Gardening Brings People Together
One of the things I’ve noticed is that gardening really bring people together. The love of gardening is something that many people from all walks of life have in common. It doesn’t matter if your ninety or nine, if you’re both gardeners you can find something to talk about.
My neighbors have always asked me about gardening, but more so now that I’m growing edible things. After I put in raised beds in the back and starting growing tomatoes in my front flowerbeds, I noticed that a few of my neighbors started to do the same. The neighbors across the street even starting cutting down trees each year to expand their edible garden. She comes over often to ask my advice about what’s wrong with her peppers or where to buy strawberry plants. Late this fall she came over and offered me some raspberry canes. I’d been wanting to put some in, but hadn’t bought any yet, so I say yes. She brought over a bucket full of them, I think there were 10 canes in all. I’ll have to make sure to take her some garlic when I harvest mine this summer, as I know she doesn’t grow her own yet.
Gardening truly is a wonderful way to open the door to get to know your neighbors. Even if your neighbors don’t garden, simply sharing some of your bounty may be enough to get them interested. You may find yourself with gardening neighbors soon enough!
Do you share plants & produce with neighbors? Has a neighbor shared plants with you?
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Chiot’s Run On Ice
No doubt many of you experienced the same ice storm that we had Monday night. We woke up to a bejeweled landscape, everything was dripping with frozen crystals. I couldn’t wait for the sun to come up so I could head out and take some photos. I bundled up, put on my boots and headed out until my fingers were frozen. I think one of them may end up on the 2012 Chiot’s Run calendar.
Ice storms are probably the worst winter weather we get here in NE Ohio, snowstorms make can make life difficult, but with ice things often shut down. Yesterday all the local schools and colleges were closed. Fortunately we didn’t lose electric as we often do during ice storms. (Yep we lost electric, I’m at at Muggswigz my favorite coffee shop in Canton checking e-mail and doing a little work.) This ice is rough on the plants as well, often breaking branches off trees. My trumpet vine still hasn’t bounced back from an ice storm we had 2 years ago. We’ll see how long it takes us to thaw out from this weather.
What’s the worst kind of weather you get where you live? Did you get any ice or snow from this current system?
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Hello Little Bluebirds
Over the past week Mr Chiots and I have been spotting bluebirds coming to our heated bird bath every morning around 10, we’ve seen up to 5 of them at once. I never see blue birds in the garden during the summer, and have only seen one bird once a few years ago in late February. They’re quite lovely birds and I’m so happy to see them around.
I’m going to be doing some research as to what I can do to make my gardens more friendly to them. I’ve read that they love meal worms during the winter, and I may buy some of those for them, they’re kind of pricey though. I have noticed that they are eating rose hips from the wild rose bush in the lot below us. Planting some rosebushes that produce a nice crop of rose hips might also help attract them.
I have a bluebird house in one area of the garden, but I think it’s too close to the edge of the woods, I’ve never seen any birds nesting in it. I think I’ll try to move it to a more open location this spring, somewhere in the front garden since that’s where the bluebirds seem to be. I’ve read that trying a blue ribbon to it might help attract the bluebirds. The first year we lives here we had an oriole nesting by our garage door, I haven’t seen any since. I’d love to read up on attracting them to the garden as well.
Do you have bluebirds in your garden? Any other birds that are rare for your area?
