Cool nights and warm days with no rain. We are in drought, and it’s time to winterize the garden for what is predicted to be a “hard” winter. This garden season has been a real test of plant and tree toughness. Now is a good time to evaluate what plants have worked well under duress and which ones didn’t. This is not a time for discouragement, it’s a time to assess what worked and what did not, without judgment of your gardening skills, and remembering this is a learning experience for all of us. Every year you learn something new, maybe many new things.
Always be grateful for the knowledge you learn for the future. If you are keeping a garden journal, write down what you did, the effect it had, what you would do next time if it occurs again. This is how many folks get hooked into gardening. You wonder what is going to happen in the next chapter, like a mystery; a mystery that you participate in.
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Longtime gardener Fredi Stangland resides in the town of Alabama.
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