Halloween And Other Stuff

I don't decorate much for holidays.  Once again, I bought a pumpkin and didn't carve it.  But no kids knocked on the door again, either.  It's been like 15 years.  I saw a couple outside, but they didn't stop here.  I was even wearing my wizard costume.  And I had good treats...  Oh well...

I'll set the pumpkin and 4 orange Mums out on the front doorstep to note the season, though. 

The Mums were cheap from Walmart.  The blooms all died, but I cut the seedheads off and they are re-blooming.  They will look good in 2 weeks, but I will have to bring them inside to escape the freeze predicted tomorrow.

I'm thinking of trying to cover and warm the tomato plants.  There are finally a lot of fruits getting ready to ripen.  Next week, the night temps are going to be warmer, so if I can protect them them for this one frost, they might mature.

Covering the whole bed of them is awkward, but I have a roll of 16' wide black plastic I could place over all the plants like a loose tent.  And a single standard light bulb under the plastic would keep them warm enough.  Anything for a few more ripe heirloom tomatoes!

Spread grass seed over the lawn 2 weeks ago.  They need water to germinate.  The forecasts kept saying it would rain, but it never did.  I watered the lawn with a sprinkler and the missed spots by hand yesterday.  Hopefully, some will germinate.

My compost bin is finally heating up.  Not as it should, but at least it is finally hotter than ambient air temp.  It was very imbalanced and dry.  So I soaked it, mulched and bagged lawn leaves and layered them.  Should start heating up seriously soon.

I need more earthworms in the compost bin.  I recall my Dad used to put plastic sheet in a clear ground area that encouraged earthworms to the surface.  He was doing that for fishing bait.  I'm doing that to encourage composting.