I had a couple things on my list for yesterday that I could not, would not go without doing. I was going to replace the burned out light bulbs in my porch light, and I was going to pick up the trash in my yard.
The light bulbs were easy (sort of). I did have to get a ladder. But the trash took a while. I don’t understand why there is so much more trash in winter than there is in summer. Is it all dropped by kids on their way to school? I hope not, what with all the cigarettes and alcohol containers. But seriously, what the heck? I filled a whole black trash bag with trash. I feel weird even just throwing an apple into a ditch. I can’t even imagine throwing trash on the ground in someone’s yard.
I take comfort in the fact that at least some of the trash looks accidental. I mean, I don’t imagine someone would throw away ten dollars. And I wouldn’t think someone would throw away a sticky-note about hair. Otherwise, they might forget.
After trash-picking, I was on a roll. When I came back inside, I cut off all the dead branches from my calamondin orange tree. There were new leaves coming out, so it’s not dead. I have mixed feelings. I’m now caring for a sickly plant that hasn’t flowered in years. Is there a point at which it just becomes silly? Anyway, here are the before and after pictures:
BEFORE:
AFTER:
It’s that time of year where I’m flooded with gardening mail-order catalogs, and I love it! Usually it’s all cold and grey and dead outside, and the catalogs give me a window into summer. This year it’s warm and sunny and dead outside, so I’m just appreciating the pictures of non-dormant plants.
It’s getting harder each year to get something new for the garden. I’ve been experimenting a lot with annuals the last couple of years just because they die in the winter and leave room for new things next year. But my heart is still held fast by perennials. I love the cycle of new growth, flowering, dying, new growth, etc. There is something joyous about it.
So I’m making plans. Where will I put some new perennials? Will I make a new space? Will I take out an old plant? I can hardly wait for spring!
All the trash in the neighborhood continues to blow into my pond. Grrr…
But it’s been so warm outside that I’ve been trying to keep up with straining the trash out. There are lots of plastic grocery bags. Other pond clutter consists of chip bags, carryout styrofoam, plastic wrappers from cigarette boxes, and newspaper pages. I don’t seem to get nearly as much trash in the summer as I do in the winter. I wonder what the difference is?
But I wouldn’t mind finding this in my pond more often:
Ha! There was a ten dollar bill in the bottom of my pond! I washed it with soap and water and left it by the kitchen sink to dry.
When I find bottles of water in my classroom, I first check to see if they’ve been opened. If not, I will drink them. If the seal is broken on the bottle, I’ll open it up and smell it. I want to be sure it’s water. If it has no smell, I pour it into my potted plants in my classroom. Watering my plants can be tedious, because the pots are pretty big, so it takes a few trips down the hallway with my coffee maker pot. An extra bottle of water now and then really helps. Thank you, forgetful students!
Yesterday I watered my plants with water all the way from the Fiji Islands!
I have had a potted Calamondin Orange tree for many years. It used to bloom a lot and set many fruits. Lately, it hasn’t been very productive. In fact, I think it’s been two years since I last saw an orange, and then it was only a single specimen. But I’ve still been taking care of it. I re-pot it every other year or so, I trim branches, I drag it inside during the winter and drag it outside for summer.
While I was in Nebraska, the whole plant withered. I don’t know if it was just a water issue, or there is something else wrong. It doesn’t look like the stems are dead, so I’m nursing it right now, but whether it makes it or not remains to be seen. Because of its non-fruitfulness lately, I wouldn’t be too sad if it died. Then I could use the sunniest window in my house for some other new plant.
