Finally Some Fall Gardening

I'm not complaining because I just not got to my fall tasks since the reason was I was in Jamaica then Albaquerque. But it sure felt good to be outside under the blue sky today all afternoon. I had to fight a bit with the mower then checked the oil needed some. Then read the manual oh 5 pumps when under 50 degrees for the whatchamacallit... choke. Then despite plugging it in had to do the pull start. (HATE THAT) But the new mower is POWERFUL. Wowza. I never could do both my mom's yard and mine in one day with prior mowers. So sorry to say rechargeable mowers can't compete with gas. Hopefully that will change in the future. BUT it's also not very green when you have to buy a new lead battery every year. What a pisser.

Here's the front yard from front door last month:

I don't think I'll plant any tall herbs around my herb circle next year. I missed seeing my Japanese Red Maple too much. I'll put the tall ones around the pool next year. Isn't the Limelight and Little Lime hydrangea pretty with their dried blooms? I'll have to figure out when to prune off some stems of all the dogwood I planted. 6 bushes I believe. That way some bright red ones emerge next year. 

So I mowed and the new mower made the most beautiful confetti out of the leaves on our yards so I should have great leaf mold in the spring for sure. Last years isn't even leaf mold anymore, it's just compost. I'm kind of bummed I missed it when it had that crumbly texture and floor of the forest smell. Tons of worms in it when I moved it to a smaller bin to save for spring. 

I also sucked up leaves from around my mom's bushes with the leaf vacuum but I'm glad the mower did most of that. Raked leaves in backyard that I didn't bag up with grass into dog pen. Moved straw into garden and covered beds with food still growing or waiting for harvest. 

I also scrubbed the pool some more but then ran out of daylight and couldn't find wet vac. 

Before:

After:

And that was last Saturday. It filled up with leaves again and I shoveled them out AGAIN and removed about half of that muck again and scrubbed about half of the pool floor with bleach water. So I only have half to go and the stairs. I worked on stairs last week but wow they're really covered with algae. But I'm happy to say that nothing seems to have stained our liner so once I get it clean tomorrow, I'll refill it. I know crazy. About 2/3 up and add winterizer and a couple floats and attempt to rig a couple tarps over the pool. Wish me luck.