Garden Day

I am rededicating Thursdays to my garden: I will re-envision, and plan next steps for creating a sanctuary here for nature and my family. This is also a day when I have both my grandsons, and I want to be sure to get them into the garden or into nature. 

The September garden is cooler and calmer. We've 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.

This is the yin time of the waxing crescent moon, a phase of growth, when I am planting my intentions and caring for them. I'll take time to discern and create clarity. 

 

Today:

1. September garden tasks

2. This week's garden plan

3. Nature-culture flow and kid projects

4. Garden clean up and winterizing

5. Freeze tomatoes

1. 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: Pack the peas; look for native seeds.
3. Prepare space for the winter garden: For bok choy, broccoli, lettuce, leeks, onions, and garlic.
4. Sow Cover Crops: Chop plants to the soil line then broadcast red clover and fava bean seed to enrich and protect soil through the winter.
5. Harden off and plant any winter seedlings that are ready. My seedlings are not ready - they need to be planted into bigger pots, and they need some careful time outdoors

2. This week's garden plan:

• Th: Water fairy garden; weed Hugelkulture - prepare to plant new natives; harvest sunflowers and feed the birds
• F: Duck care; loosen and mulch beds; harvest carrots, beans, tomatoes, and beets  
• Sat: Transplant seedlings; plant beets again; weed and mulch raspberries
• Sun: Prune the roses, weed and mulch neighbor bed; plant new natives                               
• M: Duck care, prune hedge; harvest carrots, beans, tomatoes, and beets - freeze tomatoes
• T: Water fairy garden; weed street bed; plant new natives;
• W: Duck care; loosen and mulch beds -plant clover; fence area bindweed eradication; harvest carrots, beans, tomatoes, and beets              

3. Nature-Culture flow and kid projects:

My garden chores and practices are deeply connected to my teaching, writing, artwork, and activism.

• Th: Read Habitat Haven report, make a plant list; Both boys day - feed the birds and squirrels
• F: Creativity plans for equinox + Prep for Pledges Day + Shop for native plants
• Sat: Plan for native garden updates +clean pots and pack for Potting Day
• Sun: Potting and Pledges Day: Take pots and sign
• M: Day of Peace give-away
• T: Decorate for fall; Equinox projects with boys; nature box, acorns...
• W: Write about ECEF; IFEK meeting
  

4. 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.

5. Freeze tomatoes:

My 4 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!