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One thing that the frost will begin to do is kill the plants in the garden. While I am sure this will not be a killing frost (generally a heavy frost), the squash and tomatoes which are already on the way out will need to be composted afterwards. The flower garden should survive intact, as zinnia, snapdragon, and the sunflowers are resistant to light frosts. However, I'm hoping the cosmos will survive.
This weekend I am hoping to get the chance to clean up the garden a bit for the fall. The back lawn needs to be mowed, and I am going to begin to prepare the garden for winter. The compost heap has reduced itself again, so I'm sure that the bottom of it is black gold, ready to be spread across the soil. It's pretty amazing to watch it go down each day. A few weeks ago we had it filled with garden debris, and now you can't even tell what was in it! It's just a brown mushy pile.
This evening I will have to bring in the houseplants I had outside all summer. In June, I set out my two spider plants and my blue ginger plants. The spider plants had looked extremely anemic from being inside, and now they both have flowers and lots of new growth. The blue ginger plants, which I had brought back as root cuttings from Hawaii back in 2000, are tropical plants and loved the wet, humid summer we had. The trick is getting them to last another winter in New England! They loves lots of light and heat, which the winters up here don't tend to give. But, we are finishing our porch this weekend, so they will have a lot of light for another month at least while being sheltered from the cold nights. Remember that when you bring in houseplants from their outdoor life you should check them thoroughly for aphids and other critters! I plan to move mine inside in stages. First the porch for a few days or weeks, then inside next to the other plants. Otherwise all your houseplants could become infested.
I'm beginning to think about planting for the spring too. I don't know how many of my front tulips will come back in the rock garden, so I plan on putting in just a few there. But, I want to line the driveway and front paths with daffodils and tulips. Last year I think I put in 200, and it was a beautiful show! I may shoot for 500 this year. The bright flowers do help bring on spring! I have to begin researching types of bulbs. While my mother says the yellow and reds last longer, I do love the striped flowers, and deep purples too.
Lastly, in the spring my sister and I had both planted pumpkin seeds. I had visions of tangling vines with giant fruits overrunning my garden. My vine is 2 feet long and still flowering; not a single pumpkin grew. My sister, however, grew 3 pumpkins. One is a normal size, and the other two are smaller gourds. But, it's 3-0, so she is the official pumpkin champion of 2008. Neither of our watermelons produced anything substantial.
Next year, the giant pumpkin will be grown!
