Winter Arrived Early Bringing Winter Chores

Blustery Day, Past Year’s Losses

Today is briefly warmer and blustery with high winds and rain, but it is more like a January thaw than the beige autumn Indian summer that we might normally expect.

I don’t know that there is a clear sense of “normal” in our gardens anymore. Still, the patterns of the seasons are not so far off that they would be unrecognizable.

Ignore those weeds…. I do

The winds have blown the dawdling leaves off the trees, so I asked my helpers (grown children) to rake up the yard again. The Red Oak still is loathe to let go of his leaves. Despite the fact that part of a gutter and a large branch from a Norway spruce was blown loose.

Nothing compared to the damage from past wind storms which emptied out the Arborvitae of many of its branches, or the bagworm infestation which destroyed a younger Arborvitae elsewhere in the yard. Then there was the peach which blew over this summer, and the Japanese maples which died, and the top part of the Hinoki cypress which was lost. It is still unsure whether this favorite dwarf evergreen will make it through this winter.

So many garden troubles in the past few years.

Oops, there goes the gutter pipe

There is still garden work to do if I can catch a break. Winter chores like trimming the pyracantha from the window, weeding and cleaning up the driveway beds- they look a mess! Still, the exchange between an organized life inside and a “Better Homes and Gardens” yard is worth it.
Actually, though, I wish I could manage it all.

“Maybe next year”, I say to myself once again.

Nasty Stinkbugs

One of the new normals in my area is the additions of stinkbugs to the previous years influx of Japanese beetles, and prior to that the invasion of Asian ladybugs, and we mustn’t forget the notorious Emerald borers. These are the norm for us now, and so I read up on how to control the Brown Marmorated Stinkbug.

Turns out I have the ideal environment for them. I grow tomatoes and some years have been less than tidy in how I leave my garden. That needs to change.

I also have apples, including a self seeded MacIntosh type that drops apples in the backyard. Now I will have to be assiduous about cleaning up the leavings of those, as well as messy landscape leaves around the foundation of the house. All those places are a drawing card for an infestation.

The bug I found on my lampshade? Carefully scooped onto a napkin, carried outside the door and unceremoniously squashed with the handle of the handy snow shovel.

Just as a warning for other lurkers looking to come into the house from that avenue.

We must adjust to new challenges all the time in life, and the garden is a powerful teacher of such lessons.

 Changing The Subject from Winter Chores to Christmas Joy