Yard ready for Winter-and before the storms get here...

[DP]

Finished getting up leaves and prepping beds for Winter yesterday. Since we're forecasted to get some nasty storms today I wanted to get it done while the weather was good. And we're finally getting some color in the garden. The pears have been green right up till a few days ago when we had some very cold air-lows in the lower 20's for a few nights. There are some hardy plants-like the roses that are still blooming even after that cold weather, and some of the herbs...
Here's the flower garden as of yesterday:



And the veggie garden with its mulched leaf blanket and herbs still green:



And the house with BlackJack (in front of the car) and Cible (in the door) posing for me. This was shot this morning-it's 60º right now-and after some rain. Yes, I know, the driveway is next year's project...
The leaves on the ground and in the gutter fell overnight but I'm done for the year so there they will stay unless blown or washed away:

[cbelt3]

Nicely done ! I got the garden mulched yesterday and the last remaining tomato plant cleared away (It was producing up until last week's frost). The Young Adults were all working yesterday, so I did a bit of leaves but I'll "Leave" that up to them next week. Today's project is gutters... I've got 20 feet of stainless steel high pressure line to attach to the power washer and a gutter 'cleaner' gizmo that works flawlessly. No need to climb ladders, but I will go up and clear sticks out of the drains.

Next year I'm getting some form of gutter screen. I'm not getting any younger, and those 30 foot high gutters get me nervous some times.

[Black]

Nice pics!
Except for getting some leaves into the leaf pen I've done all I intend to for the year. 65 today but my day is eaten up by orchestra stuff.
We had a had frost that lasted 2 days, and it's amazing to see which plants came through without any effect. I had some tiny Bee Balm seedlings that I hadn't got potted that still look fine... some Black Eyed Susans I started this year still look like it's August. My Blodgood has barely dropped any leaves but they're all curled up. And Broccoli...

[OWC Jamie]

Nice.
I've been trying to keep up with the leaves falling. A moderate drought is helping with dry weather to do so.
My garden gets mulched with leaves during the growing season so they stay until Spring - just yank plant spoils out - just in case there are disease pathogens or bug eggs.

We've had nice enough weather for wood cutting.
Got another cord and a half this weekend ( half goes to my house, half to cutting buddy )We got three cords last weekend and 3 again this weekend. All nice red oak.


Needs stacking, it's raining now so maybe Tuesday/ Wed. All nice red oak for next year although this is all dead standing wood and is ready to burn now.

[3d]

billb wrote:
Nice.
I've been trying to keep up with the leaves falling. A moderate drought is helping with dry weather to do so.
My garden gets mulched with leaves during the growing season so they stay until Spring - just yank plant spoils out - just in case there are disease pathogens or bug eggs.

We've had nice enough weather for wood cutting.
Got another cord and a half this weekend ( half goes to my house, half to cutting buddy )We got three cords last weekend and 3 again this weekend. All nice red oak.


Needs stacking, it's raining now so maybe Tuesday/ Wed. All nice red oak for next year although this is all dead standing wood and is ready to burn now.

Why do you hate the ozone layer?

[OWC Jamie]

3d wrote:
[quote=billb]
Nice.
I've been trying to keep up with the leaves falling. A moderate drought is helping with dry weather to do so.
My garden gets mulched with leaves during the growing season so they stay until Spring - just yank plant spoils out - just in case there are disease pathogens or bug eggs.

We've had nice enough weather for wood cutting.
Got another cord and a half this weekend ( half goes to my house, half to cutting buddy )We got three cords last weekend and 3 again this weekend. All nice red oak.


Needs stacking, it's raining now so maybe Tuesday/ Wed. All nice red oak for next year although this is all dead standing wood and is ready to burn now.

Why do you hate the ozone layer?
EPA stove and the wood would be releasing the carbon anyway during decomposition.
My backup heat is oil, I prefer renewable resources, thank you very much.

Besides, the ozone layer is/was impacted by man-made chemicals, not carbon.
I'm contributing to keeping oil carbon in the ground when I heat with wood where it belongs.

and the small amount of ash is good for the garden to help it balance chemically from the acid rain from power plants to the west of me making electricity for electric cars. :-)

[Numo]

I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning out the gutters. It's an old debate: install gutter covers and have heavy rains run right over them and down the facia, or keep the gutters open and clean them twice a year. :dunno:

[cbelt3]

Ammo wrote:
I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning out the gutters. It's an old debate: install gutter covers and have heavy rains run right over them and down the facia, or keep the gutters open and clean them twice a year. :dunno:

I am considering a friend's approach.... he installed commercial sized gutters on his house, and commercial sized downspouts. At the bottom he installed a deep "Y" cleanout and a screen that catches the leaves that flow down.

[OWC Jamie]

cbelt3 wrote:
[quote=Ammo]
I spent a couple of hours yesterday cleaning out the gutters. It's an old debate: install gutter covers and have heavy rains run right over them and down the facia, or keep the gutters open and clean them twice a year. :dunno:

I am considering a friend's approach.... he installed commercial sized gutters on his house, and commercial sized downspouts. At the bottom he installed a deep "Y" cleanout and a screen that catches the leaves that flow down.
I tried this.
They are just larger scoops.

They just hold more leaves and the larger oak leaves are even more prone get caught in the downspout bends, freezing and damming.

I've got those wire cage/fence things in the gutter holes to keep leaves from going down the tubes.
I figured with huge tubes everything would just slide down.
It doesn't.