be cut down: they're flowering like crazy but not setting fruit because it's too cold, and the fruit on them is not ripening any more. (The tomatoes are the in the top left of this photo.) And the nectarine trees are shedding their leaves all over the strawberries, so I should go out there tomorrow and rake them up.

As you can see, a month or so of dampness and no major garden traffic and we get grass everywhere. Also, Goldie dug a nice little hole in the middle of the drainage basin, the little jerk.

But the strangest thing is that the garden has become convinced that it is spring, and the roses are all blooming again. See:

Which gives us these strange moments with ripening rose hips and new pink bunds on the same plant.

I'd been planning to prune back and move this Mme. Alfred, and as if to tell me she is not interested in a new home, she goes and covers herself with buds.

But that's too bad, because I'm working on planting out the back of the yard, and a couple of the larger and thornier roses are going back there to discourage the neighborhood kids from climbing the fence. The dogs already keep them out most of the time, but there's nothing like landing in a rose once to keep you from ever trying that trick again.

Technorati Tags: autumn, flowers, roses

posted by ayse on 11/19/07