Lughnasa Waning Grandchildren Moon
Kate and I have shifted our bedtimes and risings to 6:30. This allows us to get out to work in the garden when it’s still the cool of the day. This morning Kate continued to restore the original look and feel to the orchard while I finished up the mulch in the front, moved her growing mound of pulled weeds and gathering lettuces and kale for today’s meals.
There was, too, the matter of the original guild plantings in the orchard. Guilds complement each other and, in this case, the fruit tree under which they grow. Over the last two years we’d let the clover go, after a two year effort prior to that eliminating what Paula, owner of Ecological Gardens, called, “…that damn quack.” The good news: no quack back. The bad: clover all over. In the process we lost some of the plants in the guilds. I know what they are now and will replace them over the next couple of weeks.
It was also weed identification day, so I spent time in the orchard, my “Weeds of the Northeast” in hand, shuffling through the pages trying to find a match. The ones I could not identify I have concluded for now are plants that have a place.
We’re now going to work an hour to two in the mornings together. That should be enough to manage. I used to be able to care for our perennials in an hour a morning, but our various plots have grown beyond that. It’s a two person yard now and Kate’s wonderful recovery has added her back to the team. Yeah!
Today perennial bulb orders to go in, too. Over the vegetable and bee years, the ramping up years, I’ve pretty much left the old perennial beds to themselves, only occasionally working them and then usually when the situation demanded, rather than requested, me. Now we’re a bit further along with the orchard, the vegetables and the bees and I want to return some attention to the bulbs and perennial flowers that I love. Bulb planting happens in October when the rest of the garden has died away, so there’s little conflict in time for that chore.
