Other parts of Canada have had snow already, but we're still enjoying hot weather. It was 21 celsius yesterday, with the bluest sky and pops of crimson and gold in the forests. I absolutely love this time of year! Baked apples, the crunch of leaves underfoot, hot cuppas in the evening. Winter is the time for turning inward, spring breaks your hopeful heart, and summer is flat-out busy, but autumn is just cheerful.
I've spent three weeks at the church we're renovating, so when I get home later this week, it will be time to hit the ground running. I need to lop the heads off the catalpa trees at the bottom of the driveway, give the grass a last mow, bottle the apples I've been storing in my fridge (yes, a bushel of Spy apples actually fits!), and plant the garlic. I also need to dig out a couple of the raised beds to sieve the soil and try to get rid of the Jerusalem artichokes that are trying to take over. I want to move my three raspberry bushes from their pots into one of these beds. I also want to relocate my lavender from its scattered positions to one long bed running the length of the garden. This will be followed by raking and mulching the maple leaves to use in my veggie beds. Putting away the tools and cleaning the lawn mower. Maybe filling in some low spots in the yard with limestone screening and pavers to slope winter's snow melt away from the foundations. Giving the hedge a final trim. Putting away patio furniture and wind chimes. Starting the lettuce for the hydroponics system. Inventorying seeds and designing next year's garden.
Ah, there's the crux of it. Every year I tell myself I'll scale back, not garden as much, give myself a bit of a break. And every year I start looking at the remaining seeds in my stash and plotting out how to use them, and I end up with as much work or more than the year before. I am torn between "sit with a book in the shade and enjoy the breeze" and "grow as much food as I can because the world is burning down." If I turned some of it into a more permaculture-based garden, there might be less manual work involved down the road. Permaculture tends to focus on fruit, though, not annual veggies (it's in the name, really), but my family eats more veggies than fruit. My husband goes so far as to suggest I grow less fruit because it's mostly used in desserts, and we're trying to slim down.
I have a couple of raised beds that are beginning to fall apart, and I'm thinking of taking them out, smoothing off one half of the garden, putting down wood chips, and turning it into a) a couple of rows of grapes, or b) two dwarf apple trees with strawberries below them, or c) a big plot of hills to grow squash and cucumbers in, or d) a single shade tree with a bench below it, maybe with a small water feature, or e) a little studio for writing in to escape my crowded house and the chilis a certain person insists on cooking with (to which I'm allergic), or f) a small greenhouse where I can grow seedlings and sit in the winter sunshine without freezing to death. You see the tug-of-war between wanting to sit and wanting to be as productive as possible. Anyway, it would still leave me with seven beds to plant in, instead of the current eleven, so maybe less weeding, at least. Of the above options, which do you vote for? Let me know! At this point, I may have to draw from a hat.
It's a question I ask myself every year: Am I slowing down or ratcheting up? Staying active is healthy and probably keeps me young, but it also is hard on the body and anchors me here in this spot, when I want to be travelling. Even reducing the number of beds doesn't make that much difference when it comes to watering and having to be here... At the same time, I want to be here! I love my garden above anywhere else. And at the same time, I have grandbabies to visit and a church to renovate...
Sigh. I've really got to learn to just be, wherever I am, without wanting to be elsewhere, and to immerse myself in what I'm doing without feeling I should be doing something else.
An older photo of the layout. I'm considering levelling out the lefthand side. Sunlight comes from the right.
