Around The Yard This Fall

I love fall.  It's such a refreshing time of the year.  The heat of summer fades away, the earth literally changes structure right before your eyes.  Shades of warmth renew the senses and the world turns calm and inviting.  I celebrate the days when I get to see holiday decorations fill the streets from October through to the new year.  I look forward to to the time I will spend with my family enjoy the best meals and most festive celebrations.  I know it's a time to renew my energy and my gardening.  I've touched on what will work best in a fall vegetable garden.  What works best to beautify the rest of the homestead as the temperatures turn cooler?  In my neighborhood the HOA holds a monthly landscaping contest.  It's meant to promote eye pleasing surroundings.  Which plants are best for sustaining and promoting a pleasing and colorful landscape as the days turn  shorter?

Reviving Your Garden for Fall

I don't know which I enjoy more, cooking or gardening.  I think the most inspired is when the two can be creatively intertwined.  That is why I strive to maintain a semblance of gardening all year round.  Spring gardening, Fall gardening and of course Container gardening. So here we are.  The heat of summer has gotten to your garden.  No matter how hard you tried to save what you could the heats probably going to win.

Know Your Zone

U.S. Zone Map

What is a USDA Hardiness Zone Map and why is it an important tool to any gardener?  The map on the right is a simple breakdown of the current US zones.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture first published the zone map in 1960.  Based on a plants resilience and a zones climate the formulation is not without flaws.  The ever changing weather conditions have required several revisions, most recently just this year.  Still, it is a handy guide to comparing climates and determining what might be the most appropriate time to begin planting.  Example:  I live in the heart of heat and drought where Spring gardening is earlier than other regions.  The winters are also milder which tends to extend the duration of fall gardening.