harvest haibun 24.9.18

Posted on Categories Poetry

Today is the final day of vegetable harvesting I declare to myself. This means I am pivoting into cleanup, clearing old vines and plants, adding manure and straw.

The line I draw is artificial and it will waver.  I have picked all the sweet peppers showing any hint of red and some green ones as well—there are more greens which I could bring in, but I’ll wait as you never know, there might be more generous days of warm sunlight. One winter squash remains–not quite ready–lettuce is growing in the cold frame and those sturdy spinach plants, next to the wizened cucumber vines, will produce until hard frost hits. 

Putting a garden to bed for winter isn’t inspiring in itself…as with many tasks there is a lever.  It is the fall garlic planting that will lift me into the next phase. For this ritual I need to decide how to rotate the crops next spring so as to know where the garlic will be placed.  Then I clear the selected spot, add manure, and let it sit for a few weeks until the special day that I carefully bury cloves into the soil and cover them with a generous layer of straw. 

Once started, autumn labour is easy in cool air and soft September sun, among rich orange marigolds and burgeoning purple borage.

Bees buzz softly

another bloom on those vines

their work never done

Closeup of new growth on a zucchini plant which is mostly ‘done’.

~

©️2018 Ontheland

Haikai Challenge #52 Harvest

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Published by Janice

My name is Janice.  I started blogging as Ontheland when I moved from Toronto to a rural area near Kingston, Ontario in Canada.  Over time I have found myself writing poetry, mostly in Japanese forms, such as haiku and haibun.  One of my deepest interests is the natural world: the joy of it and how we can look after it better.

19 thoughts on “harvest haibun 24.9.18”

  1. I’ve watched a show where they stuffed Zucchini blossoms. I guess that’s one way to use them before the weather turns. We have just been so wet here. And yet again this evening more rain. My yard is a jungle of grasses. I think I might want to try a green house. But I know they are quite a bit of work too. And the only spot I really have – I don’t think my hubby would want one there.

    Good luck with your garden. 🙂

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    1. Thanks Jules. I can certainly relate to the jungle of grasses…earlier everything was parched and now there’s a lot of trimming to do…but I have a feeling you may have been getting more rain…

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  5. Love your photo of the zucchini. Makes me sentimental about my garden in the past. It was always wonderful to see new growth. I remember having buried some pumpkin seeds for a lark, not expecting much, but being amazed the next summer that I actually had a baby pumpkin growing So special!

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  6. Pingback: #Haikai Challenge #53 (9/30/18): Anniversary: Favorite Kigo-of-the-Year #haiku #senryu #haibun #tanka #haiga #renga – Frank J. Tassone

  7. Ah, you and your garden are living the life i long to live. I am over run by vines and tall grass that do as they please. I need to figure out what has to go. Your garden sounds very productive. A nice write, Janice.

    Pat

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    1. Thank you Pat…my vegetable garden gets first priority…and with this year’s sudden growth spurt (and other factors) we are overwhelmed by tall grasses too in other parts of the yard…harder to walk the dogs lately 🙂

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      2. So glad you enjoyed it Pat…my vegetable garden obsession is not for everyone. I am low key on the preserving aspect..between my not having any canning mentors in my past, being mostly into fresh, and leery about bacteria I haven’t explored canning. I freeze some greens, peppers and basil though, but just in my fridge freezer. I don’t feel two people need a chest freezer. Otherwise we enjoy the beans, zucchini and cucumber in the summer and early fall (still some beans and cucumbers left). Squash last a few months and onions and garlics take us through the winter. I dry some herbs and sometimes do herb vinegars and herbed salt. I’ll play with sprouting greens in the winter. One skill I’m honing is planting within our capacity to consume…this year the weather, being much less than perfect was ‘helpful’.

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      3. That planting only what you will use is a great idea. I suppose that takes practice. Or you can become the person the neighbor turn to for your extras😊. I planted tomatoes for the first time, the yield was just so much, everyone got tomatoes. I keep trying to remember just how many plants i put down. I don’t think it was more than what came in those little square black pots. But i had to remove a tree and everything went wild! Those tomato plants was about 4ft tall!

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      4. I find there is planning and then whatever happens happens…I did some cherry tomatoes a few years back…thinking about doing one or two regular tomato plants next year (my partner doesn’t eat them so I don’t want too many) It’s fun when plants grow into monsters 🙂

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