It's been a strangely mild fall so far in the Northeast, where Ken Druse and I both garden. But as some recent overnight freezes served as a reminder: Get the must-do chores done or else, because who knows when the weather will lower the boom for good. 





On our lists, still: collecting some seeds of natives to sow later and cleaning and preparing tools for storage; lifting tender bulbs and tubers to stash; where to overwinter the nursery pots of things we bought that never found their permanent home in the ground (oops).



Ken, author of 20 garden books and an old friend, is back today to help with the countdown, to getting the garden really tucked in for the winter ahead, and especially to remind himself and me and all of us not to get lulled into procrastination, even if it has been in the 60s some days here the last week.