(no subject)

[which_chick]

I took a walk today. I inspected the gourds, which are doing nicely. They're not *done* drying out, but they're sort of hard and a lot lighter than they were when they were fresh. (The gourds have been sitting on a stump all winter long, out in the fresh air and sunshine. This is as per the directions for birdhouse gourds.) I thought about straightening up the woodpile but didn't feel sufficiently motivated on that front even though it's something of a late-winter clusterfuck. I'll get it done this spring -- I always do. I also checked on my trees. These would be my small, baby trees. The beech trees are in good shape as are the metasequoias. The bald cypress trees look kind of worse for wear, but they were late getting fenced and the end-of-summer growth they made didn't have time to harden off before winter hit. I have faith, though, that they'll leaf out okay come spring.

The ground is still mostly frozen. Since a lot of where I live is swampy, the ground heaves pretty badly from the frost. It's all lumpy and uneven. On days like today, when it's not super cold, the ground creaks when I walk on it. It sounds like ice cubes sound when you drop them into a glass of water... not the plopping noise, but the fracturing noise after that. Some winters, if there's an unseasonably warm day late in the winter, the lake creaks and sings like a whale -- same thing, only on a bigger scale. Ice is actually pretty noisy stuff.

There's not much out because it's not even close to spring here yet. I saw two skunk cabbage in bloom. This is early, even for them.

Comments

[ornery-chick.livejournal.com]

I was outside inspecting my tiny bit of nature today, too. My lilac bushes are starting to have visible buds on them. I don't think they'll bloom yet this year...they're only about 2' tall, and they've only been living here for two years (I planted them the same day we moved into the house) but they seem to be doing pretty darn well, so I'm stoked.

My irises and tulips are sending leaves up already, which is a little early, but I guess they know what they're doing.

If it wasn't raining so much I'd be out busting sod in an attempt to enlarge my gardening territory and shrink my mowing territory.

I can't wait for proper springtime.

Gardens are for vegetables

[ardvaark99999.livejournal.com]

I was actually discussing my garden today w/ my wiff. I swore (swore!) to plant in series this year rather than dumping everything in the ground at once. There is really no need to plant two rows of lettuce on the same day. I think that I will actually use my PDA to help with this procedure so that I don't jump the gun some week and plant boatloads of stuff that will bury me at the end of July.

I may also try a different method of gardening this year:
http://www.compostguide.com/how_to_use_mulch.html

No till gardening? We shall see.

Re: Gardens are for vegetables

[ornery-chick.livejournal.com]

I did a couple of plantings of lettuce, radishes, carrots, and green beans last year (early and mid-season). I'll do the same again this year. It was so worth my time to have tender lettuce all summer, and radishes that won't scorch your sinuses out! We have a pretty long growing season where I'm at (Kansas City, MO) and it is feasible to begin planting some things as early as mid-march, and we don't see a hard frost until the end of October.

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

I grow mostly flowers. ardvaark99999 grows many more veggies than I do. This year, I think I'll grow squash (they were fun last year and I like summer squash) and tomatoes and collards. If I ever get serious about food gardening, I will have to figure out the timing thing. Many gardening books are all on about it as the thing to do.

Ask Doctor Science

[electroweak.livejournal.com]

Ice creaking and booming sounds like this (http://cinxia.com/lj/ice_booming.mp3).

(This post has been audio-enabled via a grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts and People Like You.)