Before and After

The old taxus are gone and the new plantings are in! Finally. I've never been fond of the Japanese Yew bush, yet my house had about 20 of them planted all around the foundation and in front of the shed. Not anymore...

Weren't they lovely? Not!














Much better, eh?

Soft-Footing

As I type this, the Nature Quote of the Day at the top of the blog page is from Buddha: "The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground." I am appreciating that thought from a whole new perspective these days. Several weeks ago, I'm not sure exactly when or how, I suffered a stress fracture in my left foot. After a couple weeks of increasing discomfort and swelling that wouldn't go away (and, in accordance with my new rule for going to see my doctor, after the fourth trusted friend or family member said: GO TO THE DOCTOR) I went to the doctor. Who sent me to a podiatrist. Who did a second set of x-rays and gave me a lovely padded, velcro-enhanced, giant, ankle-immobilizing orthotic boot. I got to wear it every waking hour, except in the shower, for three weeks. Now I am in the middle of three more weeks of nothing but sneakers. (Actually, that part is a dream come true for me, almost. If I could wear nothing but my favorite Tretorn sneakers no matter the occasion, I would be a happy camper. Of course, the trade-off right now is, I am still in some pain.)

Now to the point of the meaning of the Buddha quote. When I walk on the grassy ground, my foot feels considerably better than when I walk on the unforgiving sidewalk. I suppose we are made to walk upon the ground, rather than the manmade concrete. Regardless of the spiritual connection, the slight give of the grass is improving my rehabiliation efforts.

By the Light of the Moon?

I recently read, in A Greener Life: A Modern Country Compendium by Clarissa Dickson Wright (the surviving half of the food world's "two fat ladies"), that "you must plant, and indeed transplant, your seeds and seedlings as the moon begins to wax, which is three days after you see a new, or crescent, moon." I didn't believe it, but I had an area where I had planted seeds earlier and nothing came up. So, I replanted on the next day, which just happened to be exactly three days after the new moon. Of course, those seeds all came up. All other conditions being almost equal, except for a few weeks of warming for the soil.

The seedlings are what I planted with the moon, the full grown zinnias I bought and planted after the first, failed attempt.

I'm still not sure why it works, but Clarissa Dickson Wright is not alone in her devotion to lunar planting. Marion Owen, of PlanTea, gives some possible explanations, and this piece from E.A. Crawford (via Kay Keys) gives even more direction for gardening in concert with the moon's phases. Even National Geographic has reported on it. Calendars and software are available at GardeningByTheMoon.com. Go figure.

May-June Mystery continued

I still don't know what it is, but these pretty yellow flowers open up during the day...

Deer

Apparently, this deer thinks she's a bird. And whatever happened to deer coming out at dusk and dawn? This is broad daylight!

Of course, I had just filled the feeder about 30 minutes before. I guess she thought I filled it for her.
This is the point at which the deer decided I was getting too close, I suppose. Right after this picture, she took off for the woods across the street.

May-June Mystery Plant

I don't know what this plant is. Yup, gardening is an ongoing adventure in my yard.

The first picture is from Friday, the second from today--note the yellow flower bud. I sprinkled some wildflower seeds here last fall--a "tulip topper" packet that came with some bulbs.




One more mystery...maybe. Is it a weed...or is it spinach? The basket of spinach was hung over this spot last year...