those ornamental grasses and roses.
. . . caught you, didn't I? Get your mind out of the gutter, people!
In the part of Oklahoma that I live in we technically reside in zone 6. I say technically because we have been 7 degrees warmer than average for February. The last week of January gave us an ice storm that kept the kiddos out of school for three days, but then by the first weekend of February we were sitting in the 70's!
Tulsa also has a very active bird watching club that takes statistics of wintering birds over the Christmas break--many of the 'normal' populations are now migrating hundreds of miles to the north. Which means we are losing our winter birds, but gaining new ones that used to stay to the south. I haven't decided if this is good or bad yet.
We are warming up quicker this year than ever before. I'm also concerned about the possible tornado season as I've noticed a tendency of their forming to the north of the traditional tornado alley. And yes, Oklahoma did have Feb. tornadoes this year. Be careful and be prepared.
Now is the time to clean up the winter debris in the garden. For my garden, it means tackling the 37 rose bushes that I have. Luckily, most of them are minis. They're small, but tough--I feel an affinity to these little scrappers. My Gourmet Popcorn, normally a very laid back plant with only a few thorns, jabbed a thorn 1/3 of an inch into my finger! OUCH! After removing it with tweezers and letting it bleed profusely, I resorted to wearing gloves.
--I don't like gloves. I like to get my fingers in the dirt. Gloves don't protect you from everything--oh, no, I still managed to get jabbed through the thick leather! And, of course, I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt, so I have proof of my outside activity in the form of numerous scratches on my arms and legs. Yes, I kept my eyes on the punctures and looked for the tale-tell sign of red lines (sporotrichosis). See, college Mycology is paying off!
Now, I didn't have to cut back some of my minis. I'll have to replace at least 4-5 of them since Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail have grazed on my babies. I have no idea why the wild rabbits like eating my roses, but they do. They are also chow-lining my crocuses, iris, phlox, and anything else that is currently greening up. Little bastards.
I'd love to take my BB gun and shoot them, but my gun looks like a real handgun and I live behind a school. Someday I'll tell you my Great Blue Heron story. But until the rabbits go bother someone else's garden, I'll just send the dog out to pester them.
No, she doesn't hurt them. Katie is an Old English Sheepdog and can't see squat--even with her bangs trimmed! And she definitely can't corner as well as the rabbits! So she just scares them back under the porch and I feel a little vindicated.
So, with the exception of putting down fertilizer and fluffing and adding to the mulch, I think we are ready for spring. Though hubster is planning a new gardening project--he thinks I'm going to help. *snort* After 16 years of marriage you would think he'd learn that I DON'T DIG. I find the plants, take care of the plants, get him gatorade/beer/Mike's hard lemonade, offer support by watching him work, but digging is out!
. . . caught you, didn't I? Get your mind out of the gutter, people!
In the part of Oklahoma that I live in we technically reside in zone 6. I say technically because we have been 7 degrees warmer than average for February. The last week of January gave us an ice storm that kept the kiddos out of school for three days, but then by the first weekend of February we were sitting in the 70's!
Tulsa also has a very active bird watching club that takes statistics of wintering birds over the Christmas break--many of the 'normal' populations are now migrating hundreds of miles to the north. Which means we are losing our winter birds, but gaining new ones that used to stay to the south. I haven't decided if this is good or bad yet.
We are warming up quicker this year than ever before. I'm also concerned about the possible tornado season as I've noticed a tendency of their forming to the north of the traditional tornado alley. And yes, Oklahoma did have Feb. tornadoes this year. Be careful and be prepared.
Now is the time to clean up the winter debris in the garden. For my garden, it means tackling the 37 rose bushes that I have. Luckily, most of them are minis. They're small, but tough--I feel an affinity to these little scrappers. My Gourmet Popcorn, normally a very laid back plant with only a few thorns, jabbed a thorn 1/3 of an inch into my finger! OUCH! After removing it with tweezers and letting it bleed profusely, I resorted to wearing gloves.
