Water Those Plants...

"There are no gardening mistakes,
only experiments."  

~Janet Kilburn Phillips

Namasté!

Sending out Love & wishes for everyone's peace & happiness.

Just wanted to give you a quick update on the state of my garden.  It's actually doing very well.  Besides the fact that my fervent watering knocked all the petals off the only bloom on the cosmos!  It's okay because it has more emerging buds.  Everything else seems to be happy.

The passionflower vine is already reaching for the fence!  I thought that was amazing!  It's like it knows that's it's new home.

The purslane has plenty of beautiful pink blooms.  My ice plant is blooming fuschia-coloured flowers.  Some parsley is still alive in my windowbox, & I get to enjoy the beautiful red penta everytime I come home & walk up my stairs. 

One of the main things to remember about sustainable living & living in harmony with your environment is that means paying attention to what's going on there.  See what happens on a daily basis.  As this becomes a habit you'll find yourSelf tuning into what's going on with your land.  As the seasons change, things on your property also modify themselves to adjust.  It’s important to be familiar with those changes.    

I think adequate water is one key to a good garden around here.  Remember to mulch.  Leave all tree branches & leaves where they drop or move them to a place that needs to be mulched & let them do the job.  Mulching holds the water in & it also helps keep the plant roots cool.  After the leaves have completely dried & fallen from the branches, run the branches through a chipper & compost or mulch with them.  I don’t have access to a chipper, so I just sort of pile the larger ones into a deadfall that could eventually be home to birds. 

I recommend taking at least a few minutes to water by hand each morning &/or evening.  This affords you an opportunity to multi-task; you'll be observing your land as you nourish it with the lifeblood of the Earth. It's idiosyncrasies & tendencies, what sort of flora & fauna show up, what sort of topographical features it has, all are important things to know.  Watering can also be a relaxing meditation.

One of the points I love about sustainable living is the principle of greatest return for least effort.  Gardening should be therapeutic, not back-breaking.  If it becomes work, it’s time to reevaluate your position.  If you’re observant enough, Mother Nature will show you how to best garden your land without killing yourSelf.    

 I think that if ever a mortal heard the voice of God
it would be in a garden at the cool of the day. 

~F. Frankfort Moore, A Garden of Peace

I’m so proud of my little garden.  But you really must water a lot this time of year here in North Central Texas.

And remember the animals.  Even if you have no domestic pets, the wildlife, the birds, reptiles & insects all need water.  And you should invite biodiversity for the health your environment.  It’s good to keep a few shallow containers placed here & there.  Please, no one start lecturing me about mosquitoes.   As long as you change the water everyday when you’re watering the yard & garden, you’re not going to have mosquitoes.  And reptiles are natural mosquito control!  See how it works? 

Okay, well, I guess I’m outta here for now.  Sending out Love & Light to All.  Take care & be well, be grateful & be blessed.

Ashé!

kel