Saturday, October 03, 2015

Early Mornings Are Cool


"Heat lingers
As days are still long;
Early mornings are cool
While autumn is still young.
Dew on the lotus
Scatters pure perfume;
Wind on the bamboos
Gives off a gentle tinkling.
I am idle and lonely,
Lying down all day,
Sick and decayed;
No one asks for me;
Thin dusk before my gates,
Cassia blossoms inch deep."

-  Po Chu-i (772-864), Autumn Coolness
  
Translated by Howard S. Levy and Henry Wells
 


"To enrich the earth I have sowed clover and grass
to grow and die. I have plowed in the seeds
of winter grains and various legumes,
their growth to be plowed in to enrich the earth.
I have stirred into the ground the offal
and the decay of the growth of past seasons
and so mended the earth and made its yield increase.
All this serves the dark. Against the shadow
of veiled possibility my workdays stand
in a most asking light. I am slowly falling
into the fund of things. And yet to serve the earth,
not knowing what I serve, gives a wideness
and a delight to the air, and my days
do not wholly pass. It is the mind's service,
for when the will fails so do the hands
and one lives at the expense of life.
After death, willing or not, the body serves,
entering the earth. And so what was heaviest
and most mute is at last raised up into song."
-  Wendell Berry 


October Gardening Chores
Red Bluff, North Sacramento Valley, California, USA

USDA Zone 9






Removing dead and non-productive vegetable crops. 
Ordering seed and garden catalogs.
Start planting seedlings for the Winter Garden. 
Removing dead fruit and branches to burn pile. 
Remove all peppers in case of frost.
Adding and turning manure into the soil. 
Put all tools up under cover in the sheds. 
Reduce watering as temperature drops.
Watering plants as needed.
Being attentive to the effects of the cold dry winds. 
Planting potted trees and shrubs in the ground.
Placing cold sensitive potted plants in protected areas or indoors.
Planting new bulbs and moving old bulbs.
Prune and mulch perennials. 
Cutting dead branches and limbs from trees. 
Research new material for this webpage. 
Storing and repairing tools.
Fertilize with 20-9-9 or 15-15-15. 
Trees without leaves need little or no watering.
Picking pumpkins, squash, colored corn, and other crops for Thanksgiving decorations.
Finish all digging and construction projects before the first rain.
Bring in wood and kindling to rain free storage areas.
Repair roofs on sheds and house.
Mow lawns and use cuttings in mulch pile. 
Clean up Sacred Circle Garden
Clean and repair gutters. 
Close up evaporate coolers and cover. 
Add fallen leaves to the compost pile.
Be prepared for chilling frosts.
Collect seeds from plants.
Start pruning berry vines.  

Keep in mind that trees and shrubs planted in the spring and summer use a significant amount of their resources for above-ground growth. Since root growth is favored during the dormant season, it’s best to install landscape plants in the fall. It has been demonstrated that shrubs and trees planted during the fall suffer less environmental stress than those planted in the spring or summer."
 -   Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott



All photographs of our garden are by Karen Garofalo.





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