Fallow Season

Winter is a quiet time for the garden.  The cooler temperatures and shorter days signal a change and the earth changes orientation from growth to conservation.   The plants that continue to grow through the changing of the calendar year do so at a pace that resembles drowsy, hibernating animals.  It is a necessary fallow season.  A time to rest and restore between the endeavors of growing seasons.  This is true for both garden and gardener.

These were the thoughts turning over in my head yesterday as I tidied up the asparagus and herb beds, tucking them in for winter.

I let the asparagus go each year until there is no green left then compost the stalks and hand mulch the dried Sweet Gumball leaves that have fallen in the bed to give them a head start on breaking down into rich leaf mold.

The herbs had overgrown in the last flush of fall so I corralled them to their respective sections with clippers and kept some nice sprigs of thyme, oregano and parsley for tonight’s soup.  Visually the thyme and the rosemary blend together both in person and photos so I think I will swap out the fast growing parsley and thyme next spring and let the rosemary continue to grow in the center of the bed.

All that remains to close out my 2017 garden is to give the figs a much needed pruning and trim back the blueberry bushes a bit.  It has been a quiet time for my garden and blog with the time normally spent growing, cooking and writing instead going to other endeavors this year.  There is a little more time between now and spring temps here in the south.  The last bit of the fallow season, with weeks that can be counted on hands now.  My 2018 seed catalog has arrived and I am beginning to plan for the renewal.