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Well, it’s a sad day at our little homestead today. I left the dogs outside for what was to be a warm night. I thought they would enjoy it. Mr. Red had been aggravating the hens so badly, that I had turned him out of the chicken coop last weekend.

Now, you have to picture this, LOL A big, Rhode Island Red rooster, chasing a big black labrador around the yard. Molly, our lab does NOT enjoy getting clipped in the back when she’s not looking. Red holds his own every single day… until today.

I guess, since Molly was trying to sleep and he woke up at the crack of dawn, as usual, he found her napping. You can probably imagine the rest.

The worst of it was that he wasn’t dead. He was in terrible pain and beyond hospice. I had to do the dastardly deed. The least she could have done is… you know. Sheesh. Make me do this horrible thing. I cried for an hour. I’m not speaking to Molly for a couple of days. Every time she comes near me, I just wave a bunch of his feathers in front of her nose and say things in a tone I’m sure she wished she didn’t have to hear. So she can stay out in the yard… alone.

Mr. Red… Rest in Peace.

Mr. Red, Cock of the Walk Rest in Peace

With all the talk regarding solar energy for many years its time has finally come. The gradual inevitable depletion of natural resources has made alternative sources an absolute must. It is now a matter of time and we will determine the eventual new leader. Much money and resources are now being spent to find the best natural resource, solar energy.

While many potential sources are possible, research into all the avenues will eventually surface with the most viable option for our use. Presently we are using a number of various resources to create heat, electricity and desalination of seawater. Renewable energy has the sun as it’s primary source. A source that cannot be depleted. Approximately 30% of our energy resources come from the sun.

Most of our economic resources and time are spent developing our resources in the areas of wind power, water power, solar energy, biofuel, liquid biofuel, solid biomass and geothermal. Naturally these all have their pro’s and cons. The biggest concern is pollution that comes directly from the materials, industrial processes and construction equipment used to create them. The side effects can be pollution and waste that will impact our environment.

We also we need to consider other key issues of environmental impacts, aesthetics and habitat hazards, land usage, proximity to demand, availability, reliability, longevity along with energy input verses output. Other possibilities such as fossil fuels and nuclear power have their own positive and negatives and are not as viable. The resources for our use are many, the challenge is not if we have alternates to use but which ones and in what order.

The U.S. currently relies heavily on coal, oil, and natural gas for its energy. Fossil fuels are nonrenewable, that is, they draw on finite resources that will eventually dwindle, becoming too expensive or too environmentally-damaging to retrieve. In contrast, renewable energy resources — such as wind and solar energy — are constantly replenished and will never run out.

Renewable energy is important because of the benefits it provides. It is believed that the major element in the learning and discovery process definitely will be and is solar energy.

solar energy system

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So often you hear “It is all my parents fault”occasionally I even hear m mother taking the blame for my occasionally caustic personality thought I’m fairly certain I’ve never blamed her for my questionable vocabulary and sharp tongue.  Not that she is shy by any means just a little more diplomatic.

In this case I’m blaming my kid instead of the other way around. It all started in the spring while the youngest was I the second grade.  She came home all wound up about needing to save the earth. In fairness I’ve been a pretty green guy for years. I’ve used Organic lawn care products long before I most people had the environment as top of mind. Speaking of organic I’ve bought organic when its available for the past decade and local all my life. What I wouldn’t say is that by any means am I an environmentalist. In fact while I’ve claimed to be a lot of things an environmentalist has never been one of them.  Buying green due to a fear of cancer and a shorter life, buying local because I liked the farmers market, the fresher products and the people selling me my veggies. In both cases I did the right thing by accident and not as a conscious act.

So anyway here she comes bouncing along at nine years old excited, full of great ideas and decked out in her often present pig tails. First she tells me how much wood is wasted and placed in land fills rather than being used for other projects or recycles. I don’t question the percentage or amount she quote to me like gospel. All I say is “oh really” before she launches in to more statistical evidence provided by a well meaning science teacher. OK fine she’s been heard I get it and leave the 2×4’s and 1×3’s from the recently disassembled dog cage in the basement and I built poorly constructed, unattractive but completely functional trellis complete with reused untangled kite string for the beans and climbing flowers to crawl up.  My mother’s father would have been so proud it looked like a contraption he would have built out of whatever was laying around. In his case not because he was an environmentalist or because he had a daughter or granddaughter telling him to “recycle” but because it was there and paid for and there was no reason to get rid of perfectly good wood.

