Beautiful Autumn

Garden Nov. 09

Our summer birds are gone, and the winter birds have settled in. I thought I heard a lesser goldfinch a couple days ago, but have not seen any in the garden for weeks. The yellow-rumped warblers, on the other hand, have made themselves right at home. They forage for insects in the birch trees and enjoy the suet feeder daily. The warblers are frequently joined by a small horde of chestnut-backed chickadees, as well as dark-eyed juncos, house sparrows, and the occasional house finch or Anna's hummingbird.

I haven't been able to get into the garden much this autumn, but it seems to be doing alright without much attention. I pick snails off the cabbage as I pass by on my way to the compost bin, or pick a few lettuce leaves for dinner. We've had the full spectrum of weather from light frost to hurrcane-force storms that dumped several inches of rain to beautiful sunny days like today. We haven't had our "hard" frosts yet, but those are just days away. (By hard frost I mean that our nighttime temps actually dip below 30°F, at which any mid-Westerner would scoff and call t-shirt weather.) The cole crops are doing just fine in our chilly autumn, including daikon. I planted them in mid-September, and aside from the root maggots they have been a wonderful addition to the garden and our salads.