Saturday, February 20, 2010

Tour of the Yard in midst of winter

Yesterday was the first day I was able to walk over the yard and check things....not much to see. The mole runs are horrific and it makes walking with a bad foot very difficult. It had to pick my way through the war zone.

I found this fungi growing on a dead stump. I think I will call it a winter flower, it makes me think of those decorative cabbages.
The new herb bed is still under its blanket of leaves but several little new garlic plants  are popping through.  I planted these from my saved cloves last fall.  I have no idea which it is but it is a hard neck variety.  At first I thought I would use this as a holding bed, but may just leave it as it.  There are chives, sweet williams, and something else planted under there.

Of course, when warm weather hits, I suspect rudbeckias will pop up there too.

The biennial curly -leaved parsley looks alive; frosted, but alive.


This is viburnum Brandywine.  I am pleased  with how tall it has gotten.
I had a few blooms last year and am hoping for more.   I need some height at the corner of the foundation here.






I could lie and tell you this is frosted groundcover..........it is the bane of my gardening existence, henbit (it and Bermuda grass).  I think I will just start mowing and trimming it and quit trying to eliminate it.  It doesn't work anyway.

I saw lots of perennials greening up some and iris and daffs.

We have had two very warm days and I always start worrying about that bringing things on too quickly and then a hard freeze hitting them, especially the fruit trees. I see no signs of budding on them yet and I am keeping my fingers crossed. The strawberries are still buried under heavy mulch so they are safe.

This is the month I need to spray dormant oil on the fruit trees. I will wait until this predicted rain is gone and do my best to get that done, cold or not.

3 comments:

  1. Henbit and Bermuda are universal. We've named the enemy, let the battle begin. Do you have catbrier (Smilax) as well?

    There have been enough chill hours to have peaches this year. All fruit trees await the signal to come out of dormancy.

    Love the pic of the cows. There is a pasture between here and the church where many new calves are out and about with their Moomas, always a fun sight.

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  2. I like henbit. It makes the yard a beautiful field of purple in the spring! I agree with you on Bermuda though.

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  3. Oh yes, we have that one too, Nell! We have 10 new babies on the ground but they are way back where I don't see them very often.

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