Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

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Don't Give Up, Planting Time is Now

The weeks we are having right now are the best time of the year to plant shrubs and perennials for our summer dry climate. The soil is still warm from summer and autumn, but now it’s also thoroughly moist from the first weeks of good rain. The sunny days with fluffy, white clouds that come between rainstorms are the ideal time for planting. Newly installed plants will have five or six months to get their roots down into new soil before they get their first drought stress test, often in late May or early June when the first dry hot day of the new year comes along.

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Blessing of Rain

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Blessing of Rain

Rain fell like a blessing on our town last night, and the night before. Gentle, persistent showers, a sunny day, and then another night of showers. The garden was so happy! Leaves that had been dusty for months were shiny and refreshed, plants that were chronically stressed during our long dry summer were suddenly perky. Our gardening seasons are so dependent on this first rain of the year, that it almost should be declared the New Year whenever it comes. Break out the champagne!

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How Do Purple Flags Fight Climate Change?

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How Do Purple Flags Fight Climate Change?

What we are learning now is that the presence of green growing plants is even more important to building a living soil than the presence of decomposing organic matter. By planting a mixed perennial meadow under our fruit trees instead of constantly disturbing the soil with weeding, we are adding much more carbon to our soil over time than we could by simply mulching. While getting rid of the oxalis weeds is great, getting rid of the carbon dioxide that is driving climate change is much more important.

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Why the Purple Flags?

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Why the Purple Flags?

If you had walked through GFE in March five years ago and looked uphill into the orchard, you would have seen a solid sea of yellow flowers foaming around the trunks of our fruit trees. What’s a restorative garden team to do? Of course, as an organic garden where no pesticides have been used for over twenty five years, we didn’t consider spraying roundup on the oxalis. We made a long term plan to change the conditions in the orchard so that they no longer favored the oxalis.

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