October 19, 2017
It's been fun having the little mini compost piles scattered throughout the garden this year. They are in small corners and triangles that can't be planted and were always bare ground. The triangles between the strawberry bed and the melon mound are now black loam that's slowly decomposing and trickling down to nourish the soil under both. The piles don't get messy stuff like rotten tomatoes or cucumbers, only grassy or viney weeds that quickly turn the shade of tan that blends in with the mulch..
Bare ground constantly grates on my nerves but some places don't really warrant the store bought straw. I'll now be getting plenty of leaves to use, but through the summer mulch gets scarce..
October 20, 2017
We had our first drenching rain last night that left puddles on the ground and snow in the surrounding mountain tops. You may want to incorporate gloves into your little trick or treaters costumes this year. Don't send them out dressed like ballerinas, bundle 'em up like Wookies. I get to watch the grasses germinating in the fields now. The rebirth of the meadows. It's called Winter grass but it grows all through next summer..
I'm also enjoying the new fragrances that the rains bring. The smell of tall dried grasses change when they get wet, and the woodland leaves begin to emit their earthy odor. I've learned the smell of drying ganja plants by walking by a pot farm this year. I realized I've smelled it every year and thought it was decomposing poplar or cottonwood leaves. There's a huge greenhouse down the way from us and I'm now guessing it's not for hothouse tomatoes..
October 21, 2017
More rains last night reminded me of the old adage to stay out of a wet garden. Spreading diseases and smooching down the soil are the two reasons I remember. I can't stay out though because my greenhouse is on the opposite side as the gate. I have to traverse the entire length to get to it. There I can sit with the door open and wait for a cat to find my lap. I'm good for about 20 minutes then, or until I sneeze, in which case the cat goes flying off. I should be raking leaves anyway. It's the best thing to do for a wet garden..
The grass will die if you don't remove them and the worms will turn them into fertilizer for your garden if you do. Win win. It's also been requested that we plant winter flowering plants to help out our declining flying insect population. No one is yet sure why this is occurring but it's requested that we be proactive and help them out instead of waiting to find out why. I'm in. I love bugs..
