Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
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The calendar says it is officially fall, but you wouldn't know it with the return of such warm temperatures. I lucked out and didn't lose my entire garden to frost, even though our thermometer read 31.5° last week. I think all the trees that surround my garden kept enough warmth in there to counteract the brief time it dipped below freezing. There were a few leaves on the pumpkins that curled and turned black. I'm really grateful it wasn't worse since I hadn't covered anything. I'm still...
As much as I hate to see summer go, I cannot prevent fall from arriving. I hate seeing fall because we all know what follows, usually much too quickly. I'm giving in to reality, though, and starting on my regular fall clean-up-the-garden chores. I have all my houseplants that spent these past months outdoors gathered together on the front deck. If a frost threatens (and we've lucked out so far and not had one, although we did drop to 35° a couple weeks ago) I can easily get them covered....
As much as I hate to see summer go, it’s going to. I can’t stop it. And so it’s definitely time to be thinking of clearing up the garden. I’ve been pulling all the dead and dying vegetation. That mostly consists of flowers past their prime, plus the dill and cilantro that’s gone to seed. I’ve pinched off dead marigold blossoms and scattered them around my “volunteer flower” section. This is the area that is almost constantly shaded by the big tree on the southeast corner of the garden. There are many flowers I didn’t plant. Most of them libe...
I’m starting this week with a short lesson, the meaning of doldrums. It’s a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or depression. The term is nautical, taken from sailors describing an equatorial region of the Atlantic. The shifting area features calms, sudden storms, and light, unpredictable winds. Synonyms are: inactive, quiet, slow, slack, sluggish, subdued, stagnant, crestfallen, glum, blue, despondent, woebegone, and bummed out. Almost all these terms apply to me lately. I’ve skipped depressed and despondent, and I hope I’m not sta...
The garden keeps on growing: it’s relentless as long as it has water and the temps stay above freezing. And even when the first frosts hit, I’ll blanket the plants I wish to save. Those plants always include the tomatoes and peppers. Sometimes the cucumbers gets preferential treatment, as will some squashes. I try to put chairs out amongst those squashes and cukes to hold the coverings up enough to keep the cold from traveling through to the leaves that are in contact with the covering. I’ll lay the tomato cages over and have stakes pound...
There have been a lot of trips to Glasgow this past week. The Florida grandsons as well as our daughter had to take in the county fair. Those boys were thrilled with the bouncy house attractions after initially being told there wouldn’t be a carnival. “What’s a fair without rides?,” they asked. They’re still young enough to be excited about being very active. So I give kudos to whoever managed to find and bring in the person(s) running those attractions. (I still miss cotton candy on the midway, though. It’s one of my guilty fair pleasures.)...
I must admit that the presence of our grandsons (and now our middle daughter) has kept my attention away from my yard and garden. We’ve been golfing, attended two productions at the Fort Peck Theatre (Always, Patsy Cline, and Suessical, the Musical - we highly recommend this current show), to Kiwanis Park for tetherball (mainly to blow off energy before the theatre), and dining in town quite often. The boys are learning to adjust their hockey slap shots into proper golf swings - mostly. This u...
Last week I had a mini-vacation: I flew to Florida for the purpose of bringing our two grandsons to Montana so they could have their own vacation. They’ll have fodder for the inevitable “what did you do over your summer vacation” reports for school, which starts Aug. 10! Of course, one doesn’t simply fly to Florida and return to Montana the next day. One must also spend a few days recovering from the whole airport/flight experience. I was able to enjoy family time with our middle daughter and her family. I enjoyed several fabulous meals a...
As others have noted on the Gardening in NE MT Facebook page, things have been slow in starting as far as the garden goes. We did have a long, cool spring. Very few of my corn seeds came up. Even the replanting was a bust, so I guess I’ll be buying corn later on. The peas are spotty, but are starting to bloom just as the heat hits (peas really don’t like hot weather). I think only one packet of my beans came, and since all the packets “melted” in the rains, I’m not sure which variety I’ll have! (I really should make a garden map each summer...
We’ve had more rain, plus lots of lightning and thunder, but no hail (knock on wood). With these last storms there have been some power outages, so I’m grateful for our generator. The extra wetness has made weeding easier. I’ve had plenty of grass clippings to put between the garden rows, so I don’t get too muddy doing the weeding. I was even able to dig out a lot of the volunteer grass alongside the walkway between the house and garage. I do hate spraying chemicals around. The garden has reached that stage of development where less weeding...
Last week, while buying yet more plants from the greenhouse (there was a sale! Who could resist?), a gentleman recognized me and remarked upon my being there. He intimated he was disappointed to see me purchasing plants because “you write a gardening column.” That got me wondering if others think I’m cheating somehow, so I looked up the definition of gardening. It’s the activity of tending and cultivating a garden, especially as a pastime, or the practice of growing and cultivating plants as a part of horticulture. The definition of a garden...
Not much has changed in the garden this past week. I’m still doing plenty of weeding: all the seeds blown in from the shelter belt trees (I’m looking at you, Chinese elm) are sprouting with wild abandon due to the rains. Those seeds nestled up against what I planted, so weeding involves a lot of crawling along the rows on hands and knees, pulling each tree wannabe individually. I keep reminding myself that this activity helps with my flexibility. Once in a while my brain protests that this is bunk: this activity is ruining my joints. I will say...
