Six On Saturday — October 3

Happy October to all! To me, autumn is an invigorating season offering fresh starts in any area needing a fresh start. I was one of those kiddos who couldn’t wait for school to begin each fall, preparing for it eagerly down to planning lunches and outfits for the first few weeks. Although things look different for most students this year because of COVID-19 and online schooling, that feeling of newness and freshness remains. Even better, the garden doesn’t look too tired, thanks to recent rainy days, so there’s that freshness when I step outside as well. As our daylight hours rapidly decrease, I’m attempting to plan ways to stay active and engaged in the garden during the grey months ahead.

One excellent way to stay engaged is through Six on Saturday, a weekly meme hosted by The Propagator in the U.K. Gardeners worldwide invite others to step into their plots of paradise and have a look around on Saturdays. Here are six little peeks into mine.

ONE – Signs of early fall at Coppertop include graceful Japanese anemones, red maples, deepening hydrangeas and sedum (yes, Hylotelephium), and the first hints of bronze overhead in the bigleaf maples.

TWO – It’s a great time to harvest seeds for next year from plants that we just can’t live without. My list includes these double black hollyhock seeds. From start to finish — faded blossoms on the stalk to dried, separated seeds — these are some of the easiest plants to harvest seed from. Couldn’t find a stellar photo of mine in bloom, so please use your imagination.

THREE – Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant in the greenhouse are most definitely past their prime and winding down rapidly. Many quarts of tomato sauce are cooked and canned, and the family is growing tired of eggplant dishes (and green beans, too). Yesterday I pruned all tomato plants in hopes that the remaining fruit will ripen quickly.

FOUR – New boots! Every 3-5 years I have to replace my gardening boots, or “muck” boots, as we call them here. I’ve learned what’s essential for me in a garden boot — waterproof, easy on and off (zippers!) for quick trips indoors, sturdy enough to handle our hilly, uneven terrain, and excellent support with cushioning for long hours on my feet. Ariat’s Ladies’ Barnyard Side Zip Boot fit the bill. Soon they will be completely covered in muck and unrecognizable.

FIVE – This week we harvested six pounds of plums from our Italian Prune Plum tree. These have vibrant green flesh. There weren’t a ton of plums, but plenty to make some traditional, Slovak prune jelly with. I picked all the lower branches, and Hubby climbed the ladder to reach the ones up high in the “semi-dwarf” tree. Ha!

SIX – Did anyone really think I’d get through this post without mentioning dahlias?! C’mon. Besides being known for an abundance of spiders in the garden, these months are overflowing with blooms. Here are a few shots of recent favorite dahlias.

33 thoughts on “Six On Saturday — October 3”

  2. Really, really lovely post today! Your garden is beautiful and you have been VERY busy and all that hard work shows in your garden! Now about those boots! I may have to see about a pair for myself, but I think I could wear them with leisure clothes!

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  3. I also harvested lots of seeds this afternoon during a walk in a private garden. There was also a proposed seed swap !
    Enough to have new plants for next year!
    Your dahlias are gorgeous, especially the penultimate.
    Last thing : the windows of your gh seem much cleaner than mine …😂

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    1. Your seed swap sounds excellent, Fred. A great idea! Funny about the greenhouse — I was just realizing they need a good cleaning when the tomatoes are cleared out, before we re-install all the shelving. 😉

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  4. Wow, that dahlia in the largest photo! Those boots will last you a while, great choice. I wish I’d gotten enough green beans to be tired of them. Since I couldn’t water them for so long (water restrictions and hazardous air quality) a lot of them didn’t make it. The ones that did, I told them yesterday, “You have flowers, so I give you another week to do something with them, or you’re gone!” It’s that time of year I am SICK of gardening with vegetables! I don’t plant any winter crops!

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    1. That’s the way to give those green beans an ultimatum for sure! I’ll be be giving a similar ult”Tomatum” to tomatoes… hahaha. Some years I take the winter off from veg, but not this year. Feeling strangely refreshed even amidst the iffy air quality and awful political environment. Tomorrow I’m cleaning and organizing the plastic and other supplies I use to make mini tunnels over raised beds. Take care, Lisa.

