What have you done today in the Garden?

Well today I had no choice but to get out the electric chain saw this morning a huge branch fell from the forest next door and had to be cleared.from the road. It's been a while since my shoulders could hold anything over a pound or two in the low hold position. As mentioned months ago both shoulders joints are trashed. Ah … the joys of aging.

This project was to cut up the two huge branches that fell out of the tree by the road during a wind storm. Thank goodness it only took one trip with all the heavy cut branches piled on a large tarp then bungeed together and tied to the tractor and off we went dragging it to the burn pile . A neighbor came over to help me , he is always handy at anything I need and always a helping hand .

A quick story about the ‘No-Burn’ huge burn pile sitting in the back pasture, a long trip from the road by the way. After no burning for 6 years the pile has now developed its own ecosystem island of growth. Some growth from the branches piled on the area with no rhyme or reason. Other flower seeds, have grown and started rooting on their own. The soil far below the top growth is a rich mixture from the old burned compost pile. It’s turned out that many of the tree and shrub branches have grown roots of their own over time. I have left them to fend for them selves and it has become a surprising island of growth and versatility all on it own. It comes alive in spring thru summer. No water in summer. A very unusual turnout of events as flowers and vines and tree/shrub growth share this old burn pile and they all seem to be quite happy growing in their new free form positions. Well …let’s not forget the gophers and moles which keep the soil loosened in perfect condition for seed to flourish. Even the hazel nuts have sprouted from the squirrels hiding their stash over winters as well and a few conifers and maples started from disposed cuttings. It will become a mini forest in time. After all the pocket gophers were responsible for churning up seed in the soil under tons of ash after bringing back the forest from the Mount St Helen’s volcano eruption in the 80’s in Washington state. I think there is still ash under the concrete roof tiles. I can see Mt. St.Helen’s tip blown off from the volcano from the front pasture on a clear day. Today it is topped with snow.

Adopted a border collie pup . Just beautiful,extremely bright and easy to train . She’s a black and white gal, less than a year old. The Border Collie Rescue called and asked if I was interested in her, just one pic of this beauty and I was sold. I was looking for a pup to keep the elder dogs busy. We are all getting old together. She has done well with the other dogs and they all get along . So now there are three border collies, one huge ruff collie - (she is huge and lets me lean on her back to get up from kneeling down in the garden), and two shelties to run thru the pastures and keep us all laughing.

Now we are all ready for Santa Clause. I've got all the presents wrapped, mailed out and under the tree. The tree is beautiful this year with all the hydrangeas and Star -of Persia onion seed heads all painted gold, hung on the tree with pinecones snow painted and fairy lights with glitter as it all shines the starry lights on the ceiling at night.

Cookies are all baked, ready and wrapped for friends and neighbors. All the seed packets I made are labeled and bagged along with rooted starts from many of my house plants to share.

All the bedrooms have clean linens as well as the baths to welcome family for the holiday’s. Cooked ham is ready with all the guests to grab sandwiches for snacks, and salads , muffins and cakes to graze on . I think I will wait till New Years to make a cheese cake with cherries and strawberry toppings. Both refrigerators and three freezers are packed full waiting to be emptied by hungry family and friends.

Yesterday my neighbor brought me a tractor seat with wheels and rack for garden tools to sit on while in the garden. What a nice gift and I am anxious to try it out. I brought my neighbors hand made wreaths made from the garden greens to hang on their doors. Some are evergreens others are only silver dollar eucalyptus all finished with bright ribbons and bells. It’s a tradition now I do it every year.

So for now, I hope all the Garden Stewbies are set for the holidays and may you all enjoy the upcoming days with your friends and families in the spirit of Christmas and bring in the New Year celebrations with Peace, Hope and Light. Sending Holiday Blessing to all .

 

When we lived in Texas, the rosemary was huge. I had never seen it grow that big!

So Riley; is glass paper the same as sandpaper?

 

Yes.
We often call it sandpaper, but it's actually glasspaper.

 

Hmmm, I wonder if ours is actually glass as well.looks like sand to me and I use it as sand on scrapbook pages.

