01

What a month it has been! November started off as a mad dash for me, trying to get everything tucked in under row covers before our first freeze arrived on November 10th with lows in the 20's. I cut new frost cloth for each bed and had to make a LOT of sandbags, but now that it is done I feel so grateful to be set for winter. The second half of the month found me mulching, topping beds with compost, and working to cover the pathways with leaves. I'm still not done but I'm making progress! It is also the month for bulbs, so I planted more daffodils and pre-sprouted anemone and ranunculus corms which will go in the ground any day now.

02

Anyone out there love to organize? (Looking at you sister) Well this is my garden version of The Home Edit. I like to try new things as I learn and grow as a gardener, so I decided to reorganize. I have divided the garden into 4 seasonal blocks. Two blocks are for cool flowers (think Snapdragons, Anemone and Bupleurum), which are growing now. Another block will be for the first warm season planting (think Celosia, Zinnias and Cosmos), in April. And finally, the last block (pic above), is the fall blooming garden (i.e. Marigolds, Sunflowers, Hibiscus), planted in June/July. This way I can completely turn over each block as the season changes, instead of hand picking individual beds to turn over. Stay tuned!

03

Earlier this month, our family had the opportunity to help host the 6th Bienniel Shortleaf Pine Conference. That's not really a sentence I thought I'd say about my life 15 years ago, but I married a man who loves trees so here we are. I am so proud of his participation in the conservation efforts of this dwindling ecosystem. (This newsletter is not the place for too much more on that but reach out if you're into conservation, prescribed fire or red-cockaded woodpeckers!) The conference was wonderful with attendees spanning from Texas to West Virginia, and as support staff I helped out with pine-themed centerpieces for the banquet tables (photo below). While this is a deviation from my usual content, it was inspiring being around so many people who steward God's creation well, just with a much slower growing species than flowers.

05

Well this was a new one for me - clover footprints. In my fall-blooming bed for next season, I had time to plant a winter cover crop to promote soil health. So I cast out crimson clover seed a few days before the first freeze, watered it in, and hoped it would grow. And it did! But not without teaching me a humorous and valuable lesson first. As I walked along that day, turning the crank of the spreader, my feet pressed into the soft soil, pressing down clover seed with it. In the coming days as my footprints slowly turned greener and greener, I couldn't help but laugh. What I didn't know, but obviously do now, is that these seeds like to be pressed slightly into the soil rather than cast on top. If that doesn't make for an easy “God in the garden” reference, what would?!