Can you believe 10 months of 2022 has gone by already?

Today will probably be the last day I can actually work in the garden because after the 20-degree temperature drop tomorrow, it’s not looking like it’ll climb back up anytime soon, at least not for the next 10 days. The high for the next 10 days will be in the low to mid 40’s-degrees-Fahrenheit and the lows will be in the mid to high 20’s. Brrr… 🥶

So I’m scrambling to do one last thing in the garden before winter shuts me inside for the next few months. I must rake away the dried up grass and apply a layer of lawn soil to let it penetrate the soil and loosen the ground if I’m going to want to plant anything beside grass in the spot. Right now, the surface is hard as a rock.

Over the weekend, I constructed and filled two new raised beds. It was back-breaking work and my entire body is incredibly sore at the moment but it’s well worth it.

Compared to before, I think it looks much better, at least, my blueberry bushes and strawberries have a proper, permanent home now in that narrow 5-by-2 feet raised bed. Their roots will have plenty of space to roam since these beds are bottomless. I took these photos yesterday and it’s looking like the blueberry bushes are going to be okay after I severed quite a bit of roots when I transplanted them from the grow bags.

October Recap

October was an okay month. The beginning of the month was hectic because of a website malfunction at work while I was on vacation. So I had to get the September stuff done in a short amount of time. Once I got my work caught up though, it was smooth sailing from there on out.

A highlight from October was definitely seeing all the autumn colors. It’s always been a must-see yearly event for me and always will be as it’s never the same year to year and it’s always so ephemeral. So it’s something worth the chase.

Mental-health-wise, I must admit, I was not in a good place at the beginning of the month. I was anxious, overreactive, and slightly depressed. I lost interest in many things especially in the 10 days before I got my car back from the shop. I felt like I was this caged animal pacing back and forth ready to pounce. I felt like I was trapped inside the house with nowhere to go.

My garden needed little to no tending as the growing season wound down. I couldn’t plant anymore because one, it’s too late, and two, because of mom’s constant nagging “don’t plant anymore.” She’s constantly trying to get me to quit my hobbies from photography to writing to gardening. She wants me to be that sedentary robot who only works, eats, and sleeps. Well, I’m sorry I can’t be that.

I’m glad I have a group of supporting co-workers and a supervisor who’s always concerned about our mental health. I’m thankful for the support and to have someone who cares. I’ve been feeling a bit better after getting to fill the new garden beds and clean up the garden last weekend.

So am I looking forward to November?

Yes and no.

I’m looking forward to the holidays, to getting those days off, to feel the spirits of the holidays in the air.

I’m not looking forward to the shortened day lengths. I’m not looking forward to waking up to dark skies and having dark skies at 5 PM. I’m not looking forward to battling the winter blues and the cold and the snowy weather but I guess I’ll just have to suck it up because it’s like this every year and I just need to look forward to spring.