Fall cleanup

I have slowly been cleaning up my gardens for fall; after being promoted at work late in the summer it feels like I have no time to work outside.  Between my two jobs I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark, and it has been months since I've had an entire day off.  I've had to get a little creative when it comes to getting things done in my garden.

Things are getting done outside, but not nearly as quickly as I'd like.  The longer the weather holds out before winter gets here, the better it will be.

Today I went out and raked leaves from under the maple trees, and used them to mulch my herb bed, which is full of sprouting garlic.  We had enough cardboard saved to lay between the rows and smother the weeds, and I was able to pile a good 18+ inches of leaves on top of the cardboard.  The whole garden looks fluffy!

I would like to hem in that particular garden with a wattle fence...we'll see if I can come with the materials and time.

My next yard project is to paper and mulch the empty flower garden.  I ran out of both cardboard and leaves today, but will be running errands tonight close to my cardboard supply.  The crabapple by the barn and the oak tree out front still have to drop their leaves...they should be enough to mulch the flowerbed.

After that, the main garden!