Hello friends! So much to write... so little time. I have wine to bottle, plums to dry, jam to can...!
Take note of what is blooming out in the neighborhood. A big complaint of new gardeners is that little is happening in their garden at the end of the season. A few of my favorites who are strutting their stuff right now there are Japanese Anenome, Salvia (Sage, both ornamental and culinary) Echinacea, TRUE Geranium, (not your grandparents geranium...) Penstemon, and of course SUNFLOWERS!...all going strong well into fall. This names but a few...
Mulch...The Free, the Cheap and the Stupid!
Free or Cheap:
Compost: If you make your own, and make a lot of it, it is free! If not, go to Pacific Topsoil and and fill a garbage can or two or three and it is quite cheap. OR BETTER yet... Get a truck load delivered and share with your neighbors!
Grass clippings: When fresh, they have high moisture and nitrogen content and can get smelly. The solution: apply a thin layer. Don't use when grass is going to seed, otherwise it can germinate in your beds to create a grassy weed problem. Mixing with leaves can reduce smelly problem.
Fall leaves: While they are best chopped (machete, weed wacker in a garbage can or lawnmower...) otherwise they can mat and stop air and water movement into the soil. OR, I save them in big wire bins and use them as Leaf Mold in the spring.
Straw: Keep your eyes peeled for bales around town for autumn decoration because straw makes great mulch for vegetable gardens and also excellent winter protection. Hay is full of weed seeds, so don't mulch with it.
Pine needles: Long lasting, light and easy to come by if you have pines - each fall they drop a pile of needles. Don't use in veggie beds, too slow to break down. Too much carbon.
Stupid: Not my favorites:
Cocoa bean hulls: Good for perennial beds, I guess. Now only use if you have no dogs, and if you can get it at Theo's chocolate. Otherwise, really, do we need to be shipping cocoa hulls for gardening.
Coir (Coconut hull fiber) See above, but dog's don't eat it. But... it is better than Peat! See below.
Peat Moss- Not sustainable. Takes about 17,000 years to make. Also hydrophobic. (when too dry, the water doesn't absorb.
