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Fall Transitions

© Mary Henry

The season has changed to fall and, in the north, the gardening moves inside. Today was my day off, and I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the windows on the south side of the living room. We have combination storm windows, so that meant several layers of glass and a lot of up and down on a ladder inside and again outside. No, I'm not a fanatic fall house cleaner. I have to prepare for my house plants to come in for the winter. The light is weak enough in January. I don't want its energy level cut by dirty windows. It was a beautiful day and actually we set a heat record for this date, so the work was pleasant. I have two baker's racks that go in and out with the plants each season. When they are inside they wear fluorescent fixtures on the shelf bottoms to light the plants below. I have been working on the plants themselves off and on for several days now, taking cuttings of the tender things I use as annuals in this climate, getting some plants repotted and all of them cleaned, pruned as necessary and checked for insects and diseases. I love how organized I sound! But I have to confess that this is the first year that I have not worked in the dark the night of our first frost trying to cover and save what I cannot drag into the kitchen. I have even had to do it all in a cold rain.

The only things different this year are that we had a frost scare about 10 days ago that put me on notice, and I just finished a big project that warranted a little time to play at my favorite recreation. Who knows what next year will bring? It seems that most often I'm caught flat-footed when the first frost is about to happen. I know when that is supposed to be, but I seem to believe deep down that it won't happen that soon this year.

Most of us lead such busy lives that we can seldom plan for the plants as we would like. We have to play with them after all the important stuff has been done and until we have to drop everything else and do it or lose them to the freeze. Then we spend the first several weeks of the indoor gardening season just trying to sort it all out. I usually make a lot of "make do" compromises too. I always promise myself that I won't do it in such a half-baked way next year. Well, this year seems to be my year to do it right. Maybe it will be yours too!

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