Buttoning up for Winter….

Today we spent the morning working around the house.  Ken ran the mower over the yard to collect the last batch of leaves and trimmed the bushes while I clipped back all of the perennials so they could rest for the impending winter.  The Kayaks were put away for the season and the windows on the first floor were all washed….whew! 
We worked hard this morning so we could spend the afternoon watching the Patriots win…again. 🙂

Do you notice anything different in this picture above?  Yes…it's the end of an era for me.  The big garden has also been put to rest and will be grassed over in the Spring.  It was a hard decision, but we both knew it was time.  Now that the kids are grown, we really do not need the amount of food that we once needed with a growing family.
  Next spring we were going to have to rebuild all of the boxes and put up a new fence, which we knew would be very expensive and time consuming. The wood on everything was starting to rot, which is why it would need to be replaced.

I decided to do something a little different for next Spring instead.

Ken and I do eat a lot of salads so I love having salad greens all summer. There is nothing better than walking out to the yard to pick the greens for your meals…easy peasy and inexpensive.  I also use a lot of herbs for cooking both fresh and dried, so we have decided to build 2 beds similar to this one and add big wheels to them so that they can be moved to make mowing easier for Ken….or maybe even better if I can convince him to put down a patio like this so nothing would have to be moved at all and I could add a sitting area.  I have been trying to get him to do this for years. 😉

I like how easy it will be to add shade covers during the hot days of summer to keep the lettuce from bolting and frost covers for the early spring and late fall to extend the season.  This will make it so much easier for my back and we will be able to tuck some single vegetable plants that we enjoy in between the lettuce. 

It made us both a bit sad to say good bye to the big garden, but life changes and the new beds will make things more manageable for me next summer during busy times. 🙂

The only splash of color now is this little bucket of Mums and cabbage surrounded by pumpkins and the green yuck on the porch that is being replaced next year….and yes, I have dogs, so my gates have gates to keep them safe from the road and the wildlife that wanders frequently into my yard.;-)

I love, love, love Autumn, but I am always sad putting the gardens to bed because we all know what comes next.
  A chill is definitely in the air tonight….brrr!