Starting Fall Chores

Lisa K
Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭


Well my fall chores have begun starting with my most important, cutting down a Pepper tree which was close to wires at my house and my neighbors and needed to come down before any storm comes through. I tried to get a tree company but no response so on Sunday Tom (who has done work at my dad’s and my house) cut down the tree and I am now in the process of the clean up.

The first two pictures are what the tree looked like before we started working on it. 

And here is what it looked like after some clean up. One of the pictures is of three of the largest Green Recycle cans but there is now four of them (one is my neighbors which he let me borrow). 

The last picture is some of the wood I have taken to my dad’s house so far!

And it will start over again Wednesday afternoon once the Waste Management has picked up the green waste!

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Comments

  • JodieDownUnder
    JodieDownUnder Posts: 1,483 admin

    @Lisa K wow you were kept busy, big job & important re safety etc.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The biggest lesson is not to let an unwanted root-shoot get so big! Once I am done with the clean up I am going to turn it into a citrus grove.

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭

    @Lisa K That is SUCH a good idea! That is going to be so nice!

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks @JodieDownUnder and @COWLOVINGIRL!

    I am very grateful that we got the tree down on Sunday, Monday we had a storm go through and I was able to enjoy the storm instead of worrying about the tree! Also on Monday morning a Palm tree in Los Angeles caught on fire which spread to a house and our local News stated that our local beaches had to close due to lightening, timing is everything!

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    The four barrels were emptied yesterday and I have already filled up two of them and taken more wood to my dad's house! If we get a break in the rain tomorrow, Saturday or Sunday I hope to have the other two buckets filled. I am also hoping that the area will be cleaned up as well. I am planning on planting an Agave that my neighbor gave me by the gate and then see if I can take some of my citrus out of their pots and plant them or if I need to get new ones.

  • jowitt.europe
    jowitt.europe Posts: 1,465 admin

    @Lisa K that reminds me that I have a lot to cut, before winter comes: I want to thin Forsythia, blackberry bushes, plum trees, cut rose bushes... well I better stop, otherwise I get frustrated. One tree or bush at a time 😊

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @jowitt.europe so know that feeling! I have about 5 other trees that I need to trim along with chores! On Sunday I got all four Green Waste containers filled. I also took over a 2nd load of wood to my dad’s and probably have about another three loads and my neighbor picked a few logs that were too big for my dad’s fireplace. Once it is cleaned out one of the things I am going to plant is an Agave that I got from a neighbor. 


  • MissPatricia
    MissPatricia Posts: 318 ✭✭✭

    We hired a tree cutter to take out about 40 trees for fear that a storm would knock one down onto our house. Some of the trees were about 100 ' tall. Now we can see the sun rise through trees at the back of our lot; also can partially see fireworks on holidays.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow @MissPatricia that is a lot of trees and work! I almost have the area cleaned up enough to plant my Agave then my citrus trees.

  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @ Lisa K WOW, You had a lot of work and sounds like your timing was perfect. Good luck with the Agava and citrus trees---sounds good to me!

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thanks @water2world! Just so happens that today I got most of the branches cleaned up (even though there will be a few stragglers) and got the Agave planted. Best part is we hopefully will get some rain on Monday even though the ground is moist due to rain and the layer of leaves.


  • water2world
    water2world Posts: 1,177 ✭✭✭✭

    @Lisa K You are a go getter! Take pics of the Agava as it grows and keep us posted!!

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @water2world thanks 😁! I will definitely take pictures as it grows and on the progress of my clean up (turns out there are other trees that have died and I need to clean them all out). Also I have plans to redo the front yard and the backyard while the weather is cool!

  • Cornelius
    Cornelius Posts: 872 ✭✭✭✭

    Very cool and the citrus trees will be very nice there with the agave! I wonder if all of those leaves would have made good compost though? 🤔

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi @Cornelius I cannot wait until everything is growing! As for the leaves, some are still on the ground acting as mulch in the area where the trees will go, some are around the Agave and some are in my composts but there was way to many (Pepper trees are very leafy and messy). Only about half a green waste container and they were from the leaves that fell in other part of the yard as I removed them and in the walkway.

