First, what is this photo trying to show? I took the picture and if I didn’t know, I am not sure that I would know what I was looking at.

Is this clearer? It might be–but it still might not look good. And while I can say that pine needles are never fun to try to clean up in the fall, what you are looking at is a perfectly normal and natural phenomenon.

People think that evergreens are exactly that–evergreen. But all evergreens lose some portion of their needles or foliage every year. Usually it is about one third of the old needles for needled evergreens like my pines, here.

In drought years, like this one, evergreens might lose a bit more foliage because they have been stressed by the drought. I expect that’s what’s happening with my pines this year.

For broad-leafed evergreens like azaleas, rhododendron, boxwood and holly, the same rules generally apply, but the timing may be different.

And of course, there are completely deciduous rhododendron–but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

So if you see an evergreen losing its foliage, take a closer look. It may be nothing more than the seasonal shedding of some old needles.

The fall colors really have been nice this year despite everything and the mild weather has enabled them to last a bit longer into the fall.

But as you can see by the beginning of our wall of leaves here and my neighbor’s budding pile across the street, all that beauty is limited.

Tree canopy

And all of this still has to fall. As I walk out with with the dog, or walk out to the car, I can hear the falling leaves come down. At times, it almost sounds like raindrops.

Yesterday when I was out with the dog, we stopped by another neighbor who was raking. I remarked that all the people who come here to see our beautiful leaves never think about all the work that they are.

She agreed–but then added that it had been a gorgeous year for leaves. So I guess this is definitely a case of having a little bit of bad with a lot of good!

This is one of my pandemic discoveries. After losing too many vegetables to the roving parade of critters that call my yard home (more about that in a moment), I decided that if I wanted vegetables, I had to grow them indoors.

Mind you, this is entirely my own fault. Since I “married ” this property (along with the Spoiler over 25 years ago, I have done nothing but improve it for wildlife and convert it to organic gardens.

So now we have, as the Spoiler likes to say, every bird in Hartford County, along with those just passing through, as well as all sorts of other wildlife as well. It’s wonderful for the wildlife–just don’t try to harvest a tomato or some lettuce!

So last year I bought my little hydroponic garden and it’s been wonderful. We get all the lettuce we want, we can grow flowers, plants and herbs if we choose to, and I am trying dwarf tomatoes again. Not sure how they will do in my freezing house but I may get some before winter sets in–they’re already flowering.

What I wanted to highlight though was the difference between these two chile peppers. Both were started in the hydroponic garden. The one above, in the clay pot, I obviously transplanted and grew outside all summer.

The one at the top of the post about to flower has only been growing since mid-summer. But notice how much larger its leaves are and how much darker its color is. It is much happier.

Similarly, the kale I grew (we just finished our last bit Friday night) was different too. It was more tender because it hadn’t been blown by wind and battered by rain. It was delicious.

You don’t need a fancy hydroponic setup to grow indoors but as winter comes to North America, you will need supplemental lights. There are several good books about indoor growing, and some about indoor food growing as well.

Supposedly my tomatoes will need hand pollination. I will try the “gentle shaking” method that I use for my citrus and we’ll see. I am not much of a bee….