Dirt Under My Fingernails

Fall seems to be taking the scenic route to southwestern Ohio this year. Sure, it's cooler in the mornings, between 50 and 60 degrees, but the days are still hot. It's supposed to hit 90* tomorrow. The whole area is in a drought--hardly any rain for a couple of months now--but the landscape is showing signs that it knows , despite the harsh conditions, what season is coming. Our ash tree has splotches of beautiful yellow and our fire bushes have a hint of red in their leaves.

Originally I'd planned just to let all the gardening go till spring. It's dry and dusty and the grass and most of the shrubs have gone into dormancy. I told myself that I didn't mind that it looked so blah. Then...a friend stopped by last week, and I opened the door for her and took a good look around through her eyes. It was so blah. Blah, blah, blah.

And I realized I couldn't wait till spring. So, I've been sprucing everything up this past weekend. Front porch got a good cleaning, all the shrubs out front have been pruned and the mulch bed raked and readied for fresh mulch (coming this week!). I'm going to buy some mums today for some color--I'm a late-comer to the mum bandwagon but now love the look of them. I might even buy some pansies.

Today I'm working in the backyard, pruning and raking, and tidying everything up. It feels good to be outside, to see things look a smidgen better than before, and I don't even mind the dirt under my fingernails.

Anyone else doing any fall gardening?

~Heather