So we recycled the nail laden and hole filled boards into our new creation. Sure money was save because I fully planned to go out and buy lattice or trellis for the plants this year.  She proudly helped me finish the building by pound the last nails in, tying off the last strings and the running inside to get her mother to see our monstrosities that were placed in a front garden behind a garden statue that was a gift from her side of the family. My wife came out, smiled at her reassuringly since she was so proud of the crooked ladder looking things right before asking how quickly the plants would grow to cover them.rnrnI did what any wise husband would shrugged and guessed “June maybe July” being very no committal.

She smiled and told our daughter what a great idea it was and then shot me a look questioning my abilities as a carpenter.  Which while I dabble at things is yet another thing I’ve never claimed to be. The beans and flowers have done particularly well. We’ll just chalk it up to a little extra rain and good karma.

So its fall and being one to never waste soil I practice a nontraditional yet completely natural way of composting.  Now sure I could buy one of those nifty composting bins to help the process. My mother and father have several of them.  Frankly I’m too cheap for that.  Instead, cutting the plants as they brown, I put them in pile with old potting soil in an un-planted spot in a garden. Preferably, but not necessarily, obscured by a large stone statue, rock or large patch of plants where it can break down “naturally”.

So when the fall harvest of sunflowers began we took the heads less the seeds and put them in a spot next to the herb garden. It was the same place I unceremoniously put the manure laden soil mixture from my previous two years indoor lettuce planting. To the left of the bronze garden faerie my the chocolate bell pepper plants (yes I know they aren’t herbs) by the basil, behind the lemon thyme.

And so it sat as as we cut the long green leafy stalks into foot long lengths so they would fit, and more importantly, not draw too much attention. Chatting back and forth without the distraction of TV, video games or computers, quiet and quality uninterrupted time. That is where the lesson accidentally came in about letting plants go to seed so we could use those seeds to create new plants for next year. Talk about how such things work in nature and why it works that way. And then finally about how reusing parts of the old plants helps keep the soil rich. See it isn’t about making a political statement, it doesn’t come from a deep need to change the world. It comes from nothing more than good old fashioned horse sense and helping to do what nature does in its own way to improve your own gardening results.

Sure there are missteps along the way like unattractive structures behind the wife\’s favorite garden statue. Or like when the mother in law comes over and grumbles at me before the sun comes up”Why in the world are your coffee grounds wets and weak?”  The reason being? She used the can labeled “GROUNDS” meaning used coffee that once its sweet nectar had been consumed served a better purpose in my pile of rotting vegetation, sprinkled on the lawn or as part of my cow manure and compost tea I make to water the occasional growing thing.

But in the end of it all sometimes a little youthful idealism, being a touch cheap, and acting like my old farmer grandfather intersects with lofty ideals without even trying and for this I blame my kid.

A few last words of advice. Mother in laws usually survive weak wet used coffee and even understand and forgive you on occasion. An upfront warning about how the plants might just completely cover the wife’s favorite garden statue for 4 or 5 months if all the seeds take and grow like bad weeds might be warranted. And finally, remember those informal compost piles you’ve been hiding throughout the gardens well in relative obscurity? Well the one out by the Fairy Statue and herbs I’ve got to tell you something about…  the bad news is that the compost pile has taken on a new purpose quite accidentally. The soil from the lettuce planters well it’s sort of sprouted with the all the other good stuff we put on top of it, a little rain and some nice cool nights. On the up side we’re going to have a bumper crop of home grown mixed field greens this fall. Well that and it is all Elise’s fault!

Patrick is an avid writer and outdoor enthusiast dedicated to educating consumers about the benefits of landscaping. Looking for more landscaping ideas? Come visit http://www.DesignerStatues.com for the largest selection of garden statues.

More Garden Humor

James Owen
for National Geographic News

Newly evolved “superworms” that feast on toxic waste could help cleanse polluted industrial land, a new study says.

