The Garden This Year

Now is my prime garden planning time. When I make my New Year's Resolutions (and I do, since I find them a very helpful way to mark progress), the garden finds its place on the priority list. In 2010, it is not just place, but the plan for the garden which changes. Food gardening will be rising a couple notches in the emphasis of efforts again this year.

I'm not sure how much of the energy/time pie gardening will get, but I am sure that I will spend much more of my efforts on food growing once again. Last year, there were more disappointments than I liked to see, but a new season means there are more opportunities, and hopes, for a successful crop. Here are a few things I want to work on in the garden this coming year.

• Strawberries. I hope to plant a strawberry patch in the garden once again.
• Tomatoes. Although I like heirlooms, this year I will not make the mistake of overlooking the reliability of 'Better Boys '.
• Gourds. I want to have some for crafts. And maybe some Indian corn, too.
• Swiss Chard. This is so easy and tasty that there is no reason for me to be without it this year. I was just lazy last year to have not planted it.
• I want paths, and raised beds in my vegetable garden. I want something more permanent and good looking. 
• I saved some pruned tree branches... and want to actually make some tuteurs this year. Solid ones (although my flimsy looking one turned out to be quite sturdy- it is still standing ). I just have to handle a saw and hammer with confidence.
• Three sisters. Going to try this traditional combination of companion planting: corn, beans, and squash.
• I'm tired of life jerking me around- I plan to take more time in the garden this year. It rejuvenates me, and centers me....some of my best thinking and revelation comes when doing the mundane tasks of weeding, hoeing, and just tending the plantings of my beds and borders.

Enjoy the garden...enjoy life....
Those are some of my resolutions for the coming gardening year. I guess I shouldn't refer to obligations as "life jerking me around", since many of those obligations arise from things I chose to put into my life. It just seems as though those things grow all out of proportion to the space given them, and weigh me down and pull at me to the point where I have no time for the things I really enjoy.

I'm going to look at how to avoid that as much in this year... as I have far less years to work with than I might like....

Winter Landscape

After Christmas day rains, we again had snowfall and the ground and trees were trimmed with a confectioners icing of powdered snow. It sifted down and clung to all the branches with little puffs in the crooks and crannies of the shrubs.

Since most of that took place in the night hours I took no new pictures of it. but thought I would post more of the early morning photos from the first lot.

From Ilona's Garden Journal

Christmas day

after a night of chill, 50 degree rain, today there is clear golden morning light.
when i got in firewood, it was almost pleasant outside, so i skipped my early
coffee/computer rituals and went for a walk with my horse. i have been trying
to comfort rosa with long grooming sessions. for years, i was a massage therapist
and touch is one of the most healing thing for fright and pain. horse-buddies often
groom each-other and she has settled down slowly, relaxing from the shock.
now, we must both come to terms with our loss and
be companions in each-other's healing.

we walked all over the fields and up the hill to the high spot, and the
persimmon grove.. it was their favorite spot for loafing in the shade
in summer, and gorging on sticky sweet wild fruit in early winter.
i had made a small grapevine wreath with bright trailing ribbons,
and i hung it on a high branch there. rosa is very gentle and she stood
right with me. from now on, our memorial to a wild free-spirited friend
will wave in the breeze.
rosa ambles alongside me like a dog; we came on back, and out into
my yard. she likes to walk around free, and pick at any tender green
grass she can find.

there was a whiff of 'tea-olive' [osmanthus sp.] in the air, the sweet scent from
such tiny flowers thoroughly permeates the moist cool atmosphere. i see a few
bright yellow flowers opening on the rock wall's hedge of 'chinese' or 'winter' jasmine.
before long, the pale waxy blooms will cover the giant 'winter honeysuckle' bush
[lonicera fragrantissima] - so fragrant, it's almost intoxicating!
this Christmas morning has been the most peaceful time i have felt,
after this long week, past.
it's the spell of mild winters and redbirds and wild holly berries.
in almost every season rural georgia smells like flowers...

