Posted on 12/03/2022 5:57:11 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
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Hey, holiday greetings to all my gardening peeps! Nothing going on here but I need to start some alfalfa sprouts. I need some greens!
The Best Gardening Books for All Types of Gardeners
Best for Beginners: Rodale's Basic Organic Gardening
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Best for Vegetable Gardens: The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, 2nd Edition
Best for Flower Gardens: The Flower Gardener's Bible
Best for Small Spaces: All New Square Foot Gardening II
Best for Indoor Plants: The Complete Houseplant Survival Manual
List continues at link...
https://www.thespruce.com/best-gardening-books-4159206
Nice tree!
The Best Garden Books of 2022. Bob Vila recommends:
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/best-gardening-books/
What, no Roz Creasy books?
Hers should be re-titled “How to hide your garden in plain sight so your HOA doesn’t get after you.”
:^)
So someone sent me a pair of "bacon socks" this week LOL! It was another rainy day, last of the month, & I had to use up fuel points or lose them ($1.00 off/gallon). Seven gas cans - pretty darn heavy when full. I was limping up the steps after a trip to the gas station/all the heavy lifting & saw an Amazon package by the door - Amazon? I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon so what is going on? As soon as I opened it and saw the socks, I knew who had sent them to me - we'd had a conversation on 'all things bacon' last Saturday ... both the 'gross' (bacon-flavored lip balm, bacon flavored chocolate mix ... truly ghastly - this person gave me some a couple years ago) and the "cute" - bacon socks & bacon Band-Aids. I'm glad he got me socks - I'll wear them at Christmas ... toes/cuffs are red, so they'll be a conversation starter.
Garden news - nothing going on. I DID get out earlier in the week and assaulted/murdered our forsythia bushes. Well, they're hard to kill, but I did cut them back to 3-4 feet (from about 12 feet & totally overgrown) and hauled away 6-8 trailer loads of branches. The bushes were so overgrown, I couldn't get around them with the mower in places and they were growing into each other (despite being planted about 15 feet apart) and some Crape Myrtle trees. Mom had been "snipping" them into a rounded shape - every place she snipped had grown 4-8 more little branches - then she'd snip the next year & that sprouted, so the bushes were nothing but these little "baskets" of branches sprouting - it was a MESS. All gone ... probably no flowers next spring, but I'll be curious to see what the bushes do. The Brown Turkey Fig is next, but I did look at a couple of videos on how to trim them up, so the bush should still be 'happy' when I'm done.
Looks like lots of "inside" time today .... one seed catalog from Pinetree Gardens to look through for the 100th time .... I'd love to order "one of each" LOL!
Since I brought it up, here’s the link:
https://www.rosalindcreasy.com/home-1
I was friends with her son, so I used to hang out at that house back in the day (late 70s to early 80s).
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Welcome Yule & the Winter Garden!
Gathering backyard botanicals for holiday decorations can connect us to age old traditions. Celebrations born of the season, and a long look back into the garden and forest floor. As we walk in our gardens at this time of year, the bones of the landscape are evident. We can see where to prune, and where we could improve on plantings in the year ahead.
Once December arrives, I bundle up, and head out with clippers and the intention to find greens to fill my urns, window boxes, and planters with the beauty of the season. Some days, I enjoy solitary time in nature. Other days, I find great pleasure in turning a walk with friends or family into an opportunity to collect botanicals. In the process, we engage in conversation about the environment and plants we share in common. As we walk in the crisp air, we collect treasures (nests, shells, seed pods, cones, herbs and fruit) to make wreaths into a celebration of place.
Since ancient times, the wreath has symbolized the wheel of life. When we make wreaths with loved ones, we bring nature indoors during the cold season, and create a token of our time together that brings a smile each time we enter that door.
After the holidays (Twelfth Night or January 6th in early tradition), I move my wreaths to trees along the edge of the woods. The fruits, seeds and berries turn wreaths into neighborhood bird feeders and places for nesting by spring. Similarly, I move my tree out into my yard, lights and all. The tree helps to illuminate the long winter nights. Over the holidays, I take time with kids to make peanut butter and bird seed pine cone ornaments that we can hang to bring the tree to life outside our windows.
Perhaps this is the year you could take a walk in nature with family and friends. Make your own wreaths from the special things you gather, and renew this ancient holiday tradition designed to engage us in the spirit of the season.
Here's one of my 'Wheel of Life' holiday wreaths
My re-blooming irises are actually re-blooming now in December:
And, the sticky monkey plant loves the cool air, after months of endless heat:
Not much to do in the garden so my helpers have decided to take it easy and wait for Santa:
I remember you mentioning that. Her gardens were awesome, and she always had chickens running around - before it was ‘cool.’ LOL!
What a brilliant idea - grow a pretty garden, take great photos of it, write some books, teach people stuff, and make a bunch of money doing what you love - from home!
I often regret not starting earlier on a book. Seems that ‘everything old is new again’ so that might be a good place to start. I love working on my garden journal in the winter months. Maybe I’ll post some pictures of it later this winter when we’re all bored to tears. ;)
Those socks are a hoot! I have a pair that reads, ‘If you can read this - bring me a glass of wine!’
You’re busy as usual for ‘nothing going on...’ :)
Great score on the gasoline!
That wreath is just STUNNING! Thanks for sharing that. :)
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