January: hello from the fishbowl
Here is one of the neighbor's calves, staring in our living room window as our cats and we stare back. The neighbors let their calves run free for a while until they stall them for milk production. They wander over the fields and through our garden, file down through the woods exploring, lollop down the tractor road to the farther fields. I suspect this is great for the calves' health and happiness, but it used to infuriate me: the deep hoofprints they dig into wet clay paths, and the damage they do stumbling over low slopes and through shrubs, and their occasional experimental plant sampling. However, it eventually occurred to me that cows eat mainly grass, and that they were both mowing and fertilizing the garden. So I became more accepting. And it is pleasant to see livestock living free for a while and enjoying themselves.
January has not been tremendously cheery here. I caught a cold/virus/something shortly before Christmas which I haven't yet shaken off, while DH and DD are both tired, coldish, and generally feeling vaguely poorly. The weather has been nasty for quite a while, first gray, then raining, now rawly cold, as we wimpy residents of this part of the world define cold. The rain, though it kept us somnolent in the house, was fabulous as far as precipitation is concerned. It rained! Possibly two inches, though I didn't measure it. I don't know what it did for groundwater levels, but the garden certainly got watered.
I get out when the weather permits and do cleanup in the garden; also, in spite of my oft-repeated resolve never to plant after the start of the new year, DH and I have planted a few things. I had DH dig up some starts of flowering ash and oak seedlings to plant in an open area that I want to turn into a pocket woodland. This casual effort may not work: if it doesn't, try again with more preparation next time. I've continued my interminable hedging with a few plants, more to get them out of their pots, where I have to protect them from cold, than from eagerness to have them in the ground. It's pleasant, as always, to see how the roses are doing and greet them as I work on them.
There's a little in bloom: the native Helleborus foetidus is opening its lime-green flowers; and the green snowdrops (Galanthus woronowii) in the woods are up and showing their buds. I like the green snowdrops, but they're not what I ordered, which was the native snowdrop, G. nivalis. I wanted native flowers for the woods, but had planted them all over before I discovered they were the wrong species. They're spreading like mad, too. Oh, well. I'm still waiting for the common snowdrops, which I do have some of, to show, and their double forms: they should bloom in January, too.
Comments (10)
Sheila z8a Rogue Valley OR
3 months agoMelissa Northern Italy zone 8 thanked Sheila z8a Rogue Valley ORRelated Discussions
Thought I'd say Hello on this Cold January Day!
Comments (8)re: sultry jasmine night The Hibiscus is the Robert Fleming. I have one on either side of the waterfall. Unfortunately the one on the left has now been shadowed by the willow and did not bloom really well last year from too much shade. This year will only be worse so I am thinking about puling it out and maybe putting a small Japanese lace maple in it's place....See MorePlease help. Sewer gas smell only at night, only January-March
Comments (6)If "gas meter thing"plumber brought is for detecting natural gas I believe you are on the right track. The utility companie's line might be leaking with gas following your servce line into dwelling. Adding propane to raise line pressure during coldest part of day is common pratice. If you feel compelled to help plumber locate the problem try this. Fold a clean cotten cloth several times and hold it against outlet of grill tank. Make certain to keep tank upright then open valve for 2 or 3 secounds. Does cloth smell similar to odor in basement?...See MoreRyegrass in January?
Comments (5)Ryegrass is a bad idea: it doesn't stand up to traffic well. As a winter green lawn, it's a rank grower that chokes out any perennial grass you have, and dies looking patchy and ugly. The water and fertilizer it takes to get it going actually weakens the perennial turf grasses. Get a good no-pollen Bermuda lawn growing and forget overplanting in the winter. Or for a lower traffic lawn, Buffalo grass....See MoreRyegrass in January?
Comments (8)Another approach for bermuda is sprigging. You can get a much nicer variety of bermuda for a lot less than sodding. What does your yard look like? Do you have any shade or is this full sun all day in the summer? If you have a shady yard you will have to use St Augustine instead of bermuda. A friend of mine in Gilbert is having great success with St Augustine under a sissoo tree....See More
Melissa Northern Italy zone 8
3 months agojacqueline9CA
3 months agohumble5zone9atx
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3 months agoMelissa Northern Italy zone 8
3 months ago
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)
3 months agokittymoonbeam
3 months ago
sultry_jasmine_nights (Florida-9a-ish)