I worked out in the front walkway garden yesterday cleaning around the birch tree so we could see the crocus that are blooming. My husband thinks the rabbits will be much happier now that dinner is on display. I was really dismayed at the broken branches on some of the shrubs. The viburnum carlesii has a large branch that was partially split. I read in
George Weigel's blog that sometimes if you tie the branch together with an old nylon, the branch may bond. I did this once with a foxtail spruce and it worked. I'm going to give it a try since I have nothing to lose but a branch. Some of the boxwoods had mangled branches, but after trimming them they don't look so bad. I won't mention all the
vole trails...that's another day.
No matter how severe the winter damage, the crocus bloom gives me hope.
After the pruning class last week at Elmer's I went trapsing around in the snow pruning broken limbs on the conifers, wigela & viburnum and also shaping up a fir & hemlock leaving all of the trimmings on the snow for the rabbits. Now that the snow is gone it looks amess and once it stops raining I will have to clean up all of those trimmings.
ReplyDeleteThis past fall I planted spinach & romaine lettuce in my raised beds and covered them with storm windows & 2 layers of heavy plastic. I found out that storm windows can not withstand nearly 3' of snow. Last weekend I cleaned up the glass and re-covered with the plastic. Today I uncovered the beds completely so they will get natural waterings. Also opened up the cold frame and sowed more romaine & cleaned up the spinach that survived the hard winter. Looking forward to early early spinach.
Today I donned my ski pants, hooded rain jacket and boots and walked around my yard noticing all the plants that actually survived under nearly 3 feet of snow. With all of the rain the snow is finally melting away, not all just most of it. I am amazed at how fast the crocus and hellebores came back. The crocus may not be blooming yet but I have green poking through the mulch which is a good sign. And when I had almost given up on the hellebores I noticed loads of blooms. Now if only the snow covering the tulip beds would melt so I can be assured they too survived. I'm sure they survived but it's always nice to be reassured.
I also found out that the duct tape, on my wintersown containers that were covered with snow for the past month, no longer hold. Once we have a couple of dry days I will have to retape the bottles so the lids don't blow off.
Sigh!!! It feels so good to get outside again...Karen Brown
Hello Gardeners!
ReplyDeleteMy mother is a Master Gardener for Baltimore County, Maryland and she suggested that I connect with the Master Gardners in Franklin County, PA. I am a 6th grade mathematics teacher in the Tuscarora School District. This June (June 4th) I am planing a nature day for my students and in need of an additional volunteer. We have a beautiful nature center on our school property, but only one teacher. I am in need of a Master Gardener that can take my students on a nature walk through the gardens, possibly conduct a wildflower study, and explain the importance of protecting our environment. Please contact me at stacie.wight@tus.k12.pa.us if you can help conenct me to someone who can help. Thank you so much!
Stacie - We've added your request to the "Speaker List" and will advertise and ask for volunteers at our next meeting (Tuesday, 3/23). We'll be in touch.
ReplyDeleteSee this Blog Post as follow up to Stacie's request:
ReplyDeletehttp://franklincountymgs.blogspot.com/2010/06/mgs-teach-eco-systems-at-tuscarora.html