We’re having great weather. It’s 46°F right now. The leaves aren’t showing a lot of color yet, but there are spots here and there.
I’ve trimmed just about every shrub on the property, and I’m gaining on deadheading my perennials.
Today, I’m moving a few plants because it is supposed to rain tomorrow which is always a bonus. I’ve also got two Arborvitaes that I need to get creative with and bring them back into the acceptable height range. I’d be better off digging them out and replacing them with something smaller, but then again the critical word is ‘dig’ and they’ve been planted there twelve years. I think I’ll give trimming a shot even if it is not recommended.
Here’s a tip if you’ve ever looked for a plant marker 
that can withstand winter conditions. These are for a Master Gardener project and came from Sunshine Engraving. I can highly recommend their customer service and the product. The price was approximately $5 for the label and stake.
Besides trimming and deadheading, I made hoops and used some of my plastic fencing to enclose the small white Kousa dogwood trees I’m holding over for the May plant sale and my two blueberry plants. That pile of greenery on the ground is the tops from three catmint plants. I’m going to divide them this morning because they’ve gotten too big.
I have to enclose tender plants because my closest neighbor feeds deer throughout the winter. She literally pours bags of feed on her patio and herds come up to feed. Before we started going to SC, I had seen up to 18 of them at one time enjoying her buffet offerings.
Besides deer, fall has also brought out the bears. We’ve had two sightings here in town, and I don’t ever remember that before. We’re also still struggling with the unbelievable squirrel issue. They’re now referring to it as the Squirrel Apocalypse 2018. I’d laugh, but it has gone from humorous to grizzly (pun intended).
Happy last Monday in September. ☕️
Credit: Coffee Funnies
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
All your work will pay off in the spring. Enjoy your fall colors! No sign of fall here yet.
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That’s what I’m hoping. I haven’t cut back all the shrubs ever, but I’m thinking they will look great when spring comes.
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Oh holy cow! – BEARS???? Now that would be scary! I’m the most rabid animal lover I know, but even I wouldn’t feed deer in the quantity your neighbor does. That’s just not natural, and I don’t think good for the animals as well as for neighbors – in this case a Master Gardener who has so much time and money invested in a beautiful plot. We see deer, raccoons, turkeys, pheasants, and an occasional fox in our suburban woods. A beautiful owl comes visiting, too. I’m glad my cats are all inside pets! We feed our squirrels and even they get aggressive every now and then (hang on the screens and STARE inside til I toss out another handful of peanuts!). Our oak trees are loaded with acorns now and you’d think they’d be happy with those, but nooooo…..they like the premium “wild critter feed” we’ve spoiled them on! And so do the raccoon pair who come at night to clean up what’s left behind! What’s one man’s entertainment is another’s garden pest, I guess! 🙂
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I think you summarized it in a nutshell – “What’s one man’s entertainment is another’s garden pest, I guess!” 🙂 We have a local farm that sells pumpkins this time of year. It was on the news this morning, that they’ve lost their entire crop this year because of the vast amount of squirrels we’re dealing who have decimated the pumpkins by taking bites out of them. I think you can consider them pets if you’re not growing anything they like to eat. If you are, they go from pets to pests. 🙂
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Just think…. it will be late March before we say that again. 🙂
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I can always count on you for a good laugh and a dose of reality. 🙂
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Thanks, Judy. I’ve discovered that virtually all the plants in my garden have tall bloom stems, so I don’t have to bend much to deadhead them. (Thank God.) Hostas, etc. are good for that reason, too. And I’ve made note of those markers, so thanks for the tip. Have a good week, my blogger-friend!
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The taller the better, right? 🙂 If you are ever looking for a seat for gardening, please check out Gardener’s Supply, Deluxe Tractor Scoot with Bucket Basket. I’ve had one for around ten years, and if it every breaks I will order another one. The seat swivels up and down so you can choose how low you need to be, you can carry a bucket right there next to you, and the handle that you pull it with can also be used to help get up. It’s worth every penny. 🙂
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Wonderful advice. I will put this on my Christmas list! BTW, I also sent your link on (the plant markers) to my gardener friends. Thank you.