and then it will be february.

vty, j-lea

- writing out the hurt -

"telling the story" is an age-old human habit that helps diffuse the
intensity of the experience and process the pain... writing about this
terrible accident has been very helpful to me. the kind and sympathetic
messages from the e- community, as well. i have had good help from
my friends and family, and many horse owners in this area have found
time to stop and speak to me... often people i dont even know.
i am so grateful for all the support from everyone.
it has been a great blessing to me.

as usual, i have 'written out the hurt' this short poem is my
best "picture" of my horse. i am holding this in my mind,
instead of the vision of her death.
she was always such a beauty....

= Poppy =

i will always see her running...
head held high, graceful neck,
her powerful shoulders moving
at an effortless pace, with her
long black tresses waving.
high-tailin' it with rosa,
racing for winter persimmons.

i will always see her running...
a free spirit moving easily
across the pastures, jumping
and kicking with rosa by her side.
their sheer joy at being alive.

a proud dark lovely -
my chosen dear one,
your open gentle gaze, as
you slowly came to trust again
will be forever in my heart.

again, my thanks to youall-

vty, j-lea

Loss

I have written all along about my farm and all its residents,
my gardens, as well as just plain daily life out here in the country.
i hate to displace ilona's beautiful winter trees, but i need to
write about one of the downsides of country living and farm life.
it is mostly a quiet peaceful life, but rural roads seem to encourage
fast driving, and they are inherently dangerous.
a recent D.O.T. study here in georgia found the biggest
percentage of vehicle accidents and injuries occur
out on the lesser country roads. many people i know here have hit
a deer at least once in their lives. some were injured, some cars
wrecked and some just killed the deer. open country driving calls for
much more caution than an average urban road.

"poppy"-my beautiful dark horse, was killed thursday evening
by a speeding car. a dead tree had fallen onto the fence, and they
had gotten out. i almost had them both back home safe. the sheriff
and EMT's had all their lights on to slow traffic, but apparently the
driver didnt notice. she was standing on side of the road with her
front feet just into the lane. the car was going so fast that the impact
broke her neck immediately. she did not suffer... for her sake, i am
so very grateful. i was holding my other horse, and it happened
right in front of us.
i'm so afraid i'll never NOT see what i saw, ever again.

if this was a lesson, it is that life is ephemeral, circumstances can
change in an instant, and we need give our love every day to ALL
our dear ones...as much as we can, while we can.
i am very very sad today.

Winter's Day, Snow Pictures

Just A Note

It snowed over night, and I woke up to the beauty of a world draped and trimmed in fluffy white. My son remarked how much warmer it felt with the snowfall, but we didn't know why. Turns out Susan Reimer has done some homework on it:

Snow actually protects the garden from the cold, and especially from the drying effects of a cold wind. It is an excellent insulator. Snow increases the temperature at soil surface by about 2 degrees for every inch of accumulation, according to the Purdue University extension service.

As the snowflakes pile on top of one another, pockets of air are left between them and it is this air that provides the insulating effect.

Snow not only protects from the drying winds, but it brings needed moisture to plants that will continue to lose moisture through their branches, both evergreen and leafless. And, of course, melting snow feeds the soil, carrying nutrients and moisture.

She also highlighted one of Kylee's pictures, with exceptional winter garden color from red osier dogwood and a spiky Yucca filimentosa.


I don't usually like yucca plants in Ohio- but I like Kylee's. I think it is in how plants are used that creates the difference. I love her combination of dogwood with it.

The snow is already starting to melt- I wonder if that insulating effect of snowflakes also works as they are falling through the air?

I had fun following tracks around my yard when out taking some photos. I see that deer are visiting. Not sure I like that- as they can do so much damage.

I hope my husband fixes my greenhouse soon. The last windstorm blew out some pannels and they were damaged. We are waiting on replacements. I lost some plants I was storing in there.

