As of this weekend, I had 3 plants left to get into the ground: 1 potted Issai kiwi, 1 weld, 1 betony. I was ALMOST there; almost caught up to myself. And then this happened:

The nursery was having a sale, you see. So, now I have 1 kiwi, 1 weld, 1 betony, 2 ChicagoHardy fig (not the kind I wanted, but 50% off), 3 elderberry 12 plugs of Dragon’sBlood white clover, 12 plugs of Sweet Woodruff and 12 plugs of Creeping Speedwell.

The plugs are all vigorously spreading groundcovers. Because grass is stupid. Clover improves the soil just by being there, is a bee paradise, is attractive, and only grows to a maximum of 8 inches (this is a white clover varietal). The woodruff is attractive, is a bee paradise, when cut it releases an odour that repels mosquitos, and it only grows to a maximum of 5 inches. The speedwell is attractive, is a bee paradise, has medicinal uses, grows in shade and only reaches a maximum of 3 inches. To these, I will also add creeping thyme (attractive, fragrant, medicinal, bee paradise, and only grows 2 inches) transplanted from my mother’s lawn and together, they will hopefully form the “lawn” under my orchard plants. The clover is green, white, red, the woodruff is green, white, the speedwell adds blue and the thyme adds purple. Once they all establish, it should be quite pretty!

Later this week, I have one more plant order arriving. 2 aronia berry and 1 passionfruit. I was quite surprised to find out some cultivars of passionfruit will grow here (with some winter protection). While I am.not the world’s biggest fan of passionfruit (dont get me wrong, I’ll eat it. It just isnt a favourite), the leaf, stem and flower are medicinal and in the past, I have purchased it dried. Now, I won’t have to.

I found one of my ‘lost’ aronia berry shrubs the other day. The yellow flags were not a great choice this year. They tend to blend in, especially when the grass grows up as long as it has this year. Re-finding all the things I planted this spring has been an adventure. I’m pretty sure two of the aronia are GONE. One just disappeared, and one met the lawnmower. So, these two will replace those two (but I will mulchring and mark these ones better)

I also found my second Chaste tree. I had thought it was entirely dead. It is not. Both Chastes survived and are doing relatively well. They are both marked better now.

Beyond the plants themselves, I want to get a few posts sunk around the orchard to mount birdhouses on. I want to get the steel for my second garden bed cut and assembled, ready for filling next spring. I need to pick up and pack away all the extra pots and bins I was growing in this summer.

Then, of course, we have the basic Fall chores – stack the wood, get the summer outdoor toys moved indoors, that sort of thing. Always something to do around these parts.