At the turning of the year
Yesterday was miserably dark and damp; it took me until nearly dusk to drag myself outside to finally take care of the garden. There's been so much rain that I had to drain several of the pots, and there was a noticeable smell of decay about some of them.
The sky was dense with cloud, like a snowfield. (These photos are from another evening.) The wind and rain have already stripped the locust tree near us of all its leaves, which means that we got to enjoy its foliage for less than 6 months. (Goddammit, Boston.) For now, it's novel getting to see the full span of the Mass. Ave bridge again.
The foliage along the riverside drives is just starting to turn rusty.
I used a knife and scissors to, finally, dismantle the hideously skeletal, multiply-fungus-afflicted tomato plants, most of which were over 2 years old at this point and deserved their rest; nonetheless I felt guilt. The youngest of them I kept around - I'll see if regular application of fungicide can bring it back to something approaching health. I'm also considering investing in a grow lamp for the plants I'm overwintering - Dave recommended a model to me.
The remaining plants are still a mess, but overall appearance is much improved. We're to have at least a week of weather in the 50's and 60's, with overnight temps not quite down to freezing, so I'll see how much longer I can leave things outside.
- The marvel of Peru is wrecked. I think there's something seriously wrong chemically with that cobalt pot, on top of the fact that the glaze flakes off, which means I can't grow any food-plants in there. (This is what I get for buying a $15 pot of unknown origins.) I keep meaning to buy a plastic liner pot, but that would be best accomplished by getting to a gardening center, which is much too much effort. Next spring, I hope, I'll make a run and pick up lots of big pots and other unwieldy necessities in one fell swoop.
- Also surviving, and to be moved to the office, are: the pinks/arugula/alyssum arrangement, the forget-me-nots (finally looked up: I likely have the biennial variety, which thus will not flower till next spring - glad it wasn't just me this time), and a number of self-seeded things. Two are large and identifiably Clarkias; the rest are tiny and will have to be given a few weeks before I can figure out what the heck they are. I suspect a lot are arugula, which will be convenient and tasty.
Empty pots have been filled with compost, topped off with soil, and stashed behind the deck furniture. Very satisfying.
