Mindful Gardening Newsletter No 34
As I write this week’s Mindful Gardening Newsletter, I listen to the falling of the rain outside the window. This week has been less gardening and more entertainment. Bee and I were part of the UK National Poetry week when we shared our favorite poems to a group of children from the Model School in Enniskillen.
Today Bee is off in Dublin at a networking event where she is invited to give a talk on the poetry map project that she facilitated last year as part of the Geopark Educational program. This week we were back at the Cavan Burren where she gave a quick tour to a group of conference attendees who were at a conference related to Irish Tourism. At the end of the tour, I got to sing them the song She Moved Through the Fair.
On the way to meet this group of conference attendees we met a group of people from the U.S.A who were exploring their roots. One exclaimed “Oh he has a guitar.” So, I asked them if they wanted a song which I did together with a story. They thought it was magical and the woman cried. It happens that way.
The Calf Hut at the Cavan Burren where I get to play songs and tell stories
The Vegetable Garden
I had thought of leaving the potatoes in the 1 ton bags in which they are planted but on YouTube one presenter warned about keeping them in the ground in the wet. So, I have started to harvest the main crops that are in these bags. I am pleasantly surprised at the amount that I am digging up.
This tattie hoaking is for us although most of the wire baskets in the cupboard are full.
This lot of tattie hoaking is for Jennie and the kids that I left by the door.
When digging up the potatoes planted in the 1 ton bags, I was delighted to see that the soil was like the compost that one buys in garden centers. Except that this is home made and has twigs in it and leave mold. So, the idea is that I will extend the two bays of compost to four and move the material in the 1 ton bags into these bays. This opens out the south edge of the fruit and nut garden.
Tony’s homemade compost (looking lovely).
Houseplant and Flower Arrangements
Given that the garden has almost finished flowering and the work that will be done will be building sheds and She/Sheds together with reskinning the polytunnel I am drawn to have more house plants that I can give attention too during the autumn and winter.
Given that we redecorated the living room this year we purchased some lovely sage colored plant pots and repotted those plants in house plant compost purchased for the purpose. Each time I go into the garden center or supermarket I am on the lookout for another houseplant.
Bee cut the last of the roses and phlox and made a flower arrangement. I am going to explore growing more flowers that I might turn into dried flower arrangements.
Re-potted house plants that I will be able to tend during the non-gardening period
Winter Vegetable Planting
Raised bed in preparation for the layer of sand to cover the wetted newspaper
So, the carrots are nearly completely picked and the courgettis are finished. This gives us two raised beds where this week we planted up purple sprouting broccoli and spring cabbage.
We added perlite, bought farm manure (well-rotted) and added some fish blood and bone. Then we watered it, covered with newspaper (The Guardian) and then watered the newspaper. I then laid sand on top and covered with wire baskets so that cats don’t use it for their convenience.
In the springtime we simply peel away what’s left of the newspaper and underneath there is black gold into which we simply add other transplants. With the perlite and blood fish and bone the bed will be ready for my beetroot and parsnip trials next year which I hope turn out to be as successful as the carrots.
The Potting Shed Lean To
Potting Shed Lean To – Framing the larger panels from the defunct Orangery.
Its been a week of painting all the many 2 x 4 16 foot lengths of timber that will act as the frames for the various polycarbonate panels that are scattered around the garden. I have managed to complete one of the smaller frames but will take it apart in order to add sealant and wood glue. The bigger panels from the Orangery need a slight adjustment to the template given that they don’t join at the corner. This is part of the adventure of a new project. There will be lots of learning opportunities.
Bee Painting the table top that will become a picnic table
Autumn Color in the Garden
Garden Safety Issue
Adding gravel to the path into the garden to create a safe pathway.
As the Mindful Gardener one of the things, I am ever mindful of is garden safety. At this time of year there are a lot of fallen leaves which will make paths slippery. I have fallen in the garden as a result as has Bee. So, it is important that the pathways are made safe as possible by means of what is called 804 - a mixture of gravel and larger stones.
One thing to also be mindful of is that of leaves on wet cardboard. I use a lot of cardboard in order to suppress weeds. However, when cardboard is wet it is treacherous underfoot. Add to that a combination of fallen leaves and you will be sitting on your ass if you walk on it.
Conclusion - Meditation on Mist and Fog
Season of Mist and Mellow Fruitfulness - John Keats
The misty mornings begin. Lets end with a meditation.
In the quiet embrace of morning mist and fog, the world softens, blurring the boundaries between what is known and what lies beyond. These are threshold places, where earth meets sky in a delicate dance of shadows and light.
The mist curls through trees, across fields, over water—veiling, but not hiding, the landscape. It invites stillness. Here, the usual edges dissolve, and the familiar feels new, untethered. The fog is not a barrier but an invitation to step lightly, to move slowly between realms: from waking to dreaming, from certainty to possibility.
In these liminal spaces, where sight fades and silence deepens, we are reminded that thresholds are places of power. They are pauses between breaths, moments between thoughts. They hold the promise of transformation.
We stand at the edge, neither fully here nor fully there, waiting, suspended in the mist's gentle hold. Let it be so for you. Let it be so for all.