This is the time of year that the deer and rabbits seem to do the most damage to my garden. Of course I might say something different in a few months, but for now that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
So far I have been able to keep the deer away from my apple trees with the Irish Spring that I cut in half and hung in the panty hose pouches in the trees this fall. I didn't do the same for my new cherry trees though.
I see the deer have discovered them. Can you see that they've nibbled almost every bud off of the tree? Grrr.
There may be a rabbit living either under my deck or under the shed. Almost daily I see rabbit tracks all over the yard. It looks like we got a new skiff of snow overnight.
My seeds must taste good to the rabbits about now. Several of my flowers have a bunch of tracks underneath. I don't cut them back in the fall. When I first started gardening, I left the plant stalks standing because I was a bit lazy and I needed to remember where to look for plant growth in the spring. My memory isn't always as sharp as it should be. Imagine my delight when I was reading gardening books and found that this is a good practice for northern cold climate gardeners. Doing this traps snow and helps to keep the leaf mulch in place. This insulates the plant from the extreme cold weather that we often experience in the dead of winter.
Yay for stupidly blundering into appropriate plant growing practices.
I'd like to thank Carol for hosting this event on the 15th of each month!
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
17 comments:
My only thought is "gosh it is snowy and cold in her garden". These are tough months for northern gardeners as they hear about all the blooms to the south. But your day will come! Thanks for sharing with us for bloom day.
Oh those darn deer are really pests. They have an entire wood to visit and stop by your house and eat on your trees. Next month may bring some spring teasers to your garden! gail
Brrr...it looks like a cold day in your garden Cinj! Don't worry spring will prevail no matter what.
Thanks for the mail yesterday! I wish you the same :o)!
Linda
It won't be long and you'll have those apple trees blooming and how lovely they will look!
We had snow this year and it was fun. I wonder what I would like it now;-} I think with a snowy winter you can appreciate spring even more.
Hi Cinj - isn't it great when less work in the garden turns out to be best practice?
Luckily my cats don't like my houseplants, so we have a good partnership there. But in the garden it's a different matter. Thank goodness I don't have deer nor rabbits to deal with - the squirrels are bad enough.
Spring's on its way - I'm looking forward to you showing us what's pulled through the winter :)
Brrrrrrrrrrrr ........ now that looks seriously cold. Here in my part of north west England we have had our coldest winter for some years, but very little snow. No deer or rabbits in my garden though I am plagued by grey squirrels which can do a lot of damage. I imagine that for you that the arrival of spring is much anticipated ! I hope that it's not far off.
Carol- If you think it's cold and snowy here now you should have seen it last month. Or rather felt it. THAT was cold.
Gail- Don't I know it. Those silly creatures. I'd post a letter to them but since your deer family ignored yours I only imagine that mine would do the same.
PG- I know. It sure takes it's sweet time though, doesn't it?
Linda- Thanks. We had a great day. Weren't some of those boquets pretty even though they were cartoons?
Tina- I can't wait! I hope it works out this year. I'm planning on cutting back a few pines to give them a bit more sunlight.
Helen- Nice to meet you! I bet you'd be going stir crazy like I am if you had this much snow.
VP- You've got that right! I saw what I assumed to be squirrel prints in my yard too, but the picture didn't turn out. Those little beasts stole all of my nuts off the trees last fall. I guess that will teach me to be more on the ball, huh?
Anna- Geez, squirrels are everywhere, aren't they? I'm hoping for an early spring though it doesn't usually come until April or so. Well, that's usually when things start growing anyway....
Burrr, it looks cold up there! You do have a bunny and a busy bunny it is with tracks all over the yard. Get that soap hung and soon or the deer will continue to eat the new growth. Spring is on the way, I promise just hang in there a bit longer….
Hi Cinj, it does still look very wintry there. I am glad the irish spring works, too bad the cherry tree was wearing some. :-( I want to suggest from your list below to grow the strawberries. They have multipied from 6 plants purchased last year at Home Depot about this time to many many more. The berries were delicious, I would use hardware cloth to protect them from the critters, or maybe frost cloth. May your spring come soon.
Frances
Good tip about the soap Cinj! I'd heard that would help with deer damage.
Oooh, it looks so cold up there!
Skeeter- It is cold. Luckily our bunny friends are pretty warm in their fur coats. LOL. How could I have been fooled into thinking we'd be gatting an early spring?
Frances- It sure is! At least others have flowers I can stop by to enjoy!
I grew strawberries in Big Lake. I think it's a good investment too!
Linda- Yes. I'm so glad I tried it. Too bad I didn't have enough foresight to do it for every fruit tree I planted. I think I didn't do that one because it was an ornamental but I can't remember for sure. I suppose it sounded like a really good reason at the time....
It must be hard to garden with deer and rabbits. Here we think they are cute, but that's because they aren't eating our gardens. I hope your irish spring works on the rest of your trees so you can enjoy some apples and flowers later in the summer!
Thanks for visiting my blog :)
Don't you love it when you find out your gardening mistakes or oversights turn out to be the right thing to do after all?
I'm sure you will have all kinds of exciting green things poking their heads up by the next GBBD!
Hi Cindy,
I was realizing I hadn't been here in a while. I have so much trouble keeping up with all the blogs I like. I don't know what will happen to my blogging when garden weather gets here.
My GBBD looked like yours, but most of it has melted, so now we just have bits of snow here and there. I hope you will be able to change that message in your header, and offer something cool to drink again soon.
Sue
Hi Cinj,
I just read Sue's comment about not being able to get around to everyone's blog in a timely manner. I'm not doing real well in that area myself! I am sorry you are having a 'blah' time in the garden, at the moment, but I have a feeling things will brighten up soon. It may never be like some southern gardens, but if you can keep some blooms without deer and rabbits eating them, that would be a major accomplishment. I have sympathy for you, as I've seen my husbands families' yards succumb to the same thing, way up in the woods of Maine! It's painful when you just want your trees, shrubs and perennials to blossom and bloom:)
Hopefully March's garden will be a 'little' better? Maybe April's, or surely May's!!!
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