Was that a gorgeous weekend or what? The only thing missing from the last big blowout of summer was...rain! A nice downpour would've made my Labor Day, for sure. Reflecting on another season's worth of gardening, I remember spring as one of the most beautiful I've known and summer as (mostly) hot, humid and water-less. While raking leaves yesterday, I wondered what fall will bring.
My street is lined with London plane trees, which are early leaf-droppers and already had deposited an ankle-deep pile for the length of the block. I now have two huge contractor bags full of dry, brown leaves to crunch up in my new leaf-shredder, which sits unassembled in the garage. A project for another day.
If that activity signalled the end of summer, new lettuce sprouts and red- and yellow-stemmed "Bright Lights" Swiss chard seedlings are hanging on to the waning warmth and light. Succession planting is a new adventure for me, and it's very exciting to think we'll have fresh lettuce and chard, just like early spring.
Meanwhile, the bulb catalogues are rolling in. It's getting dark at 7:30 p.m. The kids are heading back to school. Sure was fun over the weekend - there were parties and dinners, get-togethers with family, neighbors, friends and lots of good food.
That, not to belabor the point on this Labor Day weekend, was a lot of laboring!
