Re: [gardeners] Breeze protectors

penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 9 Jan 2000 19:07:36 -0500 

.
Byron & Margaret, I would never have a call for 3 lb coffee cans, but I 
do have a collection of empty gallon Clorox ( or non-name brand) 
bottles which Jim has saved for collecting used oil....   They could
easily have their tops and bottoms cut out for the same purpose. 

I also have half a dozen 6" or even 8" plastic flower pots from former
plant purchases. 

It sounds tedious, but perhaps it's worth it:  one could place any 
number of short stakes in the ground, and fasten low burlap around the
rows of transplants.  In fact, when I planted 3 dozen left-over gladiolus
bulbs in the vegetable garden very late last summer, I placed some old,
short folding fencing around them, to keep Big Foot out of the area till
they grew enough to warn him.  I could easily have fastened some 
burlap stripping onto them, to protect them from the wind, if i had
needed
to. 

Well, yes, I am rather enamored of burlap -- then then, if one buys it in

an old fashioned hardware store or perhaps agro store, it definitely is
not
expensive.  We have a lot on hand left from when we laboriously fastened
it up to 8 ft stakes on a 100 ft run with westerly exposure, to protect
the
rhodies from the severe winter winds. The stakes remain in place, but we
have not put up the burlap for 2 winters, because we took sick just at
the 
critical moment. Last year I saw no adverse effects, but at that time I
did
have two 10 ft runs of it protecting two sets of young bushes. This
winter
they are on their own. 

I know we are being lulled by some gremlin with a terrible sense of
humor, 
but today was like May here just north of New York City!  It was
DELICIOUS!
If we had not needed to go to the cousin's 89th birthday, we would have
been outdoors planning, sratching, dreaming, turning the compost, perhaps
even rototilling the veggie garden, who knows...  

FYI, I was cutting those glads in November for the kitchen...    

Right now I have a supermarket amarylis which is remarkable. It bloomed
two weeks ago, but it had not 4 but 5 blossoms on it, the extra one
standing straight upright the entire time!  And as of today, first time
ever
for me, I have a second blooming stalk with a full 4 blossoms on it, just
opening up..!  I know a lot of people who say they are tired of
pointsettia
and amarylis at Christmastime, but i have so much color on my kitchen
counters, hangars and windowsill -- very lovely coleus, red blooming 
begonias,  a clerodendron, etc., that I use the pointsettia to fill in
the
background and the amarylis grouped to the side.  It's everything  
heartwarming except for the missing fragrance, but we manage to
pretend by using curry...<G> ....   Oh! I forgot that there's also my
rooted
home-grown pineapple top hanging overhead, and prospering -- and
it does fill in the exotic look ... 

Oh well, when spring comes in wintertime, can snow be far behind...?

Penny, NY 
.
.
.--

________________________________________________________________
YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET!
Juno now offers FREE Internet Access!
Try it today - there's no risk!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.