Can We Talk 2

Getting Ready

         OK, it is snowing today, maybe sleeting. It won't last like in January or February. So, I am thinking of the crocus I have seen popping up and the hyacinths that have shot up green blades. Now I won't to think flower pots, garden beds and seeds. (The crocus are blooming.)

         I pulled out the plant book to read. I will look for seed catalogs. I have particular varieties I want this year, and they aren't at Walmart or the grocer's. I have some clay tubing I want to use as containers, but I need to put bottoms in them and a way to fill the bottom so I use less potting soil. The extra depth is just for looks.These clay tubes are square shaped in different lengths. They might make a nice border.

         II might have destroyed my rosebush by trimming back too much or incorrectly cutting the stems. Time will tell. The clematis next to it should have been trimmed more, but I was chicken, so now it just looks messy. As soon as the ground is dry enough I need to pull weeds and mulch around the plants and shrubs that are staying. It is hard to work around them when they're growing, especially thorny roses or sharp yucca leaves.

         I don't think I'm jumping the gun, just trying to do a little planning in order to be ready when the time comes. My grandmother would have her tomato seeds planted by now in small trays, sitting in a sunny window. She would transplant the healthy seedlings to bigger pots. When the weather was right, my dad would plow and dig the holes in the ground. She'd carry out her strong plants and help him set them in the ground. Then it was his job to weed and fertilize. She would water them while he worked on hot summer days. Every year she had those pans of seedlings in the window before the spring weather set in.

         I'll never have my grandmother's green thumb. I can strive for the sheer fun of it.