While we still have over two weeks until the calendar start of Winter, it's already here. While the greater Boston area has not had snow, other parts of the northeast have already had their first snowfall of the season. Darkness falls early, and it's getting to be that time of year when seeing the sun is a treat. During the Thanksgiving holiday I was in Carlisle, PA, and the extra 1/2 hour of daylight they get was wonderful! The 9 hours of sunlight each day do not leave me any time to be outside during the week, and I'm looking forward to Saturday to do a quick look around the garden in the sunlight rather than by star or flashlight! The stars have been clear though lately, and the triangle of Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon this week was beautiful.
Over the past holiday weekend, I got the chance to work out in a garden! It was my mother-in-law's garden on her farm, and while the ground had already frozen some, we worked to dig up the
Canna plants for the winter. We filled about 5 grain sacks of tubers, which she said was more than she planted the previous spring. Luckily, I got to take a sack home. As the plants need full sunshine (and grow to 6 feet!) there is limited space in my own garden for them, but I plan on sharing with my sister and sister-in-law come spring. Which made my sister happy as she is redoing doing her beds next year and she said the Canna tubers can be fairly expensive (about $10 for 3). Now the sack is on my 3-season porch, where it hopefully won't freeze. In the spring, I plan to put them in my front yard against our derelict fence. There is an old stump there that will probably need to come out, but the small hillside gets full sun and I'm hoping they will do well.
Even though I did not get a chance to put in any more spring bulbs, I've been browsing through some catalogs to begin planning next year's garden.
Pinetree Garden Seeds,
Garden's Supply Company, and
Breck's (for bulbs) have all given me good ideas. I want to expand the cutting garden, develop the front yard to the right of the driveway, do more with the rock garden, and expand the vegitable gardens.
Lots to plan!
Enjoy the holidays!
