The garden in September

I have been able to do a little bit of work in the garden at the new house.  Some things had to be done, like finally planting the blueberry bushes I bought a week or 2 before we found the house, and others I needed to do for my sanity.
Oddly, one of the first things I did in the garden was make something smaller.  There was a rock-ringed garden outside of the veggie garden full of balsam.  It also made it next to impossible for my husband to drive the lawn tractor, especially with the trailer attached, around that side of the garden.  So I pulled all the balsam, that was pretty much at the end of its life, and took away half the garden. I also found 2 peony bushes that were looking pretty sad for all the shade they had been receiving.  Then I planted the rhubarb, chives, and golden oregano I brought from the old house. Last night I planted grass seed on the section that is no longer garden.  Of course I dug up some bulbs, daffodils I think, while planting.  And I probably will have bulbs coming up in the new grass, but oh well that's pretty too.

 The soil here is amazing.  So black and loamy, with little shaley bits of rock.  And it keeps going down.  At my old garden I had built up the soil in the top 4 or 5 inches, but below that was horrible clay and rock.  It was impossible to dig a hole deeper that 3-4 inches without either using a large digging bar or taking half a day.  I was able to plant 3 blueberry bushes in half the time it would have taken me to plant just one at the old house.  I am going to love working in this soil.  I can't wait to try root crops!

 The fall gold raspberries keep producing more and more berries.  Last night I picked more than I had ever picked; and there are tons of berries still to come. 

 I brought some little lettuce plants from the old house.  These two varieties started years ago as Rouge d'Hiver and some other green loose leaf lettuce I have long since forgotten the name of.  They both have reseeded themselves so many times that I figure I have my own varieties now, so of course they had to come to the new house.
I also planted some lettuce seed.  A couple heirloom varieties, Cimmaron and Red Deer's Tongue, from Pinetree Garden Seeds, and some seed I saved from my lettuce from the old house.

 The cabbages, broccoli and brussel sprouts are growing nicely.  We'll see if I was able to get them into the ground soon enough to get a crop this fall.

The flowers continue to bloom nicely as well.  This border at the edge of the back patio is a study in blue/purple.  The purple mums are everywhere around the house and are welcome now that all the balsam around the house is at the end of its time.