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Too Much Water in the Garden?
It is raining again. The cistern is completely full, the French tile drain is at capacity, and everything goes squish when stepped on. There is more rain the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Our garden sits on a small plateau that seems to retain water. Two days ago I dug out a dead hibiscus to discover standing water at the bottom of the hole and a big fat spider. Currently all the paths are under water, which first blew my…
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How to Bring the Magic to your Garden
Growing up, dad had a vegetable garden out in our front field in the middle of an old riding ring. To get there, we’d have to wade through weeds, keep our eyes open for snakes, and battle the blaring sun. I never had much interest in venturing out there unless it was a picking day and we were instructed to bring in the beans and clip okra. As I’ve started my own gardens over the past few years, one of…
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Early Planting?
So what exactly do we do with this? The next 10 days are predicted to be glorious (yes, rain is glorious too). The traditional planting date here is Good Friday, which this year is April 6. There’s always a chance of a freak frost hitting right up to the end of March, but it is so warm out that rogue beans are popping up in the garden. I’ll hold off on tomatoes and peppers, but I’m very tempted to plant…
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The Winter Carrot
After asking for weeks of Scooby begging to eat the one carrot we grew over the winter, I dug down around the top and saw that it was quite large and let Scooby pull it up. I had to chase him around the yard several times begging for a bite before he let me try it. For the size, I was expecting it to be bitter, but I guess the winter temperatures sweetened it up nicely. Both boys gave it…
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Birds!
These critters have some amazing personality! I was able to leave the door to the deck open and capture some of these from inside my living room. The birds are quite pleased that I’ve started feeding them again.
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Just Be True to Yourself
I know I’m supposed to have these deep pervasive thoughts that just explode onto the screen when I sit down to write – but that just isn’t happening anymore. Instead I find phrases tumbling through my head and broken pieces of imperfect ideas trailing along behind them. One of these phrases is “just be true to yourself.” The idea being – so what if people don’t like it, so what if you are standing alone, so what if you look…