10-27-13 VERMONT: We’ve been here for a few days, in fact Judy is already back in NJ. I am doing the fall clean up and other chores. I put up storm doors the first afternoon and the next day pulled all the garden hardware out of the beds, border fences, plant supports, and put it all away. I pulled the siphon hoses out of the pond, drained all the hoses and put them away. We put the boat in the barn and moved the picnic table to the terrace. Then I started cutting down all the dead stalks from the beds on the east side of the house, and finished those beds the next day. There were four cartloads of cuttings. It has to be done carefully by hand with a hedge trimmer to spare the biennials and the plants that are still in bloom or still green. Today I did the beds on the west side of the house and got five loads of cuttings to dump in boggy spots in the pasture. Tomorrow the beds north of the house and the outlying beds and the veggie bed are on the schedule which may take two more days.
The pond is down about 7 or 8 inches and looks a bit clearer after almost 3 months of draining the bottom with the siphons. I’m hoping for clearer water when it refills. I drained about one third of the pond capacity—we’ll see.
The fall color here is mostly finished, the best color would have been while we were in Turkey or shortly after. Now the burning bushes, viburnums, beeches still have some leaves and some good color.
The house trim painting is finished, and the repair of the rotted sills under the old house front door is done. If the weather warms up again, I’ll paint the new clapboards. I still have to replace some rotted, external baseboards and at least one broken fence rail.
Color from burning bushes and viburnums.
Cimicfuga is a late bloomer.
In front of the house--before clean up.
And after.
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