A few nights ago I made a pumpkin soup, inside a pumpkin. The soup didn't turn out well, I don't know why, all the ingredients sounded good. But I saved the seeds to roast and tonight I made a pumpkin pie since it's my granddaughter's favorite. While it was cooking I decided to just throw the seeds in my old cast iron skillet with a little butter and salt and roast them at the same time. Apparently they were a hit! I just went in to clean the skillet and put them and the skillet away, now that they've both cooled.

There weren't many to begin with, they barely covered the bottom of the pan, but at least she likes healthy!

 

Merry Christmas everyone....

Sandpaper is labeled "sandpaper" here. I have never heard it called anything else.

 

Actually, these days it's neither, but it's been called either for decades.

 

Nothing today it's raining again.

 

Raining today. Im could do some if it lets up.

 

As soon as there's a dry half-day, I'll be into the wisterias.

 

I have a few garden resolutions for the new year . First one is to manage the small clipping piles better throughout the garden.

Unfortunately new puppy likes grabbing and chewing on branches from the clipping piles . Chewing on branches and stripping the bark off by the next morning there are ugly surprises on the floor. So now these little garden clipping piles are covered and out of sight a new project to remember. This also extends to the ponds for the water lilies, also seem to be another target for puppy stick grabbing. Border collies seem to need a lot of attention a bit ADHD/OCD and redirecting her negative energy into positive exploration is another resolution for the new year.

One of my biggest garden priorities for the new year resolution list is to curtail a habit I have developed over the years by hiding clippings in small piles around the garden . Truth be told I am a , ‘Creative Clippings Hider’ . Usually clippings are tucked away under plants or areas hidden from view . I like to call them my , ‘Mini’ compost piles. They need to be disguised better to discourage tempting grabs by puppy.

Another resolution is I’d love to put together a little run for the new pup, covered of course so she can run on rainy days and not feel confined. The older dogs would also appreciate a dry area in winter outside too. There are some great salvaged materials laying around that can be recycled to build a covered run until spring. I just lack confidence on my part since my energy levels have seemed to drop lately. There are lots of salvaged nails and concrete screws . I’m all thumbs. I keep telling myself to do this in tiny baby steps. I can get the lumber out measure and cut in the work space in the barn to make side panels. A nice spot over the concrete water tank, no mud and small pea rocks already down over plastic is planned. Size 10’x15-20’ . It will be a good place to put a dry area covered for all the dogs. There are rolls of tar covered canvass saved to stretch over the top for cover and then finding posts tall enough in the wood pile could be a challenge, as soon as a few storms pass .

Let's hope for a great gardening year for everyone, with peace and plenty all around the globe.

 

I did get out to work a bit this morning. We had snow flurries off and on most of the day, but no accumulation so far. About supper time, the flakes were big and thick and fluffy and really coming down. We got a light dusting, but not enough to do much.

I did get some work done on the new area for Horsey. I had to remove and put back in a couple of T posts that were out of line. And I put up a cattle panel on the one side. That is to keep the dogs from getting hog tied in the posts and fence. I have an old gate to use as part of the fence, but have to figure out how to mount it to the T posts. I was looking through my odds-n-ends collection but did not see anything that might work. I did dig up some bushes that were in the way, and burned a trash pile. The regular fence clips (for barbed wire to T posts) are too small to work. Maybe I can see if my zip ties might be long enough for the job? The rains this past week made the soil soft enough to work with on the T posts.

The rest of the day, I did housework.

 

Nothing today it's raining again and the ground is too wet to walk on it.

 

I finished emptying the pickup truck of leaves.

Then I sorted through some garlic from last year that I had missed and left out. All lot of roots got torn up separating them into individual plants. Then I replanted them. It's OK if they dont grow. At least I tried.

Then I rolled out some weed barrier in pathways I'm renewing. I hauled three wagons of arborist chips to cover those. About four more wagon loads are needed.

 

Still the same.

 

Quite dry today, I might do a bit in the garden later.

It should have been a golf day but the course is still closed. This is because the Mersey is still high so the sluices will be forced shut, by the pressure of the river water. The fairways won't drain into the streams until the level goes down.