I’M PRETTY SURE I CAN pack enough summer into jars to get me through the dark days, or at least I’m trying. What’s your tactic for pretending the days aren’t getting shorter fast? (Thanks to dear Andre Jordan for his wealth of garden doodles.)
‘NATURE’S BEST HOPE’ is the title of University of Delaware professor Doug Tallamy’s new book, and the subtitle reads like this: “A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard.” In other words, you and I are nature’s best hope. Our actions count, and they add up to counteract a fragmented landscape and other challenges to the survival of so many critically important native creatures and the greater environment we all share.
Doug Tallamy’s 2007 book, “Bringing Nature Home,” has been for many of us a wake-up call into the entire subject of the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife, and now with more than a decade of additional research insights, he goes further.
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A lovely doodle…can he do one of me pushing away the heat of summer? ;)
I prepare beds for spring planting now including doing a seed inventory. This way winter is perceived as a long weekend. :-)
Here in the deep south we look forward to the cooler weather. But with the shorter days – especially when daylight savings time comes around – we get cheated. By the time one gets home from work it’s too dark to play in the garden!
On weekends, I’ll start cleaning out the greenhouse and making room for cuttings and seedlings to be ready for spring planting.
I made some pear butter with the small crop of pears my tree produced this year; it tastes great on toast with peanut butter. I also put in some orange mums in planters by my door. I know the mums won’t last, but they help me accept the changing of the seasons. I have yet to try pickles, maybe next year!