ONLY TWO MORE MONTHS TILL DIGGIN' TIME!!! Yahoo!!!!

     It's January 12,  forecast is 62 for the day, and the seed catalogs are burning a hole in my "spend a hundred, get a hundred"  pocket.  Last year I opted for the row covers for tomatoes, brocs, and brussel sprouts.  I nurtured those babies, I watered, I fed, I crooned.  Little did we know that the summer of 2012 would be one of the worst on record.  Anything outside that could stick its little feet into the air did.   Most yards looked like a blow torch performer from the circus had been practicing on any piece of earth he could find.   Being a city dweller, my water bill started to become an important factor in whether or not my crops survived.  And being a flower lover, it became a hard decision, spend the water on the veggies, or on the flowers?   That's like trying to decide which child you love the best.   I finally broke down and kept the tomatoes and the brussel sprouts alive.   The front garden then  began to take on that late October look, withered and spent.  Even my extremely heat tolerant daylilies wanted to rootwalk to a shady spot under the big maple by the street.  It didn't help that in the fall of 2011 we had taken down the hollow Chinese maple in the front yard, a major source of shade for the garden.  My lovelies that were not used to sitting straight out in the summer sun were being assaulted by 105 degree heat and sun several day a week, EVERY week.  It was brutal.

     One of my biggest concerns was keeping alive two of my favorite new trees, a burr oak of substantial size, and a nearby pistachio dogwood.

description of the dogwood---because I can't get a photo to load...

 "New growth comes out burgundy colored then turns to a glossy dark green. Leaves are thick with mint green stems. Prolific yellow-white blooms"  and I add, stems are very red, which is what attracted me to it in the first place.

     Well, Bill and I have just walked to town and back, and  we have  inspected the new trees.  That consisted of bending twigs at the end of branches a certain amount to see if they would spring back or break. Both trees seemed to be alive, which makes all the hose work in the summer seem justified now.

     I don't like soaker hoses, so during the very hot days,  I used a regular hose, set to a slow, slow flow, and moved it about the base of the tree about once an hour a few hours every few days.  A long slow soak is better than dumping a gallon bucket because  a big bucket dump just erodes around the roots and whatever is left standing evaporates.    

     What probably saved the trees was the tremendous amount of rain we managed to ring from the sky in late summer and fall.  Torrential rains, weed-growing rains,  rains that we needed but didn't want all at the same time.   By the time growing season was over,  grass had grown tall and set seeds.  I braved the rain one day and pulled up great clumps of grass, and got a mudbath.  Tomatoes that had hung on during the drought were really not very fit to eat,  nor were there very many of them.  For the first time in many years, I did not can tomato juice.   I did, however, have a nice crop of brussel sprouts, which seem to come into their own later in the summer, and taste best once frosted on once or twice.  What I harvested now resides in the freezer,  to be served as  bowls full  of summer sunshine on a snowy winter's dinner table.

    A great stack of gardening catalogs is still beckoning to me.  After the last few years of droughty summers,  I'm just a little hesitant to start planning great things.   I don't have a greenhouse, nor am I very good with growlights and all that in the basement.  I am contemplating what I can start with the great number of pots that I have on the back deck that were full of flowers last summer.  I may start lettuce, broccoli, and some other cool weather plants there, using a bags to tent over then on cool or cold nights.  Having them stationed on my path to and from the car will make it easier for me to take care of them, I hope.  I miss my old greenhouse at our former homestead; it was a great place to escape to, and to smell warmed, moist earth when the snow was deep outside.

     Yesterday I made a trip to the Tippecanoe Library for a browse through gardening books and magazines.  I think this year I am interested in companion planting, and using less space in the garden.  I found several interesting publications.  I have a TCPL library card because I also have a Crawfordsville card.  See if you can do that where you live with a bigger library, it's wonderful for me, and I used it a lot when homeschooling.

Permaculture:  Inspiration for Sustainable Living    www.permaculture.co.uk
A British magazine that whose mission is to promote permaculture,,,

"Permaculture is an innovative framework for creating sustainable ways of living; a practical method for developing ecologically harmonious, efficient and productive systems that can be used by anyone, anywhere."

It's a very user friendly publication, not too dogmatic, but beware that all the ads are for British companies.  

Indiana Gardening: Indiana's Own Guide to Great Gardening and Landscaping  www.indianagardeningmag.com

Any time you can find a publication that deals with your specific area for gardening, grab and absorb it. 

Native Alternatives to Invasive Plants--from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden All-Region Guides
 http://www.amazon.com/Native-Alternatives-Invasive-Plants-Greener/dp/1889538779/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358010943&sr=1-1&keywords=native+alternatives+to+invasive+plants 

     This one rates a pot of tea, some snackies, and a long read on the couch in front of the fire.

The Complete Guide to Companion Planting  by Dale Mayer.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Companion-Planting--Basics/dp/1601383452/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358011124&sr=1- 1&keywords=the+complete+guide+to+companion+planting

I know this is something that Maria has been interested in using in her raised beds.  I want to decrease my garden's square footage, so maybe this will help, if I actually follow through with it. 

I'll report back to you in my next posting about what I learn from this bookload's reading.

If you have a birdfeeder, keep it full this week, more snow on the way.

Contemplating getting the hands dirty,

Dianne

p.s.  I'll be buying more primroses this spring, when they are put out for Easter.  Every time we have a few days' thaw, those babies are out there blooming, like today.  I have them in a protected shade garden, near the house, and out of the wind.