Posted on 04/18/2008 8:31:09 AM PDT by Gabz
Taking an early morning walk this time of year is a singular treat, like Dorothy stepping out of Auntie Em’s house into the color and sound of Oz. The same things that are always there, only instead of Winter‘s drabness, Spring’s full and glorious color. Each walk is accompanied by a symphony of birdsong, a riot of color bursting everywhere. Fallen jasmine blossoms scatter themselves on the ground like the famed yellow brick road, and blooming things pop up everywhere like the fabled Munchkins.
And then, as if the colors and sounds aren’t enough, just to add a little spice, spider webs and silk threads abound. A nice, soothing walk interrupted by a moment of terror as an invisible spider web smacks you across the face. Frenzied panic as you claw at the strands, trying to get them off, as if each strand is composed of skin eating acid. Your heart is pumping, your adrenaline is flowing, because some spider, somewhere, manufactured those invisible strands. It’s not the spider webs themselves we object to—it’s every human’s fear of the monster in the closet. If there’s a spider web, then it stands to reason that somewhere close by, possibly on the very strand stuck to your face, is the spider that spun it.
To top it all off is the humiliating thought that a fellow human is watching you do the spider dance, snickering while they sympathize, glad it‘s not them. Your dogs are laughing themselves silly, watching their human leap and scratch at an invisible assailant. Heads cocked to one side, they seem to be asking the canine equivalent of—“Do you have fleas? You need a bath?” Isn’t it wonderfully amazing how our clothes reflect the changing seasons? My youngest son, even at four years old, was a very opinionated clothes horse. He told me in no uncertain terms what he wanted his Easter outfit to be. Since I was going to be the one making the outfit, we had a little more leniency in choices. He wanted Peter Rabbit grass green pants, and a matching vest and tie, so off to Wal-Mart we went. He was very specific about what he wanted on his vest and tie. If I remember correctly, we found the perfect print, a V.I.P. print by Cranston Print Works. Either someone at Cranston had been listening to a child describe Easter, and April, or they were very much in touch with their inner child.
My son informed me that the fabric for his vest and tie had to have green grass, daffodils, Easter eggs, bunnies, chickies, robins, and other assorted critters and Spring flowers. That’s about the most inclusive summation of Spring I can think of. The colors were matchless, too. Peter Rabbit grass green, sunshine yellow, browns and pinks and blues and whites—all the colors that best describe Spring, printed on a single piece of exactly right fabric. We couldn’t have custom designed a more fitting tribute. Needless to say, my son’s fourth Easter was a great success. Hope your Spring is as happy and colorful and perfect as that one was!
April isn’t just colors—it’s sounds. The earliest spring peepers croaking from every ditch—if frogs are a measure of health, then our area should be winning awards! Some nights you can barely hear yourself think for their welcome racket. Whippoorwills—their distinctive cries are never so loud as right now. The Great Horned owls are sending out their mournful hoo-hoo’s, serenading us late into the night. The sounds of tillers and tractors, and the first strains of lawn mowers add their hum and buzz during the day like a well orchestrated symphony.
Time to get ready for some serious gardening! A few start earlier, and some wait. If your ground is ready and the temperature is right—go for it! The very worst that will happen is another cold snap and you’ll have to start over. If not, then you’ve got an excellent head start!
Many good reports came back on the Crista tomatoes, the ones resistant to Tomato Spotted Wilt. Keep in mind, this is not the wilt that lives in the soil and causes a perfectly healthy plant to look as if it’s had boiling water poured on it just as it starts to bear. TSW is the one that stunts the plant, or kills it outright. There is another variety that some people had success with last year, one called Amelia.
Good reports back also on the straw bale gardening! Many people tried it and seemed very pleased. Less weeding, less disease and insects. Keeping the straw bales watered seemed to be the biggest challenge! Whether you’re doing plants for squash and cukes or starting your own from seed, remember to keep the stems dusted with some kind of pesticide. It will help keep the squash vine borers from getting a toehold.
