Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Now is the time to create lasting enjoyment all fall and winter long by planting flower bulbs. We’ve created a new page here that tells you all about how to prepare your soil and plant bulbs! Bulbs make great gifts btw

This Autumn has been a treat for the eyes. The Burning Bush is ablaze & the Scarlet Maple, Crape Myrtle and Viburnums are trying like crazy to compete. The bark on the Paperbark Maple is peeling and giving the eyes something much different to appreciate.We had 3 days of hard frost at the end of October in Grass Valley and I believe it set the colors in motion.

I know they say that colors start changing because of the shortened daylight hours & the chlorophyll is going to the roots, but I do believe the colors are much more vibrant if there has been a good chill at just the right time. This isn’t very scientific, but it has been my observation.  Now we’re enjoying Indian Summer – maybe for the second time, if that’s possible, and the colors have been fantastic! It doesn’t feel right to have temperatures in the 70’s and all this autumn color.

Even the Full Moon for November, the Beaver Moon, seemed exceptional.

Jeweled droplets of rain in moonlight,

fall like silent diamonds bouncing off of trees.

Saturation.

Through the window, the branches are weighed down.

Here in a cave of blankets,

I am in bed next to the warm body of my darling.

Meanwhile everything is dying outside.

Tomorrow  – the Sun will be reborn,

dispelling these last traces of encumbered darkness.

And like the vibrant light shown through sacred beads of dew,

I will awake in the new dawn.

Fall is my favorite time of the year except for one thing. When do I pull up my still-producing garden to put in the winter cover crop? I have purchased it already, so it will happen. I’m just not sure when.

The light is so beautiful now, the days are definitely shorter, but the bees are still stimulating the green beans to produce and the tomatoes are still ripening. I know soon I will have to step in, but when? I started the garden from seeds, many that were saved from the year before.

It was fun to try to trick the cold weather into leaving the seedlings alone enough to germinate and grow. They have produced an abundance of produce that has allowed me to freeze and dry enough for the next year as well as share with my neighbors and co-workers. It’s a good feeling to be able to do that, but I still have to decide.

When? Logically, it should be before the rains start, which is pretty soon, but I guess I don’t yet want to give up the fun and work and good flavor of picking dinner every night. I really like visiting the garden two to three times a day. We share a lot of memories.

Maybe this will be the year that winter starts late, or maybe I’m fooling myself because I’m not ready. I’m just going to enjoy it all right now and when it’s time, I hope I’ll know.