Re: [gardeners] First frost!
pennyx1@juno.com (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 4 Nov 2002 00:13:55 -0500
Rosemary, here in lower New York State, we have not seen such cold for 10
years!
It's incredible to awaken to 30* temps -- and then not to have it warm up
very
much during the day.
Saturday and Sunday I had to spend in the garden, all bundled up. Turn
off all
the water connections, blow out the underground lines, bring in the rigid
hoses,
and all that sad stuff with encroaching winter. I ordered in 11 cu yds of
shredded
pine bark mulch, and had them dump it right in the driveway, next to the
beds
which had new plantings this summer... Went to move the cars out of the
garage
at dawn, and found one with a dead battery (left a map light on...)..
Jimmie came
down to put the battery on a slow charge, and managed to knock over a
crate of
short soaker hose lengths -- one more obstacle to progress!
In between the hard work I managed to pot up a dozen fancy leaf geraniums
I had
dug up out of the yard. I am back in the nursery-nurturing business under
lights,
until the Christmas Master Gardener feast and festivity -- somehow, some
of the
very finest gardeners are also some of the very finest cooks! I will also
bring in
my collection of Hoya carnosa 'Shooting Star' -- everybody enjoys an
unexpected
present, yes?
As for insects going into hiding, I did see ONE ant on my shovel today,
and I also
found an unwelcome house guest which was about 1 inch long, black, and
was
undulating across my kitchen floor. Goodbye, old pal -- too bad I found
you.
A father & son team moonlighting on a Sunday came over to help me spread
all
that mulch, thank heavens -- I'm not exactly in the marathon business
anymore ...
They had a wonderful system, and asked me for my snow shovels. Miraculous
way to handle mulch! It doesn't fall off of the shovel easily, and one
can carry
twice as much at a time! When they had to reach into the back of the
shrubbery,
they either filled my wheelbarrow or else they half-filled a 40 gallon
garbage pail
and carried it to the spot to dump. When we had finished and they had
left by
3:00 o"clock, I came inside, sat down at the computer, and fell sound
asleep for
an hour, teetering in my chair. What is it they say about the Golden
years...?
Penny, NY
.
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