Winterizing

This picture was taken last year after Mother Nature dropped enough snow that we needed our driveway plowed. It was a mild winter for all accounts so we were lucky. The Old Farmer's Almanac is calling for a harsh winter here this year. I actually like winter especially for the picture taking opportunities but those days leading up to winter are just too grey here.

It's that time of year. Along with the cold comes thoughts of winterizing the house along with the gardens. From now until the first of October, I will be spending fifteen minutes a day checking for air leaks and calking as necessary but the real winterizing can't start until the wind picks up enough to find any drafts. Then I increase the amount of time spent detecting air leaks and problem spots. Each year there is less to seal but with the high heating fuel costs, it pays off to always be on the look out for air leaks as that means money lost.

At the same time the garden needs winterizing so the first step is to harvest everything possible including green tomatoes. That will be our weekend job if the weather holds. Then all vegetation except herbs will be removed as will the grids and the soil will be prepared. We'll add a layer of leaf mulch then bag the rest of the leaves to compost through the winter.