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Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 1:16
| January is always a month of torture for me because there's so little going on with the plants. However, usually the weather allows me to be busy part of the time, and my activity is a pressure valve that eases the frustration of seeing the garden at a standstill. This is pruning and cleanup season, with a good deal of work still ahead (thank goodness) and lately I've been digging up suckers of roses I want to start second plants of. Most of these I've tried unsuccessfully to propagate by cuttings, so I'm attempting a different strategy. Ideally I'd like to have at least two plants of every variety growing in the garden. It's been too wet to dig much, though Lord knows the ground needs amending, and I'm not planting, for those reasons and because I'm reluctant to plant anything after Christmas because I fear the plants won't have enough time to get established before the summer drought. We're supposed to have several days of snowy weather starting in a day or two, and it's good for the environment if not for those of us who have children toget to school. I'm still branded by last year's endless snows. So, after a month of March weather in January, winter is coming at last. It's time for a snapshot. Yesterday we had that rarest of weather in this gray rainy year: a blue sunny day, cool in the morning, warm by afternoon. The grass was green and lush, the evergreen shrubs sported their glittering foliage, formal and substantial among the leafless trees. Through the soft air wafted the sweet, slightly sickly scent of sarcococca, and the sweeter, sharp lemon fragrance of the Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata' in early bloom. The hellebores are coming well into flower, both the native H. foetidus and H. viridis and the garden Orientalis types. They're all lovely. The violets are lying low, rather to my surprise, but this is the regular flowering time of the winter aconite, Eranthis hiemalis, and its bright acid yellow blooms are dotted here and there in the beds. This is a native that we dug up and moved to the garden, where it has since been seeding. The earliest bulbs are poking their shoots above the ground. I'm keeping an eye out for the snowdrops I planted last fall, but so far there's no sign of them. This morning is cloudy. February is coming soon, and the great thing about February is that it's followed by March, and in March things start to happen. I try not to think this way. I make feeble attempts to live in the moment, but in winter that's hard. Yet the garden has been pretty satisfactory this year, since I have been able to get out and work in it, and this does help with the impatience. Last year I couldn't do much in the garden and so I took long walks and studied Latin. Best of luck to you all! Melissa |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by jeannie2009 PNW 7/8 (My Page) on Sun, Jan 26, 14 at 5:54
| I truly enjoy reading your posts. You are so talented. This winter has been mild and relatively dry. We are grateful. While mornings have been foggy most afternoons have been sunny with temps about 50 degrees F. Last week we spent spreading compost on a rocky pasture. Hopefully when the pasture grass grows through this spring it will be more lush. We've also been cleaning up winter damaged rose bushes and weeding. Somehow weeding in January is fun. Thankfully February is the shortest month. Take care. Jeannie |
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| Boy, I sure as heck can't relate! I'm always working so much in my garden during this time of year,when icy roads or snow don't prevent me from gettting out there. Summer's what I don't like;can't do much at all with the effing heat... |
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| We are fed up and going off to the woods tomorrow - taking the chainsaw, several trees, a tray of foxgloves, all the spare seed and a couple of roses (Blush Rambler, R.gentileana)....and I have gone a bit insane and ordered meconopsis seeds (again). Sodding January - the fightback begins. |
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| It's the cruelest month here too - because it won't rain. The roses I pruned a while ago are already starting to leaf out in the warm weather, and my biggest concern is to make sure the roses are well-mulched so they don't dry out immediately in this porous soil. I keep forgetting to get used coffee grounds from Starbuck's, which I hope will make the soil retain water a little longer. I feel very relieved that every rose is now planted and that I will not be buying any more. I just want to tend to what I have and am so tired of planting new bands, of which there are quite a few from this and last year. Large roses that were diseased have left and the structure of most of the garden areas is compromised rather severely. I want a mature, blooming garden this spring, but that's only going to be partially the case, and who knows what the spring flush will be like with no winter rain. The future of my garden is very uncertain, but I tend it every day as though that doesn't matter, because as long as my roses are alive I'm still hopeful. Ingrid |
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| I feel so bad for you, Ingrid. Drought is just the worst.I sure hope it'll start raining again out there soon... My new thing this year is adding clay kitty litter to my soil, either when I plant, or on the surface and then working it in around established plants.Though this year we are lucky enough to be getting LOTS of rain,I know from past experience that the Italian climate is terribly at risk for drought,so I'm trying to add as much clay and organic matter as I can to my soil,to help with water retention. This year I'm also bending over backwards trying to get as much of it mulched as I possibly can-NOW, BEFORE the soil starts drying out in the spring...so much work, but I'm hoping it'll pay off. bart |
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- Posted by mendocino_rose z8 N CA. (My Page) on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 9:45
| Well said Melissa. I started to answer this post yesterday and found myself again wallowing in my depression. I had to toss it. it's true that I am not hopeful. I've imagined the worse over and over again. Under the best of circumstances January is a difficult time. I know Spring will come and then being a gardener I will make the best I can of the summer. |
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- Posted by melissa_thefarm NItaly (My Page) on Mon, Jan 27, 14 at 23:59
| Pam, Lord yes, your situation is one that's hard to come to terms with. I'd be worrying too, but it doesn't help. I hope you're doing some cheerful things. My turn for drought will come one day when yours is past, and you'll be writing comfortingly to me instead. Melissa P.S. Bart, I wish I could give you some of our clay. We have way too much of the stuff and far too little organic matter. I've been advised to try mushroom compost; we need to see if there are any farms in the area. |
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- Posted by growing_rene 7 (My Page) on Wed, Jan 29, 14 at 12:23
| January is also very difficult for me. Only a few more days left & then it's February! It's a little like my favorite day of the week is Friday because the next day is Saturday. For now, I am looking out my windows planning where my next plants will be going. When they arrive in March, I will have the grounds prepared. Planning is really all I have this month, and reading old posts making notes of considerations for this year's spring and warmer times. We don't have too much longer of a wait! |
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