Garden Cleanup and a Cold Sunny Day

Today I went down to the big garden for the final clean-up of the year. I still had in the ground nine varieties of dahlias that I chose not to dig and save this year. All of these varieties displayed some unusual markings on their leaves, most likely the tell-tale signs of dahlia virus. In reality, I should have pulled these plants as soon as I noticed the first sign of virus. But instead, I waited until I had safely dug all of the other dahlias, just to be certain that I wouldn't transmit any virus from contaminated plants to healthy plants as I dug. Then I tossed them all over the fence. Again, I didn't want to toss them in the compost pile and risk further contamination. Then I covered the compost pile for the year and the garden was officially put to bed. A blank slate - except for the weeds - once more.

Although the high temperature was only 41 today, it was sunny and a very pleasant day to be working outside. As you can see, all of the cats were enjoying the late Fall sunshine.