The (garden) party's over.

We got walloped with below 30 on Friday night and that was it for the garden.  Am I the only one that did a happy dance when I realized it was kaput?  No matter how charged up I am in the spring, by October I am over it.  What a first world problem.

I had a surprise (another reason for a happy dance) visit by my BFF, so I took a half day off on Friday to beat a hasty retreat home so I could vacuum and raid the garden.  I picked everything that I thought would be usable, then tucked the kale, Swiss chard and herb bed under sheets for the night.  Sylvie took me out to dinner at the one (and only) wonderful local restaurant - true Mexican with the best fish tacos EVER. 

The house is festooned with flowers, both in containers and in pots:

My lovely Mandevilla

The fig tree looks like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, a drab little twig.  The Meyers Lemon looks good but has few lemons.  Not a surprise, as I had to do a major root trimming, repotting with it in the spring.  I covered the geraniums, but am loathe to pot them up and over-winter them in the house.  They take up a lot of space and I am always worried that Slimmie will start eating the leaves - even though they are kept in a room behind closed doors.

I have a box of green tomatoes, four zucchinis, three Bulgarian orange peppers, and a counter full of tomatoes in varying stages of ripeness.

I have quite a few pre-winter chores to do, but I am armed with my lists and will try to pick off at least one or two a day.  While I was out hanging up the washing, I decided to clean out the bluebird house.  Is this not the coolest thing?

Tidy Purple Martin nest on the bottom.
Total chaos of the Wren on the top.

One of the over-winter chores I will NOT have to do involves the turkeys.  They went to Marianne's farm yesterday and I am a happy woman.  I wouldn't have minded if they would have cohabited with the chickens, but oh, no.  No inside warm, dry shelter for them.  They much preferred to roost outdoors in the wind, rain and cold.  I swear we've bred the sense right out of them.

Saturday was a little too exciting, with the spotting of an obviously rabid raccoon.  While I was on high alert - following his erratic path, searching for my .22, I was also so sorry for him/her.  What a terrible disease.  By the time I was locked and loaded, he was gone.  I called all the neighbors to have them be on their toes, but no one has seen him.  Poor bugger.

Sunday afternoon, I beat feet out to the garden and yoinked up all the plants that were hit by the frost.  I'm down to Swiss chard and kale.  At this point, the kale is pretty tough, so I am leaving it to its own devices, while I repurposed the cucumber trellis over the Swiss chard so that I can tent it with plastic and try to stretch it into the winter.  I had wanted to plant arugula and spinach in the cold frame but have not done it, not having had the time, with one thing and another.  Next weekend I plant the garlic and cross my fingers.  It will be nice to put the garden to bed for the winter.