These hardcore heavy metal fans, unearthed at disused mining sites in England and Wales, devour lead, zinc, arsenic, and copper.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081007-super-worms.html

Here it is fall and the garden is ready to snooze. Hold it, there is more work to be completed. Some mulching and some pruning. Those fallen leaves and dying annuals are not for the trash but that organic material is black gold for the garden.

A step that is both ordinarily and commonly neglected, to lay the garden to bed for the winter, is the addition of organic matter. More people should use organic matter in their beds rather than casting off their yard waste.See, this is right at our feet, yard waste. It has to be raked or mowed, so why not utilize it for Mother Nature’s blanket – mulch.

It is impossible to put too much organic matter into the soil. Fall is a good time for many reasons. One good reason is all of the materials that you want are there for free, leaves and dying plants.

A good suggestion is piling up leaves, grass clippings and dead plants (those free from disease) and going over them with a mulching mower, then putting them into the garden bed. How much benefit can a few inches layered on garden beds really help? A lot.

The very best thing a gardener can do to better their soil is add organic matter. It increases the water capacity and nutrient holding capacity of the soil. It assists in making minerals available for plants. While it accumulates, it binds clay particles into larger sums, improving aeration and drainage. And don’t forget, gardening success always begins from the ground up.

Alright, so it seems many gardeners are taking for granted the most important resource in the yard which is the soil. Now where do we begin? Run over that grass and leaves with a mulching lawnmower is recommended. This will shred the material into tiny pieces, and it can be left on as a top dressing. Put on two or three inches. If you have mulch already down, rake that back, apply to the surface the shredded organic matter and then return the mulch on top.

Working with mulch

Some jobs done in the fall will determine the success of the next gardening year. Mulching is one of these chores, particularly if you have put new perennials to the garden this fall. To mulch or not to mulch is highly talked about. Many experts claim that if you mulch too soon, it will cause new growth and give the plant a falsified view of the true temperatures. Other people say mulching is essential to ensure tenderness, and new perennials are provided a good foundation in which to root. One thing is for certain, just add mulch after you have cleared away any unwanted waste from the base of the plant. It is also best to wait until the ground is frozen.

Garden advice when less than 5% of our soils are composed of organic matter.
• Apply 25 to 50 pounds of compost per 100 square feet yearly.

Mulching over the winter works as an insulating blanket, keeping the soil from buckling from constant freeze and thaw cycles. If you plant perennials this fall without mulching, the bald soil will thaw during the day and freeze at night, producing movement that can heave small plants up out of the soil. The crown of the plant will be dried out and either be injured or die over the winter.

A concluding word on mulching, rose gardeners should not be in a big rush to mulch this fall. Putting down a layer of mulch now will do more harm than good. Fall freezes will not hurt the roses, so it is best to wait a few weeks for the soil to freeze before putting down a layer of your winter mulch to any rose.

Prune or not to prune

Specified perennials, such as peonies after their leaves have died, without a doubt need to be trimmed. The iris is also open to diseases and rotting and is better off if its leaves is trimmed back. The tree peony, however, is somewhat like a deciduous shrub with a woody stalk and won’t need to be trimmed, just fertilized around November and mulched for the onset of a cold winter.

A little bit of clean up and trimming should be evident, fruits and vegetables left deteriorating on the earth will only bring disease and rodents. Trimming perennials that provide no winter appeal will lower the likelihood of pests, disease and other gardening troubles, and it will liven up the outdoor space by making clean lines and a clean slate for the spring.

You can always leave perennials that have winter appeal, like sedum or black-eyed susan, and you always leave ornamental grasses there until spring. Texture and multi-colors of tan, brown and rust can be just as important to the winter garden as the bloom colors are to the garden of summer.

Plants, such as broad leaf evergreens, like holly and azaleas, are inclined to feel winter dryness and are much better left uncut.

So even if you’ve received kudos for the great color and design of your yard this season, we still need to clean up after the garden so that we are ready to start again in the spring.

Jim’s articles are from extensive research on each of his topics. You can learn more of fall prep, mulch and pruning by visiting: Fall preparation

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