    Also I still have other smaller trees to be cut down and those leaves will also become mulch along with small branches I can shred. 😁

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Now that we've had two frosts, we've moved from early fall to late fall. Most of the garden work is done, though we are still harvesting lettuce regularly.

    I need to transplant some lettuce from the open beds into the cold frames, but we've had so much rain the last two days that I've had to put it off.

    The elephant garlic still needs to be planted.

    By far the biggest task remaining is raking up enormous numbers of leaves and dumping them in the leaf pile, where they will slowly turn into leaf mold.

    Hubby has raked enough to fill the garden beds with mulch, but that's a small fraction of the total leaves available. Some years we run out of time before winter and have to finish raking in spring.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    We might have our first frost tonight. I remember when we had our first in September. It would get nice after that but would kill most of ther garden opff it it was not covered.

    I have a ton of plants to move indoors today and the last of my ducks to crate up and move on.

    At least we will not have rain today!

    I wish I could say I was on time with fall cleanup and chores but I never am.

  • VermontCathy
    VermontCathy Posts: 1,987 ✭✭✭✭✭

    My expectation is that first frost will kill the heat-loving crops (such as tomatoes, beans, corn, peppers, and fruit), but will have little effect on cool weather crops, even uncovered (such as lettuce, spinach, scallions, mustard, claytonia, kale, and parsley).

    Only a true hard freeze kills our uncovered cool weather crops.

    Right now our garden is full of lettuce, despite two frosts.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Even with a frost we harvest brussell sprouts for thanksgiving. We just brush the snow off if we have snow.

    Quite a few veggies taste sweeter after a few frosts.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Wow there always seems to be something going on!

    In some ways I am lucky and in other ways not so much, I live in So. Calif so we can garden all year long which is good but there is no down time 😊

  • nicksamanda11
    nicksamanda11 Posts: 755 ✭✭✭✭

    I'm slow on fall chores. I ripped up non producing tomato plants. I cut down a bunch of thornless blackberry and made some new plants out of the cuttings that had roots. I am still harvesting green beans and tomatoes and peppers. I need to trim hedges. I trimmed back fruit trees some. I will plant garlic soon.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I forgot that I started a fall chore at my dad's house, trimming back his hibiscus which over hung his mailbox, front sidewalk and the walkway from his front door to the mailbox. Last Saturday I trimmed it back from the mailbox and the walkway from and today I trimmed back the front sidewalk and more of the walkway. This time I cut it way back so that it will come back bushier and allow more air circulation in the hopes it will deter the whiteflies.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    It has been a few weeks since I had the tree cut back but everything in the area seems to be loving it! The Hibiscus is flowering, the 2nd photo is of a bush that had very few leaves and was leaning to get some sun, my roses are much happier and even my Kaffir Lime is doing better!


  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Another Fall chore I finally got started is starting my Fall seeds. I finally finished repair my mini greenhouse which rats got into!

    With that done I started my first tray of seeds.

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Yea got a 2nd tray of seeds done yesterday!

  • SuperC
    SuperC Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭

    @Lisa Are you going to grind out the stump and its roots?

    Do you have plans to grow something else there but not so close to the building?

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @SuperC the person who helped me cut down the tree has started a new job in an office so I am going to chip at it and then once it gets to the point where I can tear it out I will (I actually did that with an Oak tree).

    This time I will be planting the trees in the open area and not against the house this time. I plan to eventually rip out the flower bed that was there when I moved in and either cement it in or put down gravel.

  • SuperC
    SuperC Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭

    What about planting a perennial herb garden of chives, oregano and thyme instead of cement that gets warm and causes excess heat to the ground, and gravel is tough to weed. Just giving other deas

  • Lisa K
    Lisa K Posts: 1,933 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @SuperC those are good ideas, another one I had after I wrote this was to grow fruit trees in buckets like I am doing along the wall where the kitchen is, this way I can lower the soil (which needs to be done because the previous owner built all of the planters above the slab which has caused some moisture problems) and still grow things and take advantage of the light reflecting off the white wall.

  • karenjanicki
    karenjanicki Posts: 989 ✭✭✭✭

    That's a lot of work, but I'm glad that you were able to get it started. I have been trying to get my home cleaned and organized before winter really hits, but there is still so much that needs to be done.