A hint of spring thanks to Trader Joe's collection of early spring flowers. Daffodils by the bunch, even on the bathroom counter, give me hope that just maybe spring is coming.
And there's nothing like pussy willows to let me know that, yes, in some places things are blooming...
I rescued my slime covered ducks from the garden. It seems that the birds like to perch and poop on them so they were quite a mess. Lots of scrubbing and now a good dry out on the fireplace hearth where the pilot light from the fireplace keeps them warm. They may get a new painted livery thanks to Jack.
They are in good company with the "wabbits" that have also been kept indoors during the wet season. So much for "garden" ornamentation! The rest of my collection (turtles, frogs, and yes, more rabbits) are in dry storage until garden season.
I'll admit that my idea of winter gardening is reading garden magazines, drinking hot tea, while wearing fuzzy slippers and eating dark chocolate...
BUT there's nothing like hauling rocks and gravel and dirt and gravel and rocks and....to burn off the calories and at the same time reduce the size of the beds around the maples. I'll save time and water this summer.
My under gardener is happy that the 3 yard gravel pile is all gone and now he can relax...(until my next project)! And I'm happy the beds are half the size they were.
Now where did I put that chocolate?
My favorite sign painting under-gardener surprised me this morning with something to take away the winter blahs AND SO TRUE...! And it's made from one of my old cookie sheets. I bet he could sell a million of these to gardeners about now! THANKS, HONEY!
I admit it...January is second only to December as a crummy month for gardeners. I tend to drink a lot of tea and comfort myself by sneaking in chocolate bars for after dinner munching. Not good!
But the January of 2019 has been mild, with some days getting sun and temps into the mid 60 degrees. Our new neighbor took advantage of this weather to remove a thornless Mulberry that was planted some years ago...way too close to his house. I got many small branches from that tree to use as garden stakes for my bean crop this year. I like the "natural" look they give the garden and I think the beans will enjoy them because they have lots of little twig buds that the vines will grab.
AND, with the weather behaving nicely I decided to start a garden project. Someone said, "If your garden in too much work and no fun, you need to rethink your design."
After this past fall, I realized that I needed to downsize and re-landscape the beds around the maple trees. No more big beds with plants that trapped the falling leaves. Hand picking leaves out of bushes is not fun! So the new bed, (I'm calling it the "Izzy Bed" since it is where we put the kitty's ashes) is just filled with bulbs. I'll add annuals for summer color and that way I can pull them out before the leaf fall mess. Should make my life easier.
Of course, that meant I needed more gravel to cover the ground and I realized that I had more room to make a nicer seating area. It's amazing how one project turns into several. 3 yards of gravel later, things are looking better. I "anchored" the area with the rubber stepping stones and the all weather tall planter that Chris & Susan got me last year.
Of course I know we're in for more frosty mornings but it was nice to be outside and get a project completed.
