It has been a time of transition with many of our brightest leaves now down, several frosts behind us, and my thoughts turned toward winter.  I am mailing off my seed harvests from the Land Institute plot, have dug some of my dahlias with more still to do, and still have my garlic to put in the ground. After this week I will switch to only monthly posts.

This was a week of brilliant sunlight, full moon (and a comet) and a whole string of frosts that have transformed our gardens.  Suddenly we see green only on the plants that can take the cold.  The fourth graders came to the community garden this week to harvest their 3-sisters. October is “leave the leaves” month…sounds good, but there is much to learn about why and how to do this.

We are having a muted foliage season but color is still developing. Parts of it are as lovely as anyone could ask for.  I just read a brand new book about arboreal obsession that is getting a lot of press in the gardening world.  I’ll share a recipe for a friend’s version of pumpkin soup.

From this point on we have to assume that a frost is possible, though the last several years have seen the first hard frost at the very end of the month.  Whenever we see predicted lows under 40 I get nervous and start bringing in my potted plants.  It is weather that makes me think about garlic planting but I am trying to wait a little longer than my traditional mid-October timing.  Carolina Wrens are gathering in large groups on our lawn, busy with some kind of foraging. An area that was mowed in mid-summer is now brilliant with goldenrod and is full of bees.