As fall arrives it’s time to clean up the garden and get it ready for winter. The flower garden this year was pretty successful, for not really knowing what I’m doing lol The dahlias are still blooming and so are the zinnias and cosmos, as well as the sunflowers. They’ve been making some beautiful bouquets that I’ve enjoyed at home, as well as sharing them when we have an abundance of blooms. I had my son go around to the neighbors to deliver flowers.
The tomatoes have been very bountiful as well. I’ve been freezing them as they ripen so that I can make some sauce, once they’re all done producing. I am going to get rid of the strawberry bed with a tarp over the winter, so that I can have more room for flowers next year. I’m also planning to leave my Dahlia tubers in the ground over the winter. For preparations, I am going to get some leaves to put down for mulch then I’m going to put down a very large tarp that I bought from Billboards Vinyls to help keep them dry during the wet months ahead.
I went to a workshop at Blackburn Gardens all about Hardy Annuals. I’m still learning about which plants to to start in the fall and winter. I have an order of bulbs to pick up from The Farmhouse Flower Farm and I will be planting those at the end of October. I plan to use my soil blockers to start seeds in January as well. I was able to save a bunch of seeds from the blooms this year, so I have a head start on next summer! 
This year I learned that I need to plant a lot more flowers as well as fillers to make enough beautiful bouquets to have a flower cart be successful. I bought a flower cart at a local antique store and had a local carpenter make boxes for it. I am going to wait to start having flowers for sale at the cart until next spring. I just feel like I didn’t have enough flowers to be consistent with starting it this year, but I’ll be all ready to go for next year.
I have also applied for the Floret Online Workshop scholarship. I hope to be able to take that class so I can learn as much as possible for a successful year next year. So fingers crossed that I can attend 🤞 