It’s been too long since I have last posted, which has been due to a combination of events out of my control. The first, and perhaps most relevant, is that I am between horticultural therapy programs. I am no longer working at Green Chimneys as a volunteer, as my mentor has moved on to other jobs and situations. I have missed working with the children but at the same time excited about starting up a new program in February at Ann’s Place in Danbury to help those whose lives have been touched by cancer.
So my activities have been around putting the finishing touches on different therapeutic spaces at my new facility in Danbury as well cleaning up after all the storms we have experienced.
At Ann’s Place I just finished planting 3,400 alliums and daffodils in the front of the facility. While that seems like a daunting number of bulbs it provides only the most basic of foliage and flowers when all emerge from the ground. I planted the bulbs in three different layers: Daffodils eight inches down, medium-sized alliums four inches down and tiny allium bulbs 2 inches below the surface. The hope is that they will spring up between April and August giving clients and staff a nice display as they enter our facility.
We have also installed nearly 200 ferns as well as hemlocks and American hollies around a picnic area with benches and a table. I am hoping that staff as well as clients can use this area for reflection and support. I planted many Christmas ferns around one holly as a holiday focal point. Hopefully next year it will be in full bloom.
Walkways and winter rye have finished the job for this season so I can focus on building a program this winter.
Working around the garden at home has been another story; it’s been more work than therapy. I have always tried to approach garden work with a Zen-like serenity and enjoy the moment. This year, unfortunately, that has not always been the case as combinations of illness, accidents and natural gotcha’s have delayed and added to the many garden tasks.
This last month was focused on getting ready for winter. As I burned up nearly one-quarter of my split wood supply keeping the house warm in early November, I spent quite a few days splitting more wood to just replenish my supply. Every day for a week and a half, I would go out to split oak and ash for an hour or so. Splitting wood has a rhythm that I enjoy. The picking up and splitting again and again of the same piece has a calming effect while I listen to the music of my back yard.
But I felt more stressed than relaxed as I felt that the weather could turn to the worse at any moment. Ironically, that was the furthest from the truth as this past November has been the mildest I can remember. There were quite a few days where my skinny bleached white legs exposed themselves to passers by. The lack of consistent hard frosts manifested itself through my cats picking up tick after tick during their outdoor forages. Gnats, mosquitoes and other flying vermin swarmed around my face and arms. For Thanksgiving I had more bug bites than servings of my favorite dessert.
The warm weather, however, permitted me to repair over 100 feet of fencing that had been damaged or downed by the two storms we have had this fall. It was warm enough to replace and set in concrete 10 new posts as well as reset existing posts that had not been felled. My local arborist dropped nearly 20 yards of wood chips for me to distribute and I spent the better of a week wheelbarrowing the chips to all the different beds needed to be refreshed. As I started the task, wisps of warm composting smoke rose from the top of the pile and continued until I knocked down its mass a bit.
Through all this I have been able to harvest salads nearly every other day as my cold frame and Agribon hoop house has kept the lettuces and Swiss Chard all the ready to eat. Even though the temperature hit a low of 22 degrees this week, all the different plants are doing well.
Now that I have finished all of my autumnal chores (with just days to spare to winter) I can now concentrate on the few things you can still do in the garden like harvest the remaining (and surviving greens), splitting wood as it gets used and starting to review the catalogs that start to come this time of year in preparation for the spring.
