Feeling incredibly lazy after reading all of the things you're accomplishing! Most of my winter cleanup is done and I finished edging the 4 new peony beds my husband tilled for me. Have 6 peony roots in the garage and some bags of alliums that need to be planted, want to get it DONE! Feeling guilty having them still sitting there....

Well ... I buried some kitchen scraps in a garden bed here at home, not toooo long ago ...

Drove over to the big veggie garden last week. Collected lots of kale leaves. Tractor guy never made it out. That's fine with me. Brought some cilantro home and will probably make tacos with fresh salsa, tomorrow. The cherry tomatoes will be from the fridge.
Snow fell this afternoon on whatever is left out there. It will stick and more will be added through the weekdays with no chance of melting.

I've received quite a few catalogs!


Steve

Today I dug up all (most?) of the root vegetables. Lots of carrots (some huge ones), beets and leeks. Are leeks root vegetables? Harvested lots of rosemary and sage. I've had the rosemary plant growing for 4 years. I'm haven't been planning on putting the coldframes out this winter but giving up of the rosemary bush is kind of sad. Probably won't make it through the winter :-(

Other than that dug in leaves into the slightly frozen soil where the carrots, leeks and beets came out of. Did some tending to the compost and mulch piles. About as ready as I can be for the start of winter.

If I have the time tomorrow will try to take some rosemary and thyme cuttings before the big freeze arrives in Colorado.

Wow, there are some ambitious people here! After 6 weeks of not really doing anything in the yards AT ALL, I did get my dwarf pear and cherry trees and red currant potted in whiskey barrels moved into the garage and I got my strawberry barrels mulched heavily with leaves. I also leaf-mulched my in-ground strawberry beds and raspberry plants (which still have green leaves on them!!). I threw the already decomposing pepper and tomato plants that I pulled in October on top of the in-ground beds to break down and add as much matter to the soil as they can before spring. I'll remove whatever doesn't break down in early-mid March. I kick myself almost every day for not having started a fall garden back in August - we'd easily still have lettuces, radishes, etc., even with the few sub-20-degree nights we've had. I was able to pick tons of fresh rosemary for Thanksgiving, though, so that was good.

I am so excited for all the seed catalogs to come in (I've gotten a few), though in all honesty, I have more seeds than I will ever need. Oh well, it's too much fun and it's such a great hobby. I filtered through my seed box over this past weekend and started brainstorming what I want to focus on in 2017. I'm going to be starting greens (lettuces, Asian greens), micro tomatoes and perhaps a few pepper plants between now and the end of December under my basement grow lights. Beyond that, I think it's going to be a big tomato year again (as always), as well as beans and unique fruit. Baker Creek has some wonderful and unusual fruits that I am dying to grow out. I'll have some peppers, squash, melons, etc., too, of course, but it's always fun to throw some new stuff in the mix, especially since I'm relatively new to gardening (2017 will be my 5th summer).

My uncle is moving from his home in Aurora all the way to Grand Junction and he will not be able to take his garden with him. So last Saturday, I went to his house and took possession of a few plants from his yard: two heucheras, a lungwort, and a huge clump of the most beautiful ice plant I've ever seen. Since I have a history of killing ice plant, I promptly gave that large clump to Gardenchloe in hopes she can keep it alive. I planted the other three plants in my raised bed as a temporary home for them over the winter with the intention of moving them to a more permanent location in the spring. I only hope they survive.

Other than that, I just got some covers on my potting bench and grill before the chill came.