Mid-September Garden and End of Ghost Month

The September garden is cooler and calmer. We have had some rainy days to refresh the green, and I can relax with the watering. This is the time to begin a little garden clean-up, and prepare for winter.

Today is also the last day of Hungry Ghost month. On the last day of the seventh lunar month, before the next new moon, the gates of hell close up again. Asians celebrate this day in a variety of ways - they might burn paper money and clothing again, and taoist monks might chant to drive the ghosts away or release them; and the Toucheng Ghost Grappling Competition is held in Yilan's Toucheng Township in Taiwan(!)

 

Today:

1. Release my hungry ghosts

2. September garden tasks

3. Garden clean up and winterizing

4. Freeze tomatoes

5. Make a floating lantern

1. Release my hungry ghosts:

As I said at the last new moon, Hungry Ghosts have two manifestations: They appear as the spirits of unhappy, homeless souls, and we also have our inner hungry ghosts.

Early this morning I had a little ceremony to release some of my hungry ghosts (need for approval, need for comfort). I wrote them down on slips of paper, took them outside in a bowl, and burned them as I said a prayer of release.

I'm sure these cravings and greeds will hang around to haunt me, but noticing them is the first step to giving them peace and liberation.

2. September garden tasks:

The consistency of the 15-minute daily visit keeps me connected to my garden even when I don't accomplish much. In September it's all about looking for veggies to harvest, and then a little garden clean up.

1. Prune raspberries: Finish up my first pass pruning, taking out any really dead wood, to give everything more room to breathe. But I'll leave about a foot of cane, for small pollinators to nest in.
2. Seed Collecting and Saving: Only beans this year.
3. Prepare space for the winter garden: For bok choy, collards, spinach, and garlic.
4. Sow Cover Crops: Chop plants to the soil line then broadcast fava bean (and winter rye or oat) seed to enrich and protect soil through the winter.
5. Harden off and plant any winter seedlings that are ready. (I'm going to wait until October this year).

3. Garden clean up and winterizing: 

Take it easy! Only remove as much as I need to for fall planting and for disease removal. Do not leave any garden soil bare all winter. - the rain will compact the soil and leach out important nutrients and minerals. Here's the best plan:

Leave some plants standing to go to seed for birds and insect habitat.

Some things that have to go in the yard bin: 

• Squashes with powdery mildew.
• Diseased and rotten tree fruits and cane fruits. These attract unwanted pests and help perpetuate their life cycle. 
• Fruit tree leaves. Many fruit tree pests and diseases overwinter in leaves. 
• Weeds with seed heads. One year of seeding means seven years of weeding as the mantra goes. 

Any beds that are empty or need prep for spring:

• Cut plants, but leave the roots in the ground to rot, which feeds microbes helps create good soil structure.
• Chop plant tops up with my pruners, then leave them as mulch for insects and microbes to do the work of decomposition and return the nutrients to the soiled protect from rain leaching.
• Add a light dusting of lime on garden beds and fruit trees (but not on natives) to break down during the winter, counteract the rain depletion, and assure a neutral pH for spring planting.
• Spread on a layer of leaf mulch. Worms will dine on them all winter leaving nutrient rich castings. 
• Cover leaves with a thin layer of compost to keep the leaves from blowing away and restores P and K levels as well as other nutrients and minerals.
• Sprinkle cover crop seeds.

4. Freeze tomatoes:

My 5 tomato plant are full of mostly green tomatoes. Soon the cool nights will begin to kill the plants and at some point I'll need to cut the vines off at the base and bring them in to ripen in a warm place (green tomatoes won't ripen but pink ones might). 

I recently found this article at the Reid Homestead site on a supper simple way to freeze tomatoes.

1. Fill a tub with cold water, and add a few large glugs of vinegar.
2. Wipe off any big dirty areas on the tomatoes, and then drop them in the tub.
3. Let them sit for a few minutes, and swish them around a time or two. (The vinegar helps kill off any bacteria or mold that may be sitting on the tomatoes, so this is an important step.)
4. Set the tomatoes on a towel to dry.
5. Core each tomato, and cut an X on the bottom end.
6. Place in a zip lock freezer bag and put in the freezer!

Freezing tomatoes means you don't have to blanch and peel them later! You just pull out a frozen tomato, run it under warm water, and the skin comes right off! So easy!

5. Make a floating lantern:

The most common way to mark the end of ghost month is to float a paper lantern down a river. People make colorful lanterns out of wood and paper, and families write their ancestor's names on the lanterns. The ghosts will follow the lanterns away. For a great tutorial see this Lotus Lantern tutorial at Chinese American Family. I haven't had time to try it yet, but it looks fantastic!

I've made a simpler version with kids - instructions here - but please substitute a paper plate for the foam base if you plan to float it down a river!