--I don't like gloves. I like to get my fingers in the dirt. Gloves don't protect you from everything--oh, no, I still managed to get jabbed through the thick leather! And, of course, I was wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt, so I have proof of my outside activity in the form of numerous scratches on my arms and legs. Yes, I kept my eyes on the punctures and looked for the tale-tell sign of red lines (sporotrichosis). See, college Mycology is paying off!
Now, I didn't have to cut back some of my minis. I'll have to replace at least 4-5 of them since Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail have grazed on my babies. I have no idea why the wild rabbits like eating my roses, but they do. They are also chow-lining my crocuses, iris, phlox, and anything else that is currently greening up. Little bastards.
I'd love to take my BB gun and shoot them, but my gun looks like a real handgun and I live behind a school. Someday I'll tell you my Great Blue Heron story. But until the rabbits go bother someone else's garden, I'll just send the dog out to pester them.
No, she doesn't hurt them. Katie is an Old English Sheepdog and can't see squat--even with her bangs trimmed! And she definitely can't corner as well as the rabbits! So she just scares them back under the porch and I feel a little vindicated.
So, with the exception of putting down fertilizer and fluffing and adding to the mulch, I think we are ready for spring. Though hubster is planning a new gardening project--he thinks I'm going to help. *snort* After 16 years of marriage you would think he'd learn that I DON'T DIG. I find the plants, take care of the plants, get him gatorade/beer/Mike's hard lemonade, offer support by watching him work, but digging is out!
When I'm at my writing desk, I look out on a fairly barren yard. In less than a month, everything will be greening up and some of my early flowers will be going to town, but I know how gorgeous it will look in a month or so. Do you like to garden, or just appreciate other people's gardens?
Write on!
Although I'm a piker compared to you, I love working in my garden. No roses.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do have a Koi pond. ;)
Susan
Yeah, we won't talk about that evil thing, will we? Hubster is in charge of the pond. I just feed the fish. If I can, I'll take a couple of pics of my barren wasteland and post a before type of pic.
ReplyDeleteOne of the first things I have to tackle when I get home is the ivy under my deck. I've got pull it out. Do not plant ivy unless you want it to take over everything!
ReplyDeleteIf I had a Koi pond, I'd never keep my dog out of it!
I've got plants that need trimming also. Sigh. We head home in two week to all that work.
Ugh, Ivy is nasty insidious stuff.
ReplyDeleteI've learned to avoid plants that 'self-sow' and 'self-propagate'; they are just bad news. Good luck with clean up the ivy. You could try Round-Up and see if that helps kill the roots after you yank most of it out.
Love to garden!! But I kill everything. Even my kids tell me I kill everything. I have the blackest thumb in Oklahoma. But I keep trying and every year over half of it dies. So nothing will be pretty until I plant some new stuff this spring.
ReplyDeleteAsh, honey, if you are killing everything you plant maybe you should have someone check your microclimates. Just in this picture I have four different microclimates, which I discovered when this yard had NOTHING but grass in it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Gloves are a bother but my spouse got me a pair of long guantlet Protector rose gloves from www.bearwallowgloves.com and no more scratches or punctures. They're not for weeding or where you need a lot of dexterity but great for roses and blackberries. I like the thin Atlas gloves for weeding... they feel like a second skin and protect my nails.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, Anon! The gauntlet gloves I've tried had leather that was too thick on the hand and unweildy short fingers. The Protector gloves have two different leathers,and looks like it would make for a better fit.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a gardener. My husband does the yardwork. Susan's koi pond sounds nice and peaceful. Karin has one of those too.
ReplyDeleteEdie, if you look at the bottom of my picture--there's my koi pond. We put it in in 2001 and bought the fish as babies (<2 inches). One disaster killed all the koi, but Larry (koi) and two orandas. Slowly we built up the quantity of fish and I think we have over 20 fish now and many of them are around 2 feet long!
ReplyDelete