OUTSIDE!
Today is BEAUTIFUL! 50* and sunny. It feels like Spring... and although I know that the Winter weather will come back, (it was a full-on storm last night... blew down branches and such) it isn't here today and we are OUTSIDE!
Quince and Flowering Currents to force inside. Their buds are close to bursting... oh how I love Spring... I just can't wait!
I am out there too, moving garden beds and peonies so I can make a pathway to the new garden spot. I would show you, but it looks like total crap. lol... as most gardens do in Jan. Only this one is filled with not only dormant plants and leavings of last years harvest, but piles of composting ivy that I need to get rid of, old rail road ties from the former owners (I don't use them on food gardens, so have been relocating them to flower beds), and piles upon piles of black plastic that the former owners were so fond of (it is under EVERY bed... including the food beds and around the trees.) I am filthy, and just stopping in here for lunch then headed back outside.
With each Peony I pull up I can see the evidence of this short and warm winter. The red buds that make the leaves of the plant are already about an inch long and starting to poke out of the ground. I knew I had to move them. Pretty soon we will need to have a work crew come over here and move a bunch of stuff around so we can put in the new garden beds. Then comes planting season... time to buy chickens, and the joys of weeding every week to make sure we get the most out of our harvest. I was so excited that I was shaking this morning as I was digging in the dirt. I felt like a little girl... fully dressed in "school" clothes with my makeup and hair done, but yet, on my knees, in the dirt, pulling the deadheads from my Peonies without my gloves so that I could move them out of the garden pathway. I never feel so alive as I do with the start of Spring... I love the productivity of Fall... it is my favorite season. But Spring! Ahhhh! SPRING! The first days of Spring are like a drug. You just can't get enough.
Back outside I go.
Have a beautiful Monday!
Comments
I'd appreciate the help.
Also...with your apple trees...have you planted them yet? When do you do that and what do you use to "spray" organically? I'm so new to all this:)
thanks for any help
Frannie: Peonies... you do dig them up now. Their root systems are not large, about 1 ft cubed. But it is best not to disturb the roots as much as possible, so I stick my shovel in all the way around and then try to get under the roots with it, that way lifting the entire thing up at the same time with out breaking off large parts of the roots. They have tubers, sort of like Iris, and so they can be split if you want, or just moved. They will spread, but take longer than Iris or Galdis so don't worry if it takes a year to get them really firmly established. If you can, plant them somewhere where their root systems can go down a bit. Ours were planted way too high, with the black plastic under them and they fall over far too easily. My moms always needed supprting, but not like these babies. I am trying to get them deeper in the ground while removing all the black plastic. It will take more weeding... but they will be happier plants. :)
For the fruit trees, I use worm tea (also for roses if you have those). I spray them on summer mornings, before the leaves pores close up with the heat. This doesn't kill bugs, but does make the leaves stronger. Also, if you get fruit trees, purchase ones that are resistant to Scab. Then it will be much easier to take care of them organically.
Blessings!
Val