First Frost

All those wonderful oak and maple trees here in Southern Ontario produce famously beautiful fall colours, followed closely by the big rake-up. You know those big paper bags for garden trimmings? People talk in terms of how many they fill for their leaves! One neighbour filled 18, and is still raking! Having grown up on the prairies, this is still a novelty to me, even after 25 years in Ontario.

I have learned the leaves make an excellent mulch on the garden beds, so I trim all the hostas and other perennials, then rake all the leaves overtop. In the spring, all the plants come up through the leaves, and the leaves decompose nicely underneath.

Anyway, we had our first frost Sunday night, though the leaves have been falling for a couple of weeks now. This is late for a first frost. But what it means is some last minute cleanup in the garden. It's usually all wrapped up by Thanksgiving, but this year's late frost has kept things going a bit longer.

So a few days of garden work, and only a few minutes here and there for quilting.