Cute Decoration Ideas

Just one of several very nice quality craft ideas. Easy, pretty, and you probably have most of the makings on hand.

I don't know about you, but I am trying to get current with my holiday schedule. Not that we need another thing to do, but it beats running around stores like a crazy woman and spending more cash. doing something with my hands sometimes quiets my soul better than anything else.

clipped from flowrgirl1.blogspot.com These little wreaths are made my braiding long pine needles with floral wire. Then attaching greens, berries and little cones with a glue gun and wire.

A Little Something For You: Garden Journal Template

I came across a resource that may interest some of you. If you would like to start a garden journal, but don't want to invest mucho dinero, then you may like one of these online garden journal templates.



Even if you don't wish to use the printouts, you might look at the type of info that a gardener would find useful to keep in their records.

Garden Journal Templates in PDF form.

You also may like the idea of printing out little gift seed packets for Christmas. Look at these with a Christmas tree graphic. Also PDF.

season's greetings from patagonia

we had our first hard frost this week- 27 degrees - being from ohio, i sometimes laugh
at myself, but it felt really cold! chalk it up to almost 30 years in the south, and this
drafty old house with its skating-rink floor. it is old-house-chill as well as a certain color
dullness outdoors that confirms winter is settling in. i gain new arm strength, as the
occasional fires become a daily ritual. there is cozy comfort in the heater's steady work,
but it requires braving the cold to go out first thing in the morning for more wood.
no matter how much i carry in the evening before, i seem to burn it all...so outdoors
at dawn is part of the ritual, too.

even though we have evergreen piney woods instead of mostly bare hardwoods, our
winter landscape seems muted. after weeks of more rain, we enjoyed a few golden
sunny days. last week it hit almost 70... with air-conditioning back on for the Christmas shoppers. that night, it dropped to 30, a much more seasonal feeling in the air. i have
said this before- december in middle ga. is so variable that you can often take a pleasant
walk after Christmas dinner, in shorts! this year, i think it will progress in a more reasonable,
seasonable manner towards our "very" cold snap in january... all is in the greenhouse;
the bonsai are safely tucked under the benches, with a deep leaf mulch covering their
small pots, and my orchids are beginning to bloom beside my reading chair.

since i must use words instead of a camera, i am posting some recent impressions
of the season, as we approach the the solstice and the shortest day. it seems perfect
timing that Christmas arrives with the returning of the Light.

Best greetings to youall from patagonia farm...
peace and joy now and in the coming year!!

vty, j-lea

- winter haiku -


wild hollyberries,
redbirds' bright scarlet flash in
dun-colored landscape.

delicate ice spikes
edging the deep bronze oak leaves
frosty white morning.

summer tomatoes'
limp gray-green tresses waving
in the winter winds.

round frozen fishpond
a mirror for dazzling stars
in the velvet sky.

- perfect Birth -

in starry silence,
while the whole world lies dreaming
in perfect stillness...

The Truth About Fake Lawn

I knew there was more to it than people say: it needs to be VACUUMED and POWERWASHED. Well maybe not exactly powerwashed... but uses water just the same....

clipped from lifeinacircus.wordpress.com PART FIVE: THE BIT ABOUT OUR NEIGHBOURS’ ASTROTURF-TAMING Other bizarre Subterranean of Suburbia fact! Our front lawn is actually astroturf. Fake lawn. Flawn. Like the kind you find cute little porcelain piggies and lambsies dancing on in butcher’s shops. Remember, this is not by our design, as we’re renting. However, our next door neighbours regularly water their astroturf. To get the dirt off it. I’ve also seen them vacuum it. TRUE!

