Monday, August 13, 2012

my fall garden

I have a nice sized garden and I also have cats.  Our cats are tamed ferals.  Some more tame than others but for some reason they like to hang around me when I am outside.  I think it may be natural cat curiosity.  Being out in the garden with me affords them the freedom to be close when they wish to be and at a distance if they are not quite sure what I am up to.
The cats are (in order of tameness) Tiger, Bold, Snip (or Snipper doodle) Blaze, Little Blue, Darth Fluffy and Snippet.  There is another one, a blue tabby, but he is very skittish and I haven't found a name for him yet.
We recently got our sweet corn stalks cut off and donated to a friend with cows.  That meant that my over-full garden had a place for more stuff to be planted.
In order to plant, I first had to remove the bottom of the stalks and the roots from the ground.  I like to use a hand cultivator for this process and the cats thought it looked like fun.  Thankfully, only two of the cats decided to become actively involved.
Tiger and Bold took up supervisory positions, but Snip and Blaze wanted to "help."  Every time I raised the cultivator to hook it under the corn roots, I had to move a cat aside.  As soon as I began to pull, Snip and Blaze were right there to lay on paws and pretend they were pulling.   It probably took a little longer to finish the job, but I was pleased that they seemed to enjoy my company.


After the row was planted I took a break and the cats decided it was time to play.  Darth Fluff hid under some tomato and sweet pepper plants and watched the action.  Snip and Blaze stalked each other and Snippet.  The game was to see how close they could come to one another and not be seen.  Then to surprise the quarry and both of them jump up in the air before running off in opposite directions.  My younger son came out to talk to me while we watched the cats and we spent most of our time laughing.  I have no fear of allowing the cats the run of the garden because it is strictly organic.
I planted a stand of beets and some more bush beans.  Now I need to get back out and see about getting some cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and chard seed in.  This is my first fall garden in years.  I'm really looking forward to it.  Most times I just clear the garden and let it lie fallow through the fall and winter, or I turn my fowl loose on it to keep the weeds down and add some natural fertilizer. 

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