Our county is finally off of the Abnormally Dry list on the Drought Monitor. Yay! I am enjoying a peaceful rainy Monday morning knowing that the bulk of my garden work is done for now.
Of course, as I've said before, when you get rain you also get rain related cleanup. The middle of last week we got a surprise downpour of two and a quarter inches which was more rain in a few hours than we got for the month of either July or August. What was no surprise is what it did to the Buckwheat. I would rather not clean it up in this condition, and a few years ago this sight would have hit me in the gut. But experience tells me it really isn't any more work to deal with it in this condition than it is standing straight up. You just have to get on with it.
I had Buckwheat in all stages of development. The nice short, fresh bed was also slated for cutting before it flowered. I just hate taking such a scrumptious meal away from the pollinators. So it was either cut it before it flowered and they found it or wait weeks for it to go to seed. I'd rather cut it now. I feel much less cold hearted about it at this stage.
Below is the wild and wooly bed after about 15 minutes of cutting and tidying.
Below is a bed that was cut a couple of weeks ago and covered with compost. You can see a few seedlings coming through because the buckwheat went to seed before I cut it. I just rake those over before they get too big.
Last year's compost is almost used up. I've had just enough to cover every bed with a deep layer.
It is in beautiful condition. I just run it through the screen....
...and throw the uncomposted pieces back into the tubes on top of green material.
Hard to believe that last year this was branches and kitchen scraps and piles of garden waste.
The beds are surprisingly weed free after the crop is removed. There are a few to pull, but not many.
I shovel a wheelbarrow full into each bed
and screed it flat with a landscape rake.
I use a hose to wash any over fill back into the bed, clean things up, and fill in the edges.
The beds are clean and ready for winter. The earthworms and insects will have plenty to eat.
One bed still has some marigolds in it. I cut the Buckwheat and layed it down then moved the potato grow bags onto it to help rot down the buckwheat faster, The potatoes will stay in the soil until frost then the soil will be dumped out into the dirt locker for reuse next year.
And now some pictures of pretty things
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| Gitt's Crazy Dahlia |
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| Lady Darlene Dahlia |
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| Peaches and Dreams Dahlia |
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| HS Date Dahlia |
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