Autumn is nearly here

It may not be autumn yet, but it won’t be long before it is here.

One of my favorite rituals of fall is planting things. We stopped at a nursery last week to get some information on our continuing slug problem. We went home with a gorgeous variegated hibiscus. 

With the aid of my hubby, the plant is now in the ground. We planted it a little farther from the sidewalk than the other hibiscus. The original ones had been given to us a long time ago. What had begun as three scraggly plants has evolved into a virtual forest of pink. The new plant has giant blooms and is a deep red. I think it will be a good way to transition from the tall hibiscus to the much shorter peonies. 

The peonies had to move because they haven’t bloomed in a couple of years. I think it is because their neighboring plants were grabbing all of the sunshine and not letting the peonies have enough to do their thing. We will find out if it worked in the spring. They are supposed to bloom around Memorial Day.

I had not expected the roots of the peonies to be so extensive. We put them in the wheelbarrow until we can get them nestled into the ground. I think they have multiplied overnight. It looks like there are enough of them to stretch along the entire unplanted section of the yard that reaches from the hibiscus to the corner of the lot.

I want to plant more of what I call the little bulbs. These are mostly early blooming flowers such as snow crocus and grape hyacinths. Yes, the snow crocus bloom early enough to get snow on them. No, the grape hyacinths don’t produce grapes. 

We have demolished our compost bin. It was sagging badly. We found a good foot of compost on the bottom of the bin. The new plant got a couple of shovelfuls of it. I could almost hear it purr. I also dumped my potato experiment, fished out all the potatoes and  mixed the leftover potting soil into the dirt we removed from the plant’s new home. When I have potatoes sprouting I toss them into a flower pot. They eventually grow more potatoes. The only problem is that the potatoes are tiny except for one overachiever which is a huge two inches long. I plan to clean them up, boil them until almost done, then dump them into a skillet with some butter and maybe a touch of salt and pepper.

For some reason home-grown potatoes taste better than store-bought ones. The tomatoes are also growing and producing enough for us and sometimes the neighbors. I still don’t know what kind of cherry tomatoes I bought. They are a little bigger than expected and are reddish on top and brownish on the bottom. They taste the same as regular tomatoes even if I don't know what variety they are. 

I tried something different with the garden this year. I didn't weed it. This worked out better than expected. It makes it more challenging to find the veggies but I haven't had as much critter damage as usual. 

All in all it was a good weekend. Now I have to find a good place for all those peonies.