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Timely Tidbits
The Last Rutabaga of Summer
It’s easy to feel sentimental about the last rose of summer, but how about the last rutabaga? Sir John Stevenson (1791-1833) could have written it this way:
‘Tis the last rutabaga of summer, left bulbing all alone All her lovely companions are faded and gone…
But seriously, at my house, both the last rose and the last rutabaga
coincide with
two other
notable events: the first blooms from my pink
Schlumbergera
(holiday cactus), and the appearance of new deer in the
garden. As for the cactus, I confess that every winter I fall in love with my houseplants all over again. Many of them spend the summer outdoors, so the plants I bring inside in the fall are often changed beings! If you ask me, winter bloomers like cacti and abutilon (flowering maple) are essential equipment for a happy home during the cold, dark season.
And the white tails? Except for a young doe I’ve nicknamed Gretel who seems to think she’s a pet (above right), deer stay out of our garden until winter. In keeping with some great advice I got from Cheryl Long, editor-in-chief of Mother Earth News, I cover anything I don’t want them to eat. Row covers are protecting my last rutabagas, kale and other greens, as well as patches of wheat, oats and rye I’m growing as winter cover crops. This still leaves lots of greenery for the deer to nibble, and eventually they will chew the weeds down to nubs. While we don’t want to encourage the deer, we feel like winter is their turn in the garden. It’s a cold, hungry place out there, and I can’t begrudge the deer a bit of browsing when they have snow stuck on their rumps. I guess you could say we have an understanding with the deer, a subtle shared attitude that works even though we garden in an open patch in the woods. The dog is in on it, too. She will often run the deer to a certain point just beyond the garden, and then they all stop and look at me. I’m still raving get-outta-here-you-dad-blasted-deer while several sets of eyes (dog and deer) say “What’s your problem? We’re all cool.” They probably think I’m a slow learner, but I’m finally catching on. Accepting the deer in this way felt strange at first, but now things feel more comfortable. Who knows? According to the principles of co-creative gardening, the thoughts, attitudes and intelligence of all the living things in my garden – including the deer it feeds in winter – contribute to its success. It’s something to think about, but make no mistake. That last rutabaga is mine.
Not eating, are you? See my video on Controlling Slugs Organically. There are more YouTube videos compost gardening and a haunting hornet's nest, too.
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I also blog at GrowVeg.com. Come join the global conversation on vegetable gardening. ~*~ Deb Martin and I keep up with contemporary composting at CompostGardening.com. Drop in to discuss what's in your compost.
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