Deirdre's Garden Diary: 2006 December

:: December 2006 ::
|

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:: 12.29.06 ::

Well, It Rained...

... and it really poured down for about 30 minutes, buckets and buckets with some small hail. Shortly after it slowed to a steady drizzle I left the house to run errands...to drop off payment for my water bill of all things...and the road near my house was washed out. It isn't uncommon for flash flooding to take place in this low spot, but I had never seen it move with that kind of force over the road. Huge amounts of water were moving really fast and making a mini waterfall into the gulch next to the road.

I was glad I had my camera to snap a few photos...and I tried to take video for the first time. It's short and small, and not that steady, but at least you can see how fast the water is moving. I hope it works...give it time to load!

HERE IT IS.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:: 12.27.06 ::

I'm Under Attack!

I woke up Christmas morning with a familiar itch in my eyes and ears...and then it started... nonstop sneezing, one after another, hatchoo... hatchoo... hatchoo... and then my nose started to drip and swell. It's here.

The Mountain Cedar pollen (Cupressaceae Juniperus sabinoides) is moving in and I got the warning sign loud and clear. I scrambled to find a Claritin in the bathroom cabinet. I just hope I can hold back the inevitable misery that usually follows as my allergy ailments morph into full blown cold and flu symptoms...watery eyes, sore throat from runny nose, cough and congestion. It happens to me every year and sometimes it really knocks me out of commission for a week or two.

I will do the best I can to put up a defense over the next month; drinking plenty of fluids and taking my allergy medicine every day. This year for the first time I have an air purifier, so I am hoping it will help. They say if we get some rain it will suppress the amount of pollen in the air. I am keeping my fingers crossed and my red itchy eyes on the weather radar.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

:: 12.15.06 ::

Growing Pains

My mom and I ran some errands last week. She wanted to go by Sam's Club to get a "couple of things" ...uhuh..."couple of things"...right ... (I prefer not to shop at Sams or Walmart, but I haven't been able to convince my mom otherwise. She still goes for the cheapest price). In my grinch of a mood I just couldn't bring myself to go in with all the Christmas shoppers and their kids running around pushing every button on every noisy gadget...baahumbug...so I waited for her in the car. After waiting and waiting and WAITING...she finally comes out with a cart full of stuff and big smile on her face, giggling that she had a "surprise".

Oh no.
What did she do?

And then I see it. There in her cart...One large box of 30 Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs, and one large box of 70 "Peony" Tulip bulbs.

"We can share them", she says.

I kissed her on the cheek and told her, "You shouldn't have done that".
No really. She should not have done that. I have the best mom in the world but she is always buying me things I don't need...and I certainly wish she hadn't wasted her money on tulip bulbs!

Admittedly, I was giddy about the Narcissus bulbs. Paperwhites are easy to deal with. They can be planted in the ground at any time or forced to bloom in a vase in the house during the winter. In the garden they are perennial and will come back every year, even multiply, making more and more flowers as the years go by.

Not so good was the fact that the bulbs came out of the box already sprouting. Good bulbs shouldn't be growing when you buy them. No telling how long the poor things have been in that box trying to get out. Still they have a better chance than the tulips...

Summers here are too hot and dry and we just don't get enough consistently cold weather for them to be perennial. In Texas tulip bulbs have to be chilled in the refrigerator before planting...cooled for at least 12 weeks!...and it's already December (don't know if the store pre-chilled them or not). That means planting them in late February or early March, and that's pushing it.

Tulips also have to be dug up out of the ground after blooming. They have to be cleaned off, dried, and stored in paper bags in a dark cool place if you want to keep them for another season. Otherwise they don't bloom again.

The ones I tried to plant a couple of years ago (see below) didn't do so great. Maybe it was my novice gardening skills, but only a few bloomed and the ones that did bloom were weak and droopy and fell over. They didn't stay pretty for very long. Their petals fell off after just a few days. It was disappointing and painful to see them struggle.

It's a lot of work to chill bulbs in the ice box (keep them away from the gassy fruits and veggies, and keeping them from getting sticky food spilled on them). Then you have to plant them and mark where you planted them so you know where to dig them up when they are done. Clean them off carefully without hurting them and store them properly so they don't get moldy. I'm tired just typing all that! And if you don't do it they just die and rot in the ground and you wasted your money...your generous thoughtful mother has wasted her hard earned money! Maybe I'm lazy or just don't like tulips that much, but the pay back doesn't seem worth all that effort. Tulips can really challenge one's dedication to gardening.

But how can anyone be disappointed when someone surprises them with a box full of flower bulbs? HUH?

So tulips will be planted at the end of February. They are now chillin' in the fridge. But I'm not going to plant them in the ground ...no. I'll have to find some kind of large container that's cheap... hmmmm(?) ... something I can just dump them into. Then after they bloom I can dump them out. Easy clean up. Well...easier than digging them up from the ground, trying to remember where I planted them. Yep...I'm thinking dumping is the way to go.

...and I will love them when they bloom.
If they bloom.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
:: 12.01.06 ::

Winter Ice Storm

Yesterday it started raining and the temperatures dropped to freezing. We had a mixture of sleet and a little snow. I carried the last of my potted plants into the house just as the rain was starting to pour down.

The marigolds I planted in the early spring had made it thru the summer heat and were putting out new flowers. Now their bright yellow and red colors are covered in an icy glaze making the raised vegetable beds look like a funeral plot of coffins.

I spent the Thanksgiving holiday getting ready for the cold weather.

It was sunny and warm last week and I got a huge amount of work done in the garden just in time for the temperatures to drop.

I started by pruning the rose bush and the sucker limbs on the crepe myrtles. I weeded out the flower and vegetable beds and emptied the compost bins and amended the soil by working it in with some left over bags of peat moss, cow manure, and cotton seed hulls.

I paid James to help me rake the leaves in the driveway and we filled the compost bins back up again for next year. James also mowed the front yard shredding the leaves and mulching them into the grass. I didn't want to bag them like last winter. This year not one scrap of organic material goes to waste.

Looking around the yard I noticed I still had lavender blooming on the side of the house...but I am sure yesterday's freeze took care of that. I hope it comes back in the spring. I covered it with a lot of leaves to try and protect it. I also noticed the daffodil stalks were already coming up along the driveway and I found a few blue bonnet sprouts; which made me extremely happy and gave me hope that maybe there will not be a repeat of last year's disappointing no show.