The storm at the end of September put a full stop on summer. Week before it was hot sultry summer; the week after the air had that crisp autumn bite. Suddenly it was foggy in the mornings burning off to golden afternoons and darn right cold nights. Like I said, the yard was starting to wind down for the year. Especially the garden. The tomatoes all split and the bean vines turned soggy. Time to rip out the garden. And try a winter garden for the first time. So after working 10 days in a row, I finally had a weekend (no one to blame but myself since I AM the person who does the scheduling now.)

Everything got ripped out except the carrots (which have been long, big and delicious), arugula, late august planted peas and radishes.

I threw in some brussels sprouts, leeks, onions, a winter lettuces, just to see. However, the next morning I discovered that bare dirt equals neighborhood cat litter box — Lily was in heaven. So not sure if anything is going to grow or I will be just smelling cat-poop breath this winter.

After sorting the garden, I wanted to get some bulbs in. So last spring, I toured the awesome tulip fields up by Mom and Dad’s and the master plan was to order some bulbs from those farms and have the folks bring them down. But the timing and my vacation lazy foiled that plan. Plus I was nervous about the squirrel epidemic we seem to have going on in this neighborhood. Seriously, there are about a bazillion of them — much to Lily’s delight. She has biffed it on the garden beds and fences numerous times trying to get one. Thankfully she gracefully pretends it didn’t happen and jauntily returns to smile at me. She really isn’t serious about catching them, she enjoys the chase. But the nasty little rodents can be mayhem on bulbs. And, swear on my soul, the more I spend on bulbs the more likely they are to find them delicious! So instead of the fancy Skaggit County tulips, I went the Fred Meyer route. But what I lack in pedigree, I am making up for in volume! So I planted a 152 bulbs in the front yard this weekend (and destroyed my bulb digger in the process). If the squirrels don’t eat them all, I should have a colorful spring.

60 tulip, 60 crocus, 24 hyacinth, 8 paperwhites. There are already some daphs under the window and grape hyacinth by the drive way, otherwise those would have been included in the mix.