Hey there, and welcome back to the Beginners Garden Podcast. I want to start out today by telling you

a story about a neighbor's garden space that I drive by probably several times a week and see if you can

relate. This cute little home has a small glass greenhouse with a few metal raised beds on the east side

facing the street that I drive by. Every spring, this space looks great

with beautiful and ordered seedlings in the beds. I can tell this gardener is full of hope for a new season.

But every fall, right around now, when I drive by, there's no evidence of vegetables in those raised beds.

They are full of overgrown weeds, and the greenhouse looks more like a C-3 storage shed

of used pots and tools.

The whole picture tells a story of, I've given up for this year, see you in the spring.

Man, I can relate to that, can't you?

No matter how much my garden excites me most days, this is the time of year where it just

weighs on me.

Thankfully, the fall garden gives me a glimmer of excitement, but for the beds that

look just like my neighbor's beds, I just want to turn my back and not give them a second

thought until next spring,

when maybe I'll get my motivation back. But then in the back of my head, I also think,

shouldn't I do something before winter grips my garden and drives me inside? Shouldn't I clean up?

Pull weeds? Dispose of plants? Add compost or mulch something to help my soil the following spring?

And is there anything I can do to prevent pests next year? If you're stuck between these two

mindsets, the one that wants to shut the door and lead into football and holidays and cozy evenings

by the fire, and the one that

wants to leave the garden this fall set up for success next spring, then this episode is for you.

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