October 2022
O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes' sake along the wall.
October, by Robert Frost
We are well into fall here, from my desk I can see some trees that are only just turning from green to gold, while others have dropped their leaves almost entirely, leaving only a scattering of browning leaves behind. The sugar maple is sadly all but bare, clusters of brilliant red leaves all that remains. As I write it is a very chilly morning, maybe the coldest we have had thus far, hovering just above freezing, but the sun is bright, the day is clear and there is a light breeze swaying the tall grasses in the border, there is a promise of a fine day ahead and hopefully a few hours spent later working out in the garden.
October is one of those months in that garden that looks and feels one thing at the beginning, and quite another at its end. The early days of October hold the warmth of summer, and many flowers of the late summer garden are still with us. There is a magic in early October, the changing leaves and light streaming through much lower in the atmosphere, everything wrapped in a golden glow. But by the end of October the trees are all but bare and cold nights linger longer into the morning and come earlier in the evening, winter is not long now.
We have had quite a good bit of rain this October, which coming off of the spring summer’s drought, that has been very hopeful.
The garden gently fade over the month of October, the color slowly losing their brilliance, leaving a more muted palette in the garden. Now we are waiting and watching for the first frost. There is the harvest to be brought in flowers to be cut, tender plants to get out from the the cold, it will happen some morning very soon.
I worked in the garden last night, pulling out tomatoes plants, harvesting leeks and clearing beds. It was reflective and quiet work. I was in the upper annual garden, which one day will be a walled garden, with European beeches clipped into a tight hedge, cutting this space off from view. But the whips are newly planted and barely more than sticks in the ground. As I worked I watched the line of light, the tops of trees glowing deep orange and the fields below in shade. The clear blue of the sky turning to soft oranges and pinks, the whole world wrapped up in a glow in the waning light. I was twilight before I came in, you can’t appreciate the light last of the day indoors with lamps lit, so when I can I like to be out to see it.
Vegetable and Flower Gardens
We have been working in the veg garden, taking stock of what is still growing, what needs harvesting, and what needs clearing away to the compost pile (or thrown in with the chickens). The chicken actually do a lot of work for us in cleaning out beds, we let them scratch up beds as it makes sense.
This month I cleared out and organized the root cellar and brought it about half of the leek harvest. Along with food, we store our dahlia tubers and cannas in the root cellar.
As we start getting cooler and cooler nights, I will be keeping my eye on a few crops I want to protect from early frost, like my beets, giving them a little extra time to grow. If you have horticultural fleeces these can be helpful to do just that, keep the early frosts at bay.
Now is a great time to collect seeds as well. I like to wait for a warm, dry day, after the sun has done away with the morning dew and then go out and collect seed. If it is very dry then I store them in small paper bags straight away. However if they don’t seem totally dry, I will hang them up to dry in the house or green house for a few days before storing them. Label your packets right away, I can speak from experience, you won’t remember and unless the seed you collect is very recognizable, you will end up with mystery seed packets. Store your seeds in a cool dry area until you are ready to sow.
Keep deadheading. Deadheading will extend blooming and at this time of year, will get you those last few more.
Bulbs
I once again have ordered and now received hundreds of bulbs, I think somewhere around 800,I had a tally going, but I lost count. Well, if you are looking for me over the course of the next month, I will be most likely planting bulbs somewhere in the garden. I typically waiting until after the first frost to plant bulb, but many are fine to plant now, but Tulips should waiting until November.
Garlic
Sometime toward then end of the month I plant out the garlic. When planting your own seed garlic, you want to choose out the best, biggest bulbs for planting. Pick a sunny spot, they prefer good drainage, but I have managed to grow garlic even in the clay of our lower garden, but full sun is vital. Space your bulbs somewhere between 6-9 inches apart and make sure you give them a good inch of coverage. I like to put down a layer of salt marsh hay over the bed to give them an extra bit of insulation.
Propagating plants
Even though fall is really getting on, there is still time to take cuttings and propagate plants.
While I was pruning and tying up blackberry canes, quite a number of the canes had tip rooted, and therefore I dug them up, potted them, and tucked them into the green house. If you had brambles you could intentionally bend down the tips and pin them in plant to intentionally tip root them, leave the over winter. Come spring cut them apart from the original cane, dig them up and now you have a new plant to add to your patch or start another one.
Move Perennials and shrubs
Now is a great time to move plants in the garden. The soil is still relatively warm, it isn’t very hot and we still have a good while yet before the ground freezes and we get truly bitterly cold weather. Even in this weather, give the plants a good soak after moving them. If you want to move evergreens you should do so now, so they have a little time for root growth. Deciduous trees/shrubs can really be moved anytime while the ground is still workable, because they will go dormant over winter.