Yes, I am feeling the slump and to top it off I was planning on working in the garden on Sunday, but after the Saturday night rain here in Mpls it was way to wet. Saturday was busy buying art materials and going to the "Arts and Crafts Show" as in period of interior and exterior house design. Part of the winter plans are to do some stenciling in our home so I picked up materials for that at the show. Working inside just dosen't have the same apeal that the garden does. Guess I will just have to hunker down in my studio and do my sculpture for the winter.

I am a confirmed winter hater. I could easily live in the tropics ( I did and it was heavenly). Gardening all year round.

Like you I do have the bulbs to do, I really don't get the same excitement from that as I do when I put seedlings or plants into the garden. Oh moan and groan and live through it I guess.

Pauline

I always take vacation time in the fall. Such a good time to ready everything for next season. It feels so good to have a jump on things in the spring.

Winter is the time to put dreams on paper. Like the compost bin/living roof I've been toying with. And getting all my plants and info on one spread sheet to make sorting easy. I am finally learning the Excel program. I think once I have it all set up, things will be easy and quick to input.

No blues here. I have a new garden to finish, seeds to collect, a couple day excursions for same ... I can get back to cooking in earnest (without air conditioning, I haven't cooked inside much this summer). MMMM...pumpkin soup sounds good right about now.

Rick

I love Fall! I love the weather, the wonderful smells of autumn, constant monitoring of seeds needing to be collected, pumpkins and gourds slowing down and waiting to be picked, all make this a most "alive" time of the year for me. The early expectations of gardening have been realized or not, and every color, blossom, or ripening seed pod is a bonus.

Kate

I put projects on the back burner during the spring and summer- filing things away in my head that would be good to work on during the winter months. I've already mentioned one of them- try to learn some of the latin names of plants and I ordered a few reference books to study. The second thing I am so excited about that I can hardly sit still is that we are heading up north this weekend to look at a travel trailer which if we buy we will park it on a family owned lake in northern Clearwater County where I grew up. Someday we hope to retire up there. But the RV will allow us to spend a lot more time and I am so excited to have another area to experience gardening in. Sandy acidic soil- zone 3a- whoo hoo! I'm dreaming of balsams, blueberries,pines, trailing arbutus. So much to plan.

No slump here either! Trying to make new lasagna beds- dividing hosta and others in need- collecting, cleaning, sorting, packaging and listing seed for trading- Renovating the garden shed- planting bulbs- must try to get inventory done of which plant ended up where this year- thinking of which cool season crops to try in the new cold frames- washing windows and switching screens to storms (all the better to watch the fall colors)- waging war on buckthorn- removing diseased elms- protecting young shrubs from the bunnies- harvesting and drying herbs- cleaning out the pond- mulching- all still on my garden plate!
It never seems to end!
Julie

No slump here either. If I work 24/7, I will not get all my gardening stuff/projects done by the end of October. Fall is my favorite season....spend all my 'recreational' time in the woodlands. Love the lack of biting insects, the beauty of the season, cool weather and the crunch, crunch, crunch of fallen leaves.
Jan

Ok, I think I have it. Enjoy the autumn and then moan about the winter.

Pauline

P.S. I really do hate winter (the cold makes me hurt all over).

We could plan some fun activities on this forum and have a few lively discussions- post our growing season albums for viewing- read journal entries- b*tch about the cold. We can have seed exchanges- a support group if nothing else. Don't just go into hibernation- stick around the forum and participate and we can help to get each other through the winter. How's that?

I donÂt know if I go into a Âslump but when the cooler days hit in early September my thinking was "is that all there is to the summer, itÂs over already". At the time, however, it was unseasonably cool here. Gradually, however, you kind of accept the fall mode. So now, instead of thinking of it as a cool summer day, you think of it as a warm day: for autumn.

ItÂs interesting though. In spring, during the first day the temperature hits 50F we are out there gardening, moving perennials, raking the grass, etc. and looking forward to the season ahead. In fall, when we have cool days like that, I sometimes have to force myself to go outside. Once IÂm outside, with my jacket on, I actually enjoy it.

Glen

Oh I'll take a cool day to work in the garden any day! I can peel off the layers as the work gets harder and just keep on workin' - much better than going slower and slower as I melt in the heat!

The stick around and participate sounds good to me.

that's how the "winter blues" seed exchange came into being. Some of us sitting around at Perkins after one of the fall swaps and talking about ways to keep on keepin on with our GW buds. It's a grand excuse to convene in the wintertime; and the swap has been swell.
I also think that since many of us live in something that would pass for proximity to each other, that it would be enjoyable just to get together at intervals for a cuppa somethin and a schmoozefest. Maybe gather with seed catalogues or favorite gardening books and just daydream en mass.....you know, green talk when it's white outside.
There are still many of you that I have yet to meet eyeball to eyeball.
Anybody else think a seedy- hot- chocolate-swilling gabfest or two sounds appealing once the ground is frozen?
Suz

Suz,

I am all for the seedy-hot-chocolate-swilling gabfest idea.

Pauline

Hey Pauline! We now know that there are at least 2 of us!
(In case anyone's allergic to hot chocolate, we could come up with other stuff to swill)

I took a lot of photos of my garden this summer, and I'm going to take a few more this fall. Over the winter, I will create a website of all of the plants in my garden-so that should help keep my thoughts "green" over the nasty cold MN winter.

Here's someone else's garden website I like very much...

Here is a link that might be useful: Maureen and Glen's Garden Site

No slumpin here. We are adding an addition to the house and I've had to move around 40 plants to a temp garden. Still planting the treasures from the swaps this fall too.

Next month I'll be hosting my third seed swap on the Seed Forum (Wish List Swap III) and that will carry me to end of Nov.

In January, we have the Winter Blues Seed Swap and it sounds like it will be at my home. This year you'll be able to mail seeds in for the swap if you can't make it.

If you interested in the either swap above send me an email and I'll make sure you get the info. (neither has been posted yet)

A month or so later it's time to plant seeds all over again. So the few short breaks here and there will be nice.

Dave