Facebook
X (Twitter)
Reddit
Pinterest
Tumblr
Delicious
LinkedIn
StumbleUpon
Posts Tagged: Labor Day
Happy Labor Day from a Gulf Fritillary
Happy Labor Day! And what an appropriate time to post an image of a Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, depositing an egg! The females...
A Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, laying an egg on Labor Day weekend in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Laborious Honey Bee
Today is Labor Day 2019, a federal holiday celebrated the first Monday of September. However, "the girls" are working, as they do every day of the...
A worker honey bee forages on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in the magic hour, the hour before sunset. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Illuminated by the late afternoon sun, the worker bee prepares to fly to another Tithonia blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A worker bee takes flight, lifting over a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia). (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Gardener's Labor Day
So here it is, a day off. In 1894 an act of Congress made the 1st Monday in September an American holiday. Celebrating the contributions workers have made to the societal and economic growth of our great country. But while many take a well earned day off to relax and enjoy, there are those of us that will be laboring. I mean, the bees don’t take a day off (thankfully) they keep doing their chores and pollinating. The worms keep the soil moving. The grubs and aphids keep doing their thing, albeit it’s not so helpful. So too we gardeners will keep doing our thing, pulling weeds, amending veggie beds, watering, chasing off the “bad guys“, checking those tomatoes to see if they’re finally that perfect shade of red (or green, or purple, or yellow, etc.). We can’t help ourselves! Congress gives us a day off and we look at it as a chance to catch up or start something new. So my morning will be spent scouring for upstart weeds, amending beds and starting those cool season (fall/winter) crops. I’ve thoroughly reviewed the planting schedules,. The best one I’ve found is the one by Dr. Robert Norris, Emeritus, U.C. Davis. Full color and easy to read it is a big help. http://ucanr.org/sites/gardenweb/files/29042.pdf. As the day heats and the sun beats, I’ll probably head inside to cool down with some homemade lemonade and peruse a garden magazine for some more inspiration. I’d like to have a taste of summer later on when winter comes along so I think I’ll give storing and preserving a try this year for the first time. I do know that I won’t have to guess how to preserve each item since the Master Gardeners already have a chart for that too! http://ucanr.org/sites/gardenweb/files/29040.pdf. By that time it’ll be evening and time for one more stroll around the garden, notice the buds that I expect to see open tomorrow and see if there’s any fruit or vegetable that ripened up just a bit more and can maybe make it to my dinner plate.
A day off for a gardener? Maybe from “work“, but for a gardener, happily, every day is Labor Day.
