Early Autumn Cleanup

This is the side yard now, after I yanked two failing tomato plants and all the green beans from their wooden planters. I cut the remaining brandywine to the base before we left for Minnesota. One month later it's leafing out and I haven't the heart to say no to it just yet. Plus, the spider lives there, the same type of garden orb weaver as last year's.

I dumped the potting soil all about, giving the neighborhood cats the perfect sh*tting pot. I saw the flies this morning. On the poor man's patio are four black plastic pots that I threw some broccoli seed into -just for giggles (thanks Marie, it's that seed). I will re-use the brandywine planter for the sage, which gets heat stroke every summer residing in its current terra cotta (root-bound for sure). I have no idea what to do with the green bean planters. Taking them apart sucks. It felt really good to get rid of those ugly yuckling tomatoes, and I like the room to breathe, imagining perennials in that space.

In my brief stint at the corner nursery, one of the questions most fielded was "How big of a pot do I need for this tomato?" Most of the time the person had already selected a small pot, often a very small pot. Well, here is a picture of our cherry tomato's roots having gone through the hole in the bottom of the planter into the mulch below. The planter is about 14 inches deep.

Mushrooms growing around the new street trees in the mulch put down after planting.

The Threadleaf Ironweed, Vernonia lettermanii, and Bluestem Goldenrod, Solidago caesia, both of which I purchased at the New England Wildflower Society's Garden in the Woods in Massachusetts. These will be moved later.

Zinnia.

Grandma's Tea.