17\u00a0 bar rises 30.08\u00a0 3mph NNW\u00a0 windchill 13\u00a0 Samhain<\/p>\n
Waxing Crescent Moon of Long Nights<\/p>\n
The black plastic has been laid down; the marsh hay rests on top of it in fluffy abundance.\u00a0 A good snow right now would marry the two until early spring.\u00a0 May it come soon.<\/p>\n
This was a long project.\u00a0 I had to cut down weeds, trees, raspberry canes and shrubs, pull vines and dislodge a deadfall. All this was prolegomena. \u00a0 The black plastic had to be rolled out, made to conform to the odd shapes created by various impediments, then cut and staked or held down with logs.\u00a0 After a piece of plastic was cut and laid in place, then the marsh hay went over it.<\/p>\n
This process, too, is prolegomena for the next phase.\u00a0 In that phase we will plant serviceberry, hawthorne, and other shrubs and small trees that produce food edible by and interesting to birds and varmints.\u00a0 That phase ties in with the orchard as a distraction from the human edibles, in the hope that more–or enough–will end up for us.\u00a0 It is this linkage of one piece with the other, all in the service of creating a sustainable enviornment for people and animals, that excites me about permaculture.<\/p>\n
I have also mulched all the bulbs I planted and\/or transplanted at the end of August and the middle of September.\u00a0 These are daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, snow drops, lilies of many kinds and iris.\u00a0 I have both mulched and not mulched over the years and find that mulching the first year for all new plantings and after for those plants sensitive to cold increases the germination rate considerably.<\/p>\n
There are also many peppers now in the hydroponics.\u00a0 Only one is large so far, but they keep sucking down nutrient fluid at a rapid pace so they are growing.\u00a0 I have not yet convinced any eggplant blossoms to move on to fruiting but I imagine that’s only a matter of patience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
17\u00a0 bar rises 30.08\u00a0 3mph NNW\u00a0 windchill 13\u00a0 Samhain Waxing Crescent Moon of Long Nights The black plastic has been laid down; the marsh hay rests on top of it in fluffy abundance.\u00a0 A good snow right now would marry the two until early spring.\u00a0 May it come soon. This was a long project.\u00a0 I … Continue reading A Prolegomena to All Future Gardens<\/span>