A few other reminders for this month: Don’t forget to fertilize your lawn and shrubs, but do remember to wait until the end of April or first of May. Done too early, fertilizer can cause the grass to be too tender and green. If we get another cold snap, the tender shoots will be harmed worse. If you’re going to put out warm season grass seed, end of April is a good time to do it. Bermuda and Centipede won’t germinate until the soil temperature is around seventy.
Azaleas don’t need to be fertilized until after they’re done blooming, but other shrubs will benefit from some liquid fertilizer— both regular and acid kind, mixed with some Epsom salts, equal parts of each. Then when you do your lawn, they’ll be ready for the granular fertilizer. The liquid fertilizers and the Epsom salts give them a little bit of a jump start and help to correct the soil ph, especially if the shrubs are close to the foundation of your house.
Get out there and go have some gardening fun!
After they bloom.
Too big to cover I assume? You could try spraying it with an anti-transpirant....something like Wilt-Pruf. Some of my truely obsessed rosarian friends use this.
In Florida, on the rare occasion there is a freeze, they turn on the sprinklers on the fruit trees to keep them from freezing. It works.
THAT is WONDERFUL!!!!!
We’ve got the mid-70s weather today and tomorrow, then the rain comes in and the the temps go back to the (very) low 60s.
Hubby got the kitchen garden taken care of today — I’ve got more parsley than even I know what to do with!!!
Unfortunately I’m not going to have time to deal with it until Monday — and this is just killing me.
Good question. I was wondering the same thing cause I don’t know.
I may let one or two flowers stay on any plant that has them, right now. I do hear that if you leave only a couple blossoms on each plant of any kind, you get bigger fruit.
I have more plants to put out later but it would be nice to have a couple homegrown ones early.
The exercise is great. I just got over a nasty cold and felt weak as water. I hate working out at the gym cause it’s so boooooorrrring, but I do believe that yard work is better overall exercise and a lot more fun. It’s helped a lot.
You clearly don’t live in NY.
I started a bunch of seeds like that and all of mine came up also. I’m used to not having a lot of success with seeds, so I have more plants than anticipated.
I’ve got Heinz tomatoes for homemade sauce, and beefsteaks for eating. YUM!
I am the LAST person on the face of this planet you want to ask about raspberries.
Thankfully, Diana knows about them..........
Between the rain and the cold, that's the story of my life!!!!!
As long as it doesn’t freeze at night, it looks like we’re all set. There’s only one day before the end of April that looks iffy.
Course, it’s not Mother’s Day yet.... (One year just recently, we woke up to about 4 inches of lake-effect snow on Mother’s Day. So now the standing joke for the area is that winter is not over until Mother’s Day. If the subject comes up, all someone has to do is say, *Well, it’s not Mother’s Day yet.* And everyone just rolls their eyes.)
Seems like pepper plants benefit from removing the first few blooms. Helps the plant grow instead of putting effort into growing a fruit. I don’t know about tomatoes. I am sure someone on this thread will have the answer.
Yep! Digging a 3 ft. wide hole and 2 ft. deep for a pear tree in the red clay around here is not booooorrring. I could have put a pick ax to good use, if I had one.
Thanks Gabz! Glad you enjoy them.
**is there any way to protect it?**
If you’ve got a sprinkler that will reach or a hose end with a fine mist setting, you might be able to keep the frost off. Good luck!
Glad you got it! After I mailed it, I thought—you idiot! You’re not supposed to send plant material through the mail! Had a few nightmare visions of the DEA showing up on my doorstep, drug sniffing dogs in tow!
That’s one of the cuttings we took in Jan. Amazing how fast they take off!
Tell Cashmere—This is not your toy! :)
Laughing about the paper—any time we get parts at the store, I can’t stand it—not to read the newspapers they’re padded with, even if they’re old ones! LOL
I am looking for a passionflower plant. Does anyone have extra? I am willing to pay for the plant and shipping.
The paper packing had a crosword and a sudoku puzzle scrunched up in it. I smoothed the page out and will work on them this evening. LOL
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