Waiting for Rain
En attendant la pluie
“You’ll never find rainbows if you are looking down.” Charlie Chaplin
Did you read Waiting for Godot by the Irish playwright, Samual Beckett? While a student at the University of Bordeaux in France, I acted in the play, En attendant Godot, as part of our theater experience. Why we were performing an Irish play in France in French is beyond me, but I’ll never forget repeating, “Godot ne viendra pas aujourd’hui, mais il viendra sûrement demain” (Godot will not come today, but surely tomorrow!” And of course, Godot never arrives.
That’s how I feel about the rain. Since the beginning of October, I have wanted to turn off my irrigation system, but instead, the sun’s intensity required more water than ever before during that month. It’s now November and finally cooling, so in my rain dance attempt, as I sang the Temptations hit, “Oh how I wish it would rain,” I decided to wash all the patio furniture, cover it, and store it in the shed. I figured that the gods of precipitation might witness this exhausting endeavor and take pity on me as well as all gardeners. Lo and behold, the next morning, I awoke to drizzling. Not much water, but enough that I was able to capture a double rainbow traversing across the sky from one hill to another. Hurray, perhaps autumn is finally arriving.
Here are items on my gardening list that may be helpful to you as well.
1. Fertilize your landscape.
2. Apply snail bait around plants susceptible to snail and slug damage.
3. Dead-head roses for continued blooming until January.
4. Spray any plants for powdery mildew.
5. Water new plantings until they are established.
6. Taper off watering for lawns and gardens.
7. Once the rain arrives, turn off irrigation systems to prevent overwatering.
8. Re-seed or resod lawns and feed with a fertilizer for fall.
9. Harvest Swiss Chard.
10. Pick tomatoes as needed. If tomatoes are still green when the frost comes, harvest them and use them in a stir fry.
11. Guavas have self-harvested. Gather for jams, and juices, or use as a cooked vegetable.
12. For a touch of gold to brighten any garden, plant Breath of Heaven. It glows.
13. Gather seedpods of echinacea, Oriental poppies, verbena, and other perennials to sprinkle in your garden.
14. Plant perennial, drought-resistant Gaura (wandflower) plants in full sun to enjoy their waving wands of butterfly-like blossoms next summer and fall.
Azaleas are blooming. My white Proven Winners azaleas add light to the garden.
Many people have decided to remove their lawns and add succulents, meadows, or drought-friendly gardens to eliminate watering. I’m a big believer in being sustainable, and eco-conscious while also considering other factors that make a house a home. As you’ll see from the published photos, I am adding 200 square feet of sod to my existing lawn and re-seeding the rest. I chose Elite Plus blue fescue because it is a combination of bluegrass and fescue that is drought-tolerant, maintains a deep green color all year, has a deep root system, has a medium-sized blade, and is tolerant of sun and shade. It’s been over thirty years since my original lawn was planted. Re-seeding was not working in an area where my cats like to dig. It was time to invest in sod. In my lawn, I have incorporated isotoma (blue-star creeper) and mini clover to keep the lawn green.
Both form a dense, low mat of leafy green. Isotoma boasts tiny blue flowers, while the nitrogen-fixing clover has flowers of white and pink. A golf-course manicured lawn is not my goal. I want a green pasture of tough grass that will be soothing to the eye and a place to play, so this combination of grasses works well with my style.
If you are installing a new lawn of sod, there are many different grasses to choose from. This is the best time of year for this task. Do your homework, then prepare the area. Here’s what you need to do to install a new lawn.
1. Test your sprinkler system to make sure it will reach the area you will need. Test them before ordering your sod.
2. Prepare the soil. Kill weeds, and remove rocks, debris, and old grass.
3. Add organic soil amendments at a rate of 3-5 yards for 1000 square feet and dig to a depth of 6-8 inches.
4. Work the soil. Rake and level until smooth. Grade to inch below walkways and paths. You may need to roll the area if the soil is too loose.
5. Spread the area with a sod starter fertilizer.
6. Water lightly before installing sod.
7. As soon as your sod is delivered, start the installation. If you can’t begin immediately, keep the sod moist but not covered. Don’t let the fragile roots dry out.
8. Lay the sod along a straight edge first, like a sidewalk. Butt the joints together and don’t overlap.
9. Stagger joints as if you are laying bricks. With a sharp knife, cut the sod to go around curves.
10. Start watering immediately, even before your sod is completely installed.
11. Roll the sod to smooth and level while pressing out any air spaces.
12. For the first 3 weeks, it’s critical to keep your new lawn consistently moist, but not soggy, to help the roots establish. If it rains, this is good. If it gets hot, you may need to water multiple times a day.
13. After 21 days, water only once or twice a week.
14. Fertilize in 6-10 weeks with an all-purpose organic fertilizer.
15. Mow with a sharp-bladed mower after 10 days of installation at a height of 1 ½ to 2 ½ inches.
16. Water in the morning. Afternoon and evening watering could result in disease or brown spots.
17. Enjoy your new grass.
I was interviewed along with other garden experts by Better Homes and Garden Magazine about how close to plant bushes, trees, and flowers near our homes. Erica Browne Grivas wrote an excellent article that you’ll find helpful. Check it out. https://www.bhg.com/plants-to-not-grow-by-your-house-8714311
Keep looking up to find the rainbows. I hope we won’t be waiting for Godot (translate to RAIN) for much longer.
Happy Gardening. Happy Growing. Happy November!
For more gardening advice for all seasons, check out Growing with the Goddess Gardener at https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/books. Raised in the vineyards of Napa County, Cynthia Brian is a New York Times best-selling author, actor, radio personality, speaker, media and writing coach as well as the Founder and Executive Director of Be the Star You Are!® 501 c3 which was just honored as the 2024 Nonprofit of the Year by the Moraga Chamber of Commerce. https://www.BetheStarYouAre.org
Tune into Cynthia’s StarStyle® Radio Broadcast at www.StarStyleRadio.com. Her newest children’s picture book, Books in the Barnyard: Oh Deer!, from the series, Stella Bella’s Barnyard Adventures is available at https://www.CynthiaBrian.com/online-store.
Hire Cynthia for writing projects, garden consults, and inspirational lectures. Cynthia@GoddessGardener.com
Gorgeous rainbows!
Always look up!!!!