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Lots of squirrels in Maine, too. I’ve heard it’s because of the bumper acorn crop we had last fall. And now record numbers are getting hit by cars this fall. Poor creatures! It is grizzly. We hit one last week. Enjoy this fall weather. Peak colors are on their way.
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We have hit two – they ran right into the path of the car. In all our years we’ve never hit any before. The roads are just littered with them. Maybe beautiful fall colors will help . 🙂
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Is sounds like chaos up there!
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Maybe so. Always distressing to hit an animal and to see so many dead ones on the side of the road.
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Kudos to you for getting a jump on the hard work of this season, Judy. With your beautiful gardens, it must be a lot of work. The rewards are only 6 or 7 months away 😉
We have some small shrubs that, up until this miserably hot wet summer, had failed to thrive. Now they’re big enough that a heavy wet snow would probably rip them apart, so I have to get some fence around them.
We have an abundance of squirrels, but the regulars seem to be doing a pretty good job of keeping the new arrivals out. Yesterday, one squirrel fought off a Blue Jay that was trying to steal his peanut. The critters all seem to be preparing for a difficult winter.
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Yes, I see fencing or burlap in your future. 🙂
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Happy Fall to you! Autumn in the New England States is always so beautiful! Enjoyed your comic at the end. Have a great day.
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Lots of squirrels here too, not all of them thriving. Plenty of road kill. I don’t feed them, but surrounding neighbors do so they spill over to our property.
All my fall yard chores are done….but I can’t compare my little yard with your campus! No colorful trees yet. Always such an incredible sight. You’ve accomplished a lot already, but clearly you have lots more to do. Keep those ice packs handy!! Lol.
🔹 Ginger 🔹
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This squirrel crisis remind me of something Alfred Hitchcock would have come up with. I’ve truly never seen anything like it. The roads are littered, and it’s pretty gross. Yes, I’m gaining on that list of chores, and I’m using an ice pack right now. 🙂
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Now I feel a tiny twinge of panic that I have barely started to do anything. As long as the pool is still open I’m deluding myself into thinking it’s still summer 😉
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If I had a pool, I think I’d just have foundation plantings and just sit poolside. 🙂 Enjoy every day left. Chores are always there.
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Sigh – that’s true. The chores never seem to go away on their own 😕
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Hi there! I’m curious about the feeding of the deer. In California it is illegal to feed deer. I’m wondering if your State has a similar law? Also, here if their are deer there are mountain lions. Do you have mountain lions or Cougars there?
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Apparently, it is not against the law, but every organization tells you not to do it. They run articles on tv as well as in the paper pointing out all the negatives. I’ve tried talking to her about it, but she thinks she is helping them when in fact it is definitely a hindrance. A couple of years ago, they would walk from her patio around to the road and two were killed right in front of our house. Nothing seems to deter her. No, we don’t have lions or cougars, but we do have black bears who seem to get more creative each year. It’s dangerous out there. 🙂
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Is it legal to feed deer in NH? ‘Live Free or Die’ being the motto, I guess anything goes. It would drive me nuts if my neighbor did so. One neighbor put out a salt lick so they could watch them, until I pointed out that they carry ticks to infest the place and that was the end of it. They are varmints to me. With the squirrels, have you seen an uptick in predators like hawk and fox?
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It certainly drives me nuts too. I spread Milorganite along the border hoping it will help, but once snow falls not so much. Yes, the ticks are certainly an issue for me, but she doesn’t garden or come outside so I guess she doesn’t care about it. I have not seen an increase in hawks or fox, but I back up to a wetlands area and I’m sure being careful to look around with all the animal sightings. They just found EEE here this week too. Geez, who knew gardening would be so dangerous. 🙂
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I have to keep believing that the benefits of gardening outweighs the risks. I need immersion in nature like I need air.