Make an Ice Wreath

If it is cold enough and you dare....
the whole site is filled with the most creative and simple ideas to adorn life with beauty.

clipped from resurrectionfern.typepad.com How to Make Ice Wreaths

Garden Catalogs

What is the Gardener's wintertime without garden catalogs to thumb through? It reminds me of old stories about when the Sears catalog would arrive in homes way back when. Remember those catalogs? They were huge, and the activity most attached to it gave it the name "Wish book". Gardening may be one last bastion of mail catalog consumers, now that garden centers are on the wane. We still need our gadgets and gizmos along with the seeds, bulbs, pots, and bareroot plants that we crave for making our gardens live in line with our dreams; and we tend to be slower to jump on the latest bandwagon- even though even THAT is changing.

I still like perusing through the garden catalogs during the depths of January freezes, and have been ordering from them again as my local nurseries whittle down their product lines. Last year I ordered seeds from a company new to me. Swallowtail Garden Seeds. I was very happy with them, and I think that I will probably double my use of catalogs for this years garden. They gave me lots of seeds for the money, were prompt in filling my order... and the seeds grew. That last part is always of utmost import.

That doesn't mean you need to... but you might enjoy looking through a catalog or two.

This all brings up the controversy about the demise of local nurseries as America adjusts to a tighter economy and a demographic change of interests. Gardening has been around in some way or another ...well, since Adam. Even now, it is always a part of having ones own homestead. If you have a home and a plot of ground in front -or back- you have a potential interest in gardening. Once the occupation of growing food is added in, there is a surge of interest.

I think the coming generation is going to find an interest in the garden, but it will take a different form than the one we have seen in the past decades...just as ours was different from our parents. Maybe it is becoming a meld of ours and our parents. We already see "green victory gardens" drawing interest.

The key that is missing for most of today's connection with gardening is what I would call "moral interest". The moral imperative that causes people to want to invest hard work and money in the growing of a garden. In times past it might have looked like... "refinement of nature and beauty in the yard and home", "helping the war effort by producing home produce", "artistic leisure activity of a modern society", or "getting back to the earth" and "simple living". None of those keys quite fit today, probably because of the transition of our society due to technology and now to economic contractions. But humans and gardens go together... and that isn't going to change.

Oh, where was I now? Catalogs. Yes... sorry if my digression on catalogs vs garden centers, and demographics, was unwarranted.

---

Do you have favorites?

Some of us have lots of them coming in the mail, but if you don't and you want to consider ordering some special plants or starting seeds yourself this year, I'm making a list of those I'm signing up for.
As follows.....

Thompson & Morgan

Bluestone Perennials
Wayside Garden - still good, if not as much as in former years.

OR Look at Cyndi's vast list of garden catalogs.

Look Online:
Swallowtail Seeds

(These are my affiliates, some with discount offers attached! You can request catalogs at their sites, too)

Rattling Cages At Christmas - Anti Lawn Folks

I don't like people to try and whip me into shape. It is my nature. I make no exceptions and that can get me into trouble. Especially with those who are loyal to causes.

So when I came across a conversation that rattles some cages I thought "Why not post that?" instead of "I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole". - and at Christmastime!

I love those who wish to make a positive change in the environment and I realize the need for evangelists.

Just don't rattle my cage :) Well...read on to see the controversial quote in question.

Yvonne: I enjoyed how you put the anti-lawn folks in their place. When someone you describe as a “tiresome eco-evangelist” visits from city and criticizes your lawn, you ask: “What do you propose we do out here? Let the whole place turn into an overgrown jungle? Get eaten alive by mosquitoes every time we go outside?” Lawns might be unnecessary in the city, but I can’t imagine any other groundcover that’s as practical for a country property. Are you still having to defend your lawn?

Sonia: Yes, unfortunately. I hate to say it, but eco-evangelists who live in the city and have postage stamp backyards are the new Puritans – always preaching and trying to lay down the law to everyone else. They need a reality check.

Yvonne: I guess city folks have no idea what it’s like to contend with country weeds, do they?

Country Gardener

With whom I empathize.