november chores; on being resilient; earthworm 'aha's' (and a book giveaway!)  

November! It's a moment of great industry -- rake, rake, rake! -- and also a time of much reflection. With each load of leaves, I'm uncovering memories of what came and went this season in every bed, and also loads of earthworms. This week's newsletter blends all three ingredients: the top to-do's, a muse on the ebbing season (with a book giveaway), and a 101 on those wrigglers. It's all about this thought from author May Sarton, really:  

'A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.'  

book giveaway, and thoughts on resilience

Word of the moment -- and of the day, month, season, and entire garden year: resilient.   

From the minute the deafening hail descended on my backyard on May 21, to what seemed like endless rain at times, to no rain this fall in weeks, a gardener -- and a garden -- must be ever-ready to bounce back, right?   

Read a letter I just wrote to my garden friend Gayla Trail (a.k.a. You Grow Girl), with a book giveaway layered in.

Start here. 

earthworm 101: surprising news on familiar 'faces'

Perhaps the creature the gardener knows best is the earthworm, but how deep does that knowledge go? Lately readers have been emailing me sensational headlines about "bad" earthworms, asking: Aren't all earthworms "good"? I invited Ryan Hueffmeier, an environmental scientist at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Director of Great Lakes Worm Watch, to join me for a Q&A that includes some surprises.

priority time: the november garden chores

I know: It can be overwhelming! How will we ever tuck it all in for the offseason, battening down the botanical hatches "in time"? Particularly in the Northern zones, November can turn on us. Take the pressure off by working in priority order, making sure we get the important things done first, in case the weather shuts down the cleanup operation. The November garden chores, first things first.