Cheer up, call a couple of gardening friends and get it done. Then you can sit around all winter:)

I'm in the same situation here in MA. It's a beautiful but chilly autumn day out there, but I have no enthusiasm or desire to go plant the last half-dozen pots that are now hidden under all the leaves that came down in the storm a couple of days ago. Not sure I could even find them at this point!

Won't mention the bulbs in a box in my front hall, lonely and unloved. I do think it's time to give up this gardening gig I've been on for 45 years, just don't have the stamina or strength any more. I've told my DH that nest year he is not to allow me to purchase anything -- I do not drive, so that will keep me from temptation -- I hope!!

I am trying to rouse myself to action as well. We have sun today after lots of rain, but I am beat and it has suddenly gone from temps in the upper 70s to 50s. I should walk the pup (we do a 3-mile loop and he is much calmer after) and get out in the garden, too. However, after lots of babysitting my 15-month old granddaughter (always a joy) last week and doing so until midnight last night, I am being horribly lazy. Maybe I will go buy pansies to plant. ha.

Thankfully I’m done.

Finished up last weekend just before all the rain and then the winds.

That is with the gardens anyway...

Now it’s time to clean up all the leaves :0(

My UGHHH is with cleaning up what I’ve cleaned up. I’ve started cutting perennials down and pulling up dead annuals (we had a freeze last week) ... I want a pick-it-all-up person to go behind me and dispose of everything, plus sweep the driveway, sidewalks, etc.

There were two KO rose bushes when we moved here, they’ve both gotten RRD. Just noticed it today, and they’re huge bushes. But we’ve got to get them dug up ASAP and it’s not going to be pleasant.

Side note: If only I could train the raccoons to do some work around here, instead of making more work for me! Get this — we keep a cat bowl of water out for the neighbors’ cats who like to visit ... the raccoons are using it to wash their paws at night. We go out to a muddy bowl every morning. Their paws are dirty from digging up my beds! Little brats. :D

Hmmm. I can’t help you with all the plants to be planted, but as far as fallen leaves and perennials in need of cutting back... I glanced at them this morning and then turned around to get in the car for a trip to the NY Botanical Garden. Looking at plants and being outside was much nicer with someone else doing the work and all I had to do was carry a coffee around. maybe Tomorrow I’ll plant a few things, but the other stuff can easily hold until spring. Maybe I’ll mow up some leaves next week, but no sense in overdoing it lol

I finally dragged myself out of the chair and got my rear end moving and did accomplish a fair amount out there. If I wouldn't have come back in the house for almost a 3-hour break I sure would have gotten more done :0p. Well, tomorrow is tree planting day, that is a must since I need DH's help and he's off work early tomorrow and this thing has to get planted already. It's all the shuffling of other plants in the area I'm not looking forward to having to do...

We had our first hard freeze yesterday morning, with only 3 very light and patchy frosts before that, and of course I'm still cleaning up everything. We used to have a hard freeze by Oct. 1 (and often frost by Sept 15)--much better as far as I'm concerned. I don't WANT to be doing garden clean up in November. On Oct 3, at 2:30 in the afternoon, it was 96 degrees in the shade on my back porch. I hate it.

What has helped me the last few years re Fall "clean-up" , bulb planting and winter "prep" is doing a bit each week starting in September which is earlier for me than used to be the case.

(The two remaining tasks on my list are

• moving permanently potted Japanese Maples into the garage; but even this cant start till later in November, after they completely dormant
• burlapping a few of the young in ground JM)

Wow, lacey! 96?!?! I’d hate that too! My problem with this time of year is it overlaps house and garden chores like no other two seasons.

I’m rushing to get leaf work done but also need the sunlight/warmth for painting and staining projects that need to be done before it‘s freezing and raining every day!

I considered having to go out and plant 12 hostas yesterday justified punishment for being unable to resist buying them on clearance for a dollar each. I do have some clean up to do, but am waiting for my neighbor's giant sycamores to drop their sixty-five million leaves into my garden as usual so I can do it all at once. (They are so large they make a wet heavy leaf blanket that either rots the plants crushed below them and snow or keeps them warm enough that they try to grow in the dark and put out pale misshapen new growth. So I can't leave them on the garden. But my garden stems make a wind break for every single leaf that comes off their tree and blows down their hill. I have never seen them rake. Must be nice.)

