Bare Ground

Bare ground is BAD!  It’s bad for your garden and bad for the environment.

If your garden has lots of plants and shrubs spaced out with lots of open ground covered with mulch – that’s not much better.

Studies of the environment and climate change have shown that bare ground has a huge impact.  When the ground isn’t covered with PLANTS, the soil breaks down, water is lost and the micro climate of the area releases the carbon dioxide stored in the soil.  This effect warms the microclimate and eventually the global climate.

The best thing you can do for your garden and ultimately, the world is to keep your ground covered with living plants. 

Group your plants in clusters.  Plants do better when planted close together.  They lean on each other and hold in moisture. 

Keep your clusters closer together.  And when you do use mulch, try to get some that isn’t created from trees cut down just for that purpose.  It’s just silly to kill one plant to mulch another.  Avoid dyed mulch as the dyes are not always harmless to the environment.

If you have annuals in your garden, consider planting a “cover crop” at the end of the season.  Most cover crops are ‘nitrogen-fixing” which means they improve the soil’s ability to fertilize plants naturally.

You CAN make a difference.

Soil Health

When you dig into your garden soil do you see strands of white?  Does it hold water well and is full of earth worms?  This is wonderful!

The strands that you see are part of the population of microorganisms that break down the soil and allow plants to absorb nutrients.  Without these microorganisms your plants will not do well.

When you have ground where the topsoil is eroded or you use chemicals to “help” your plants, it will actually harm them by damaging the environment in the soil that allows it to be the best for your garden.

If you need to repair damage done by chemicals, it is sometimes best to replace the soil with composted soil that is free of chemicals.  Many of those chemical products remain in the ground for years and never allow the soil to return to optimal health.

If your soil isn’t too damaged by long-term chemicals, you can add an “inoculant” which contains the missing microorganisms.  Work it into the soil and reapply periodically.

You’ll be rewarded with lush greenery.

Crocus

You are likely to see the crocus flowers popping up out of the snow as they are one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring.

Crocuses come in many colors and in solids as well as stripes.   You will see them in white, yellow, orange and all shades of purple from pale lavender to a deep royal purple.

You will see the narrow white-striped leave and flower buds pushing out of the ground before most other plants. They will bloom and go dormant in early spring so you can even grow them in your lawn.

They will spread slowly so under good conditions you will get a few more every year.

Plant them in the fall when the soil is cool – below 65 degrees – and you will have these lovely flowers next spring.

January’s Flower – Snowdrop

One of the first flowers to poke its head up out of the snow is the snowdrop.

This is a great little flower with a white drooping head.  Wildlife will leave this little bulb alone.

It truly dislikes the heat so it will go dormant by late-spring when the temperatures start to rise.  Just keep it watered until it reabsorbs the nutrients from its dying leaves.

Plant them where they will be shaded from the sun.  It works well to plant it with other perennials that die back to the ground in winter.  The snowdrops will bloom and be gone by the time the other perennials regrow and they will shade the snowdrops from the heat of the summer sun.

They spread slowly from little side bulbs that grow underground.  When the clumps get too large, they can be dug up and split them just when the flowers are starting to die but the leaves are still green.

These make nice cut flowers despite their tiny size.

Enjoy them while you can.

The Christmas Tree

Many cultures have used evergreen boughs to decorate their homes for centuries.  The evergreen was used because it stays green throughout the winter, giving hope of a new spring. It is considered an undying life.

Evergreens were also used because of their triangular shape which reminds humanity of the Trinity and the pointed top is pointing up to heaven.

Eventually the Germans began bringing entire trees into their homes to celebrate the winter holidays.

It’s even thought that Martin Luther was the first person to put candles on a tree to celebrate Christmas.

Typically people use spruce, pine or fir trees.  (If they don’t use artificial trees.

Originally trees were decorated with paper flowers, dried fruit or cookies and tinsel.  They also used real candles which could be very dangerous due to the fire hazard.  After the development of electricity, people started using electric lights.

There’s nothing like the scent of a fresh-cut evergreen to bring that extra something to your holiday celebration.

Make a Grape Vine Wreath

It is easy to make a grape vine wreath and it’s such a beautiful thing that can be used for decoration year-round.

If you have some dead grape vines or some that have out-stayed their welcome and need to be removed, then you’re all set.

If the vines are dead, you should soak them for a day to make them soft so they don’t break when you are working with them.

Take a long piece and form a circle of any size.  Next you wrap the vine around itself through the center of the circle over and over until you’ve run out of material.  If it’s not big enough then take another piece and tuck the end into the wreath and continue wrapping.

The wreath can be decorated with anything.  Ribbon is a good start.  Next, tuck in dried flowers or little craft items. 

One of the prettiest ones had cotton picked from a cotton plant.  (You can grow your own cotton here too.)

Use your imagination.

December’s Other Flower – Narcissus

The Narcissus is native to the Mediterranean area. 

Narcissus got its name after the Greek God.  He was very handsome and many women loved him but his excessive pride caused him to look down on these women with disdain.  As a result, many of them killed themselves. His punishment for so many broken hearts was to look at his own face on the surface of the lake for eternity.  He fell in love with himself and eventually dies of a broken heart himself.

Narcissus flowers come in three forms: ‘daffodil,' 'paperwhite' and "triandrus".  Plant them in the fall for early spring blooms.  They say that Narcissus – like the Greek God – will kill other plants so beware where you plant them.

December’s Flower –Poinsettia

We’ve come to expect the bright red poinsettia as part of any winter decoration.  It’s bright colors are so cheerful.

This plant is well-known in Central and South America, and is the national flower of Trinidad and Tobago, but it’s name actually came from the U.S. Ambassador to Mexico – J. R. Poinsett.  He is credited with introducing the plant to the United States.

Poinsettias symbolize happiness and success.  Just remember that they are poisonous so protect your pets and young children.