It has been over a month since my last blog entry and about that long since I have done anything in the garden. The holidays just took over my life. There was a also a little excursion to Panama following the holiday, that took about a week, then the week to recover from the excursion got included. Anyway, I am glad to be back to the blog and back to working in the garden.
We had about a week of rain following my return, lots of it! The weather warmed up and finally got sunny for this past weekend and I ventured out to see how things had fared and also got a little pruning done.
I think I need to get a new lopper and a new pruning saw. The lopper is one that I borrowed from my father-in-law about 15 years ago, and it was old then. It has finally just worn out. I seem to need to get a new pruning saw every 3 or 4 years. I am pretty rough on the little buggers, and the one I have now had to work overtime following the tornado. Looks like I will be doing some shopping before I can continue to cut down the large privet bushes on the parks and recreation property behind the house. They didn't come all the way over to the lot line when they cleaned it up last year. I'll just help them out by getting rid on the invasives and putting in some natives. We have lots of little oak trees starting where I don't want them, so they can have a new home on the public land. I will have to put little protective fences around them for a while after transplanting. I offered some to my neighbor, but he has never told me where he wanted me to put them, and this next month will be the best time to transplant.
Because it warmed up so much for a while, and we had all the rain, I have seen some plants starting to bloom that usually don't bloom until February. There are already daffodils blooming in the Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and the Lenten Roses as well. I have one Lenten Rose in my garden that has a bloom on it. It also looked like Rue Anemones were trying to bloom at the Botanical Gardens, although they could be the false Rue Anemones. Anyway, I hadn't even seen hepatica blooming, so wasn't expecting those beautiful little white flowers in JANUARY. Now we are cold again, so that will slow things down a bit I expect.
Saturday I took a little trip down to Petals From the Past to pick up my persimmon tree. I was so excited to get it and put it in the ground right away. It is planted where I had okra growing last year, and near to where we lost the pine tree. It needs full sun, and I wanted to put it to the North of the vegetable garden where it wouldn't create too much shade, but also where it would get the sun. It will give a little bit of shade to some of my blueberry bushes. They looked like they got a little bit of sun scorch last summer. We now will have figs, blueberry bushes, blackberries, and persimmons. These are all fruits that will grow in Alabama's climate with very little maintenance, and no spraying! I do not want to have fruit that requires a great deal of time, or any poison applications.
While I was at Petals From the Past I couldn't resist and picked up another package of seeds. It is time to plan the summer garden. I picked up a pack of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I plan to have some lovely little Squash Patisson 'Golden Marbre Scallop in the garden this year. The package says that" this is a unique French scallop squash. The fruit is a beautiful bright golden-orange color. young fruit are very tender and well flavored. The tall bush plants are very attractive and yields are good."
"The summer squash are grown for immature fruits which can be harvested all summer long. Very heavy feeders., they need soil heavily amended with manure, compost or other source of lots of nutrients. Sow in place in full sun after last frost."
If you want to request their catalog go to RareSeeds.com or call 417-924-8917. The Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company is my short list of places to visit. They are in Mansfield, MO and have a pioneer village and farm. http://rareseeds.com/ Anybody ready for a road trip?
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