Winter's knocking on our door....

Well, operation adding compost is in full swing! Since time is running out before the snow flies and Eric goes back under the knife for his back, I've switched my game plan to top dressing the beds with lots of compost. I've been scratching it into the soil the best I can. Eric also has been collecting leaves with his lawnmower and chomping them up into great leaf mold. So, I have been using the leaf mold as a mulch which I will turn into the soil in the spring when it breaks down. I've got about 50% of my beds put to sleep this fall. I haven't gotten the bulbs in yet and hope to do that this weekend if I have time. I don't think I'm going to do much of a fall clean up this season. I may just let everyone but the dahlia's and the tender cannas go into their winter's nap and clean them up in the spring.

I took a bunch of photos a couple of weekends ago of Garden Consultant HQ in the middle of it's autumnal glory!

Below, here's a close up of the fall color of my Coral Bark Japanese Maple from that top photo...I love her!!

Below is Lake Larson before I skimmed all of the water lettuce and leaves out of it. I've been procrastinating of getting the rest of the leaves out of there...I was sore from the first time around! I'll probably get to that this Sunday. Then I can put the fishies to bed for the winter. Actually, I have to order some pond heaters before I can officially put them to bed.

Above is the back part of the pond before the killing front whacked all of my annuals whom I have since yanked.

One of my dahlias that my father in law gave me earlier this season...it's last hurrah. I'll have to dig them up before thanksgiving. I actually don't have a great place in my house to overwinter them. My basement is too warm for them and the bulkhead is too cold. I'll have to send them back home to him. He's got this closet that butts up to an outside wall and it's worked out great for him and his dahlias...if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

My Sargent's Crabapple gearing up for her winter show!

There won't be much in the way of updates for the garden this winter which is understandable. But, I'll be doing Project Feederwatch through Cornell's Ornithology Lab and I'll probably post what I see every week. Also, the other big thing going on this winter or maybe spring will be a new addition of the four legged kind to Garden Consultant HQ. I'll definitely keep you all posted on that front.