November 2, 2007
Fall is in full swing, here in Minnesota, and we put the leaves to good use. I like to use them as a warm winter blanket for the perennial beds. The trick is moving them the least distance possible!
Leftover leaves go straight to the composter. My non-gardening friends don’t really understand my excitement, but this composter, built from recycled materials by my husband, was my anniversary gift! In early summer, we should have a nice wheelbarrow load of black gold for the flower and kitchen gardens.
It’s late for Minnesota, but we have a lot of things still in bloom. My snapdragons, grown from seed, indoors, back in April, are looking spectacular:
Even one of the new clematis is blooming again!
The foxglove, biennials which are not supposed to bloom until next year, are blooming now. These seeds came from my parent’s garden! I hope this doesn’t mean they won’t bloom in 2008.
And small ones are coming up from seed; these should be 2009 bloomers. I don’t know what will happen now that they’re coming up early. I’ll put a thick blanket of leaves over these:
I regret that we haven’t used more of the grapes this year. They are incredibly sweet after the first frost. Usually we make jelly:
We still have raspberries hanging in there, in November!
Entry Filed under: Miscellaneous. Tags: composter, flowers, garden, grapes, leaves, Minnesota, raspberries.
1.
Denyse | November 5, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Mel, these pictures are amazing. I’m learning so much. I had no idea that blueberry plants had such pretty leaves. I’m wondering how you keep racoons etc out of the composter.
2.
minnesotagardener | November 5, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Thank you! The wooden composter has a heavy lid that latches. We have a plastic bin too, with a lid. We’ve never had any trouble with raccoons – there’s not much smelly stuff to attract them, just vegetable and fruit peelings, coffee grounds, eggshells, and yard cuttings. No animal products except the eggshells, and no processed products or anything sugary. They go for candy and peanut butter and the stuff that typically makes a smell in your garbage can.