Circle Of Life
In October it can be easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks, such as raking leaves and removing spent annuals, that we often miss out on some of the more pleasant activities. This fall as I fight the battle of leaves in my yard, I will be thankful for the rich compost they will produce next summer. I’ll help them along in this task by adding compost activation enzymes and providing the water needed to assist in that process. My current beds of bulbs and perennials will get a nice protective layer of these same leaves to protect them from the ravages of winter. Rather than equating leaves with drudgery, or as simply something to discard at the curb, I plan to use my leaves to enhance my garden, knowing that they will nurture future leaf, fruit, and petal.
I will take cuttings of my bright and multi-colored coleus, whose happy colors brought such joy this summer, instead of merely throwing them into the compost bin. I will allow my annuals that are not hybrids to go to seed and collect them for the next summer.
I will consider the task of separating the overcrowded perennials as a way to get free plants to exchange with my fellow gardeners instead of regarding this activity as just another boring task.
To reward myself for working hard in the garden, I’ll make a fall display with potted mums in gold, purple and burgundy. I’ll “make” a barrel of everlasting apples by painting black walnuts red and make a sheath of mixed grasses that mature in the fall.
Since fall is a better time to plant shrubs and trees, I will celebrate my personal Arbor Day in October and plant a maple to celebrate the fall, not as a time of death in the garden, but as a time to allow roots to nestle in the cool soil and develop before I ask them to complete the monumental task of budding and leafing in the spring.
I intend to make the recycling symbol with its never ending arrows pointing forward as my own symbol, reaching from season to season, each preparing for the next. Instead of submitting to a feeling of fall melancholy, I will ask other gardeners to join me as I truly celebrate fall as another season for growth, an investment for the resting season of winter, knowing that the certainty of spring and the emergence of new life are also part of nature’s plan.