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You surely keep yourself busy Judy! Watch out for them bears! 🐻 🐻
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Your garden will look great in spring.. I’m always impressed by your hard work..it inspires me! Now we could trade a couple of cockatoos for a couple of squirrels. Our cockatoos just take a piece out of every apple/pear on a tree & then go on to the next tree…and because they are such chatacters … people feed them…. hello!
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I guess we each have our issue with local animals because that’s what the squirrels do. I had to stop growing strawberries because they’d destroy the entire crop. A friend had to tear up her tomato plants this year because they took a bite out of everything.
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46 degrees??!! What a change — and isn’t it welcome! We too have dropped from those tropical muggy days into sort-of autumn days. But not near 46 yet. We are cool and rainy but we don’t yet have that autumn thing in the air. I’ve started some yard cleaning, and it felt wonderful. Yes, ice at the ready! Do be careful!
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Long pants, long sleeves, and I’ve even gotten out a jacket. It’s kind of nice working outside and not coming in soaked to the skin. 🙂
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Oh wow! 46! I wanna have 46! And wear a sweater and boots! 🙂
Those are really nice garden tags. I started doing my plastic stake stick thingies with nail polish, but perhaps one day I shall upgrade to such posh markers!
I’ll be focusing on compost this winter. And praying I have a gentler spring.
Sorry your neighbor likes the deer more than you. I’m pretty sure my neighbors like me feeding the critters and if they don’t they can … I have the biggest garden and the most plants … We don’t see many deer here in the city.
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I couldn’t afford those markers for everything, but they might be good for larger plants that don’t move around. Last fall I used a black sharpie to label a couple of new plants on some metal markers. I sprayed them with a clear sealer. The black ink disappeared but I was left with a white name that I can still read. I never thought of nail polish, but, hey, whatever works is good.
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That sealer making white is a good trick on its own!
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I don’t feed the wildlife. I’ve given it a lot of thought. I own acres of land that grows berries and other edibles and all of it is available, but we have a very top heavy predator to prey selection. Too many predators. If we fatten up the edible prey, we’ll have even healthier coyote … and a few bear.
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I totally agree with you as does most of the area. 🙂
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Goodness, 46°F sounds very chilly. We loved watching the squirrels in Canada because we don’t have them in Australia. I can understand though why they’re not that popular with the local people.
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I think your gorgeous large parrots would probably explain to these lowly squirrels who is in charge of outdoor feeders. 🙂
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You could be right about that. 🙂
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Gads! Great weather and it is 46 degrees?! I would not want to be there for the bad weather!
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🙂 Yes, there’s definitely a difference in weather from your abode to mine.
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Differences, yes; but that is seems a bit too cool anywhere! It is almost 90 degrees near here today. I suppose that is the opposite extreme.
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have to sit down and rest after reading how hard you’re working. And I am just wondering how one moves a 12-year old arborvitae.
I’ve only lived in New Hampshire for about five years but the thought of seeing a bear scares me so that every time I hear something rustling in the woods nearby, I move toward the house. If I actually saw one I’d probably faint dead away and he would have a ready meal…
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Isn’t that the truth. When I get close to the wetlands, I’m checking all around to make sure I’m alone because I’m positive any animal could outrun me because I would probably be frozen in place. 🙂 Those two arborvitae were a challenge and a chuckle. They each had two main leaders with one considerably taller. I would have just cut the taller one off at the ground, but then one side would have been brown. So, I trimmed away and wired the two leaders together so it blends in better. From the road, it looks fine. If it takes a turn for the worse, cutting them down I can manage but digging them out is not an option at this age. 🙂
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It is that time when gardens have to be readied for next year.
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I love fall but there are a lot of chores that come with it!
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Bears – yikes! Maybe it’s time to wear the old cowbell when walking in the woods.
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I hadn’t thought of that, but you may have a point. 🙂
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sI’m sure you are happy that the hot humid weather is behind you. I always enjoyed being outdoor during the fall, work didn’t seem so hard then. I never saw a bear in our orchard but saw evidence that they had been around.
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