This last wind storm we had caused a tree to fall on my garden fence, smashing it to the ground with damage all around the fence. I thought I was done for the year!!! New fence now, but in the meantime, trying to keep the animals out. Already had my carrot tops eaten. I'm too old for homeownership maintenance anymore but I love it here.

susan..bummer!..the fun never ends does it?

oursteelers..MY team could win today Lol..I have the world's biggest mess..inside and out..pots inside..leaves outside..we record the game and watch later (our fall routine)..haven't made it out yet but I'm thinking about it haha..

sunny and cool..nice working weather..we stayed out until it was dark and made progress with our raking..then inside and watched the recorded Colts game..a nail biter..Congratulations oursteelers!..did we make you nervous?

EVERY game this year makes me nervous! It’s been a looooong time since I’ve had to worry about our qb.

How‘s your leading going? I got nothing accomplished today but made decent progress on staining some shelves.

As for your team, I hope your qb is ok, I hate injuries:(

that's thoughtful of you to mention our quarterback..he's been doing so well..it IS sad to see injuries..it's fun for us but football is brutal :-( as many leaves as we raked today when you see what's left it's overwhelming..all we can do is keep going..

"I'm too old for homeownership maintenance anymore but I love it here."

My sentiments exactly. I'm dealing with septic issues this very minute.

For the first time in many years I did not buy any Fall bulbs or plants. Well, three lily bulbs, gave one to a neighbor. Almost caved in when I thought about a new idea for some more daffodils, but got over it. Maybe next year.

We were forced to neglect the garden this summer. We were busy enough for me not to notice too much, but come mid September I got a good look out the window at how bad things were looking out there. All that managed to do was make me want to get out there less. I don't want to look at it. I get overwhelmed. So I went back to ignoring it. [g]

But my time freed up and my energy perked up and when we had a few really gorgeous days, then I was motivated to get out there. And I paced myself and did a little here and there over the next few weeks. Luckily I was motivated last fall, to prepare the front garden to an unusual degree of completeness. Usually I let it go and clean it up in the spring. So spring clean up this year was easy and despite the neglect from June onward, I was surprised at how good that front bed looked all summer. And now I didn't have as much to do to get it cleaned up for winter. It's weeded and trimmed back, to some degree and already has a thick layer of chopped leaves on it. Probably earlier than I should have.

The backyard is another story. I'm going to ignore it until next spring. And an early cover of snow would suit me just fine and I wouldn't have to look at it. [g]

I do have a few perennials to plant - very small 4"pots, those aren't bad. Usually I have made a number of purchases over the summer that still haven't been planted by now, but I was too busy to buy plants, so that worked out.

We started cleaning up the vegetable beds yesterday and that wasn't as bad as I was expecting either.

We had to buy a new lawn mower and were too busy to shop for it and the lawn went without a mow for over a month and a half. It's never been that high before...lol. But it actually allowed for some of the weeds in the lawn to die off. And I was fretting over where we were going to get a new lawn mower at this time of year, and all of a sudden two Sundays ago...the opportunity presented itself and we got the lawnmower home and the lawns been mowed twice.

One thing I did for myself about 5 years ago, I stopped planting up a lot of outdoor containers. I realized how much I really hated the job of getting all the plants I always wanted to winter over, into the house and cleaning up all the pots and putting them away. I have four 22 inch pots I use now and that's enough, which I still haven't put away yet. I put my energies into more flowers in the beds. Then I grow houseplants in the house all winter. I don't bring them outside for the summer, except for one large tropical Hibiscus and 1 potted Rosemary.

I'll have to tie up a 'Sky Pencil' Holly that won't tolerate a lot of snow and ice on it. Two small pots of arborvitae that stay out all winter. Put away a couple of lounge chairs and the hoses and that's it. Nope, I forgot, there are a lot of Maple trees here, and there are at least three that still have a lot of leaves on them, so we'll still be chopping and mulching for a few weeks. Then the gutters have to be cleaned and then we're done. I think. But next spring, the backyard is going to need a lot of attention. [g]