November 15, 2018
I thought it would be fun to make a list of the top ten reasons NOT to garden. I couldn't do it. All I could come up with is if you're living on ice. So Arctic and Antarctic people have the only reason not to garden that I could come up with. I could come up with ten reasons why they should move though. Gardeners find themselves thinking about how the earth interacts with plants. How the plants use sunlight. How the plants and soil microbes use air..
How water affects soil and plants. We begin to understand how these vast bodies of life giving systems interact in millions of micro transactions. When we then factor time into the equation, the magnitude of the system overwhelms even our imagination, and we begin to experience a kind of reverence. Each moment in time does not cease to exist just because it's past. It will forever, on that day, be exactly as it was. This is cause to pause..
November 16, 2018
I had to water both my garlic and onion patches again yesterday. It seems the freezing cold nights are drawing the water up out of the ground. The sunny 70ð days are also completely out of the normal November weather. They are causing more evaporation of water. I usually water the alliums in when I plant them and am done watering until Spring. November is our first window of opportunity for seasonal rainfall and Mother Nature never disappoints. Except for this year. I have to keep watering my crucifers too and the pastures are drying out..
The cabbage and Kohlrabi are ready to start harvesting. I picked a head of cabbage yesterday. It was a loose head but insect free. Four of the Kohlrabi are two inches in diameter so they are ready to go. The cauliflower is not performing as expected. The inner leaves have curled around the emerging kurd to protect it from freezing but it looks like they have stopped growing..
November 17, 2018
The asparagus ferns have turned brown so it's time to remove them. I hated to do it last year because one of the cats used to hunker down under them, with a 360ð view of where the unwary birds would land. Gray cats in shadow are the best camouflage. I hate to do it this year because they are providing a screen from the driveway, that I can sit in the sun behind. I'm not as social as I used to be, and people think it's impolite not to converse. It's recommend to cut the ferns off a few inches above ground but I don't know why..
Having the stumps sticking up does keep you from walking on the bed though. Cover the bed with 4" of compost, leaves, straw or hay. The straw or hay will have to be pulled back off in the spring. I always put straw or hay along both sides of the bed so I can harvest without getting muddy shoes..
