Another round of planting cycles

Here we are. It’s the tail end of October. There was real frost in my yard overnight. Yesterday’s cheery stand of zinnias visible from my office window is now a drooping, huddled mass of olive-green. (You know the color, the one that says “There’s no bouncing back now. I am dead.”)

Frost-killed annuals mean it’s time for other tasks. This was a good year for garlic in my garden. I have quite a lot to plant now, so next year will be even bigger and better – conditions permitting.

The Ottawa Citizen reports workers are toiling away to sink some 260,000 Tulip Festival bulbs in the beds that draw throngs of admirers each May. (That’s a lot of bulbs, can you imagine the back-aches and tired wrists?)

Most gardeners can attest that back-timing and prep work pays off.

The view from my window also includes squirrels and chipmunks darting about as they gather and stash essential winter sustenance.

Here in the Ottawa region I can listen to the whole NCPR team pulling together to plant bulbs and gather nuts too. Your contributions feed the station. It’s listener support that makes audio flowers bloom, year after year.

Keep the bounty coming. We’ll need lots of radio company in the winter months ahead. Thanks to everyone’s efforts it’ll be another bumper crop of “stories, music, life.”