Evidence of Spring

The weather here can be pretty unpredictable this time of year.  One week it can be hot enough to need air conditioning…and the next cold enough to freeze.  That’s not always very good for gardens and crops.  And not so good for Optimistic Gardener’s nerves either.  But I do love the signs of Nature’s awakening. Here’s a few pictures from my own little garden.

Garden Hair Cut

Another step in the “Operation Fix the Garden” is complete. Last weekend we finished the winter pruning. We’re still feel like novices, but after watching a true Master Gardener prune his trees I think we’re feeling quite a bit more confident. I don’t have pictures of the citrus yet. Most of the pruning on those was shaping anyways. But here are pictures of the apple, pomegranate and grape vines.

Apple Tree Update

After asking several different people, I might have an answer to the damage I complained about here and here. And armed with a couple more pictures:

    

It appears that the damage is being done by a pack rat. I need to do some more research. We’ve painted the tree trunk and wrapped the lower edge with tinfoil…and we’ve done some heavy cleaning. But no other sign of the culprit. The only thing we caught was a little mouse in the garage far from the backyard. We’ll keep looking — I’m not happy about a pack rat setting up residence in my yard…so close to pets and kidlets.

More Damage to My Tree

I admit, I’m getting a little frustrated now. Remember these?

What Is It?

Something has been eating the bark off my apple tree. I’ve looked all over the area, but can’t find the culprit. It doesn’t really appear to be harming the tree..but I don’t want it to go far enough that it might. So I’m going to post these pictures in the hopes that someone will recognize this and help me out. I also plan on sending the images to our local Cooperative Extension…they’ve helped me out in the past regarding our toad resident. Hopefully someone can help me figure this out.

Introducing my Garden

Maybe I should have titled this embarrassing confessions. My sister was asking if my garden was still green, so I figured this was probably as good a time as any to introduce my garden to all of you. Before you shake your head in shock and disappointment, and ask how I could ever consider myself a gardener, know that my garden doesn’t always look like this. The nasty bermuda grass, spurge and other weeds have gotten out of control because I haven’t been able to do all the gardening I need to because of a back injury I got while having the baby. We have plans that will should address the weed problem and hopefully make my garden productive and efficient again. I’ll post the progress and updates as we go…and maybe all my adventures will inspire someone else to start their own garden. Besides…as GadgetMan once told me, we can’t all have gardens like Martha Stewart…some of us have to pull all our own weeds and squish our own bugs — 2 things that remind this optimistic gardener that the Garden of Eden I do not have. But I try, and that’s what’s important.