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  5. Big leat maple! Wow! No one talks about this species. It is one of my two favorites! It is native here too. I will never understand why all those California Native Plant nuts do not appreciate it. They all think that buckeye is a great tree!? I know that the aggressive roots are not so good for urban situations, but they are fine in unrefined landscapes. I pulled up five Norway maple saplings that are waiting for a new home out there. I happen to like them too, but for urban landscapes. For our own landscapes, I prefer to relocate otherwise unwanted bigleaf maples. Unfortunately, the area is so densely forested that we are more concerned with cutting trees down than adding more.

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    1. This garden would not be the same without our bigleaf maples!!! We recently had to remove some leaning red alders and dying hemlocks, but I HATE removing the maples. I’ll tap some again this year. Two days ago we enjoyed brinner (breakfast for dinner) with the hens’ eggs along with pancakes with homemade maple syrup. It’s amazing!

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      1. Because of the climate here, sugaring season is too brief to bother with, and the syrup is not too good if it flows too late. I sugared a few trees anyway just because my colleagues insisted that it was not possible.

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  7. Lovely to see your beautiful garden in the early stages of autumn. I love your feature image with the tree turning flame-coloured. So glad you didn’t omit your dahlias – I hope they go on flowering fabulously for many weeks yet!

    I have removed my tomato plants, all unripe tomatoes go into a box indoors along with a banana and in a few weeks they are ripe enough for a big pot of tomato soup.

    New boots! For years I have been promising myself a good pair of waterproof, flexible, comfortable and warm pair of garden boots that I can tuck my trousers into. I still haven’t found the perfect combination. I opened your post last night and suddenly found that I was online hunting for boots. I still haven’t found them. I was then too tired to comment – your post kept me up late. 🤣

    I’m with Fred about the clean greenhouse windows! They do look quite sparkly in comparison to mine.

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    1. I’m hopeful for another month of dahlia blooms — we shall see. It’s always an accomplishment to clear out the tomatoes. It will be soon here. Funny about the late-night online shopping — It’s so distracting! My boots are pretty sturdy because of our terrain. I’m sure you’ll find some that are more flexible for your purposes, Catherine. It must’ve been a lighting trick for those gh windows to look clean! 😉 Have a good, productive week.

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  8. I read just recently that Coppergate, one of the old streets in York, derives its name from the Viking word koppari, meaning carpenters. Appropos nothing at all. Some of the American maples that colour well in autumn are grown here; they grow well but are very brittle and don’t survive storms well. We’re a bit short of trees that colour well so it’s a treat to see yours.

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    1. Well, maybe that’s more apropos than you imagined! My soon-to-be son-in-law is moving cross country to live at Coppertop along with our daughter — and he’s a CARPENTER. I’ll tuck that ‘koppari’ into my memory to share with them (well, we can hope…). Glad you enjoy the maples. We certainly do.

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  9. I always feel a little sad when Autumn arrives, so I’m always pleased when someone points out the good things about it. There’s lots of lovely colour in your garden particularly that beautiful tree.
    I see your post about boots has struck a cord. For many years I would buy that brand of boots for my horse riding daughter and thought how good they would be for gardening in. I think it’s time a got a pair!

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    1. Yes, I think the boots are a hit with folks who have to muck stalls, and what’s gardening if not mucking about? More red maples soon to be glowing here, constantly upping my appreciation of the season.

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  14. I do love the photos of your autumn garden! Beautiful! It looks as if you had bumper crops this year! It is a wonderful sense of achievement to know that the food you are eating was produced by you! I’m quite envious of your new boots! They certainly look sturdy enough for gardening. The dahlia that appeals to me the most is the gorgeous pink on with its petals outlined in a darker pink/red.

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    1. It does give me a good feeling to grow some of the food we consume. I think more time at home has allowed for better productivity. I agree on the dahlia and her eyeliner — her name is ‘Rawhide’ which is a weird one…

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  15. That’s an excellent set of criteria for boot-purchase! I’m constantly reminded to take off garden shoes. They’re called garden shoes for a reason, I’m told.
    More lovely dahlias as well. Please don’t stop sharing.

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