As I type there is literally a buzzard circling my mower in the front yard. I think he must be wondering what it is because he hasn't seen many of them out this year. The ONE day that the weather is gorgeous; neither freezing, frying, monsooning or steaming and I ran out of fuel. My Jeep disappeared with my teen kids, so I suspect I have plenty of time to write today.
If you don't live in Ohio, let me fill you in. We have three seasons; dreary Winter, monsoon Spring and drought Summer (with high humidity--go figure.) Farmers play roulette with their fields every year. They finally get into the fields only to watch their corn drown, then bake in the cracked fields. It's not only a problem when to plant, but in timing spraying, watering, fertilizing, etc. We miss the "cutoff" nearly always to spray our fruit trees. The label says "Do not use if below freezing, windy, raining or more than 80 degrees. You must apply before buds open in the Spring." That leaves you a window of about 5 minutes a year. The garden centers tempt you in April with lovely plants, but you wouldn't dare put anything in until after Mother's Day as it will surely freeze.
I planted dozens of bulbs "to naturalize" with dreams of a glorious swathe of color in my 1/4 acre "wildflower field." I was stiff for days after planting them, even with a drill and a bit made for digging. My clay ground is so hard it wore out the battery in a few minutes, so I had to resort to hands and knees. Needless to say, it poured all through blooming season, the rain/hail beating down the few surviving flowers. I also missed the one week a year I get to smell my lilac blooms because it was cold and pouring rain.
It is said "If you don't like the weather in Ohio, just wait a couple hours." So true, the other day I put my new chicken gals out in the temporary dog pen (Hubby and son are building them a mansion.) I try to keep them outside as much as possible for obvious reasons. The forecast was for storms late afternoon. This was noon. I left for an hour, came back it started raining and blowing. I raced out to get the unhappy girls and got them to their basement dog pen. I tidied it up, food- water -treats- good to go. I came back up the stairs and the sun was out. grrrrr!
Well, I will finish my rant on this another time as I promised to be brief (even if not always funny or intellectual.)
Take care,
Gale
If you don't live in Ohio, let me fill you in. We have three seasons; dreary Winter, monsoon Spring and drought Summer (with high humidity--go figure.) Farmers play roulette with their fields every year. They finally get into the fields only to watch their corn drown, then bake in the cracked fields. It's not only a problem when to plant, but in timing spraying, watering, fertilizing, etc. We miss the "cutoff" nearly always to spray our fruit trees. The label says "Do not use if below freezing, windy, raining or more than 80 degrees. You must apply before buds open in the Spring." That leaves you a window of about 5 minutes a year. The garden centers tempt you in April with lovely plants, but you wouldn't dare put anything in until after Mother's Day as it will surely freeze.
I planted dozens of bulbs "to naturalize" with dreams of a glorious swathe of color in my 1/4 acre "wildflower field." I was stiff for days after planting them, even with a drill and a bit made for digging. My clay ground is so hard it wore out the battery in a few minutes, so I had to resort to hands and knees. Needless to say, it poured all through blooming season, the rain/hail beating down the few surviving flowers. I also missed the one week a year I get to smell my lilac blooms because it was cold and pouring rain.
It is said "If you don't like the weather in Ohio, just wait a couple hours." So true, the other day I put my new chicken gals out in the temporary dog pen (Hubby and son are building them a mansion.) I try to keep them outside as much as possible for obvious reasons. The forecast was for storms late afternoon. This was noon. I left for an hour, came back it started raining and blowing. I raced out to get the unhappy girls and got them to their basement dog pen. I tidied it up, food- water -treats- good to go. I came back up the stairs and the sun was out. grrrrr!
Well, I will finish my rant on this another time as I promised to be brief (even if not always funny or intellectual.)
Take care,
Gale
All so true. Ohio does tend to be in a peculiar state most of the time.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
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