What would Jane Austen Grow?

It’s finally here, the first frost.  I actually ripped out most of my geraniums on Saturday because I couldn’t wait for mother nature to get rid of them for me.  I don’t know whether it is my personality or my profession, but I have no qualms about removing still alive plants that are at the end of their season or simply not performing well.  (I’d like to think I have a little more compassion when it comes to humans and animals.)  So in my view, Geraniums really shouldn’t be around in October.  October is the month for mums and pansies and other fall things.  My husband, on the other hand, can’t bear to part with even the most diseased, tired looking plant.  This year the geraniums stuck around a little longer because they really looked pretty good and many were in the ground.  I changed out about half of my planters a couple weeks ago, but I left everything in that was planted in the ground.  On Saturday I couldn’t bear it any longer and I ripped most of them out.  I wanted to rip all the annuals out but I thought I better humor my husband.  He cleans up after me in the garden, so it’s a good thing to make sure that his ideas for the garden are considered.  I didn’t get quite as much done as I had planned.  I did plant all the bulbs I had brought home.  That’s always a good thing.  Plant everything you already have before bringing more home.  And I do still have to bring more home.  I ended up planting a lot of bulbs around my roses.  As I was planting, Mitch mentioned that the rose bed would look awfully bare in early spring.  What better way to add color but spring-flowering bulbs?  So into the ground went crocus, daffodils and hyacinths, some of which I had ear-marked for planters.  Of course, since I planted them in the rose bed and didn’t have more to plant, I didn’t have to clean out all the planters.  This week’s frost will take care of what I didn’t remove.  Next week I can pop in some more bulbs and flowering cabbage and pansies.  We’ll see.  I did harvest most of my green tomatoes.  I’ll see if they will ripen inside.  Probably by then I’ll be sick of tomatoes but at least I will feel like they didn’t completely go to waste.  Also, I harvested raspberries.  I can’t wait to prune those back.  They’re getting a little gangly.  More than anything, I’m ready to spend a little quality time with a good book.  Can’t believe I’m looking forward to the rain.

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