We're far enough into the gardening season that only maintenance is needed. Most of that maintenance is boring: mowing, weeding, and watering. The rain helps a lot, but then it is followed by too much wind, which takes the moisture right back out of everything. (It also brings in another maintenance chore: picking up the downed twigs, destroyed bird nests, and tree limbs torn off the trees that litter the mowing surfaces). And now the heat is here. I know it's needed, but it also restricts my...
It’s been a busy and productive week for me. The master procrastinator is maybe turning over a new leaf? Probably not. The main thing I’m proud of having accomplished is getting (almost) all the houseplants moved outside for the summer. A few (notably the Hoya vine, the newly started mango and avocado trees, my kaffir lily, and a couple other small ones) will remain in the house where the Montana winds cannot rip them apart. But just moving them outside isn’t the complete job - it’s also then getting the windows washed (both inside and out), a...
I've been struggling with the electric fence not working. We've had both solar units out that are supposed to send the sun's power into the vibes that deter the deer, but neither one has delivered that thrilling tingle (the one that makes me swear) when I touch the wire. Dennis bought a tester which proves both units are capable of sending out the juice. I've walked the perimeter and not found anything causing a short in the system. We even bought an actual six foot grounding rod, of which...
There are enough goldfinches and other birds in the yard that refilling the feeders is now a daily chore. Refilling birdbaths will soon be added to the list. So far I've only put water in one of them, the one that's a full-time fixture in the yard. It's the one not apt to be broken by hail nor freezing water, so it stays out year-round. The other ones (glazed ceramic and colored glass) still need to be brought out from the storage shed. That has been added to my "to-do" list. There was a bit of...
The lovely rains have really set off lots of new growth. The lawn has had its first mowing and needs another. The wheat is coming up nicely, even though we’re not quite finished with seeding as I write this. It should all be in the ground by the time you read this. The weeds are also coming up such that I’m weeding the garden rows as I plant more of my desired seeds. The beets, carrots, and Swiss chard were planted right after I wrote last week’s column (before the rain/snow mix). Last Saturday I put in radish and onion seeds. Next up will...
We’ve finally had a wonderful transfusion of rain to bring life back to our parched land. It’s wonderful to see the prairies and pastures turning green again. I was so tired of the many depressing shades of brown/tan/burnt umber the landscape had been showing us. We’re able to report rainfall in tenths of an inch instead of hundredths. I can’t tell you how much we actually received because those not-so-wonderful winds I’ve whined about had blown a blade of dead grass into our gauge. It slithered through the screening that’s supposed to...
I’m starting yet another season of gardening. It must be the 47th? Because it’s stayed nice, I’ve finally tilled the garden space. It worked up very nicely. After my few hours running the garden tractor, I spent several more hours laying out the drip system and staking it down in place. The electric fence to protect the space from deer is not yet in place, nor are my pea fences. I’m still mulling over what’s going to planted where. I try to rotate things every year. Of course, there are perennials in my garden: the raspberries, honeyberry bushe...
I don’t want to jinx it, so keep this on the down-low, but I think maybe spring is really here this time. We’ve had several decent days in a row. And I’m happy it’s warmer temps and some nice rain showers, but the best thing is not much wind! That’s the most amazing (and welcome) part of it. So there’s no need for me to dig out a new synonym for complaining. Of course, the grackles have returned in force.I have a couple “squirrel-proof” bird feeders that I count on to foil those greedy, wasteful birds. They tend to knock all the seed out in...
We still haven't had any decent "get outside and do some yard work" weather. We are, however, still having a surfeit (excessive amount) of wind, and I, for one, am about sick of it. I'm sure I'm not the only one, either. If only Mother Nature would heed us in our complaints, she'd surely shut off that fan that's running amok. This week I've decided to cool it with the kvetching (it didn't help anyway) and try carping (complain or find fault with trivial matters) instead. Aren't you happy I've di...
I feel justified in kvetching about the weather again since we’ve been hit with even more snow. It is supposed to be spring, with the grass greening up, not buried in cold white yuck. The wind was unrelenting until Saturday morning, which is also far from cheering. This is not to mention the cold temperatures: we saw a morning reading of only 6° once. The other big complaint, and it’s a major one, is that the three-day snowstorm had little to no moisture in it. All it did was stress both people and livestock. (Yes, I know other areas were hit m...
Since I'm using the word "kvetch" for my continuing bellyaching about the wind, I decided I should have more information about it. Kvetch in Yiddish means "to press" or "to squeeze" (which is what I do with a slice of lemon into my morning tea) but has come to mean "to complain" to us non-Yiddish speakers. You can be a kvetch or you can do it. Occasionally I'm guilty of both. At least, I hope it's only occasionally and not often! If it's too often, feel free to kvetch at me. We've had another...
It's really nice to have the warm sunshine and summery-looking clouds, but someone could sure shut off the fan! We're tired of constant howling winds. One calm day per week isn't enough to suit me. We even had some snow squalls last week, but there wasn't enough moisture in them to register. We're more than ready for those April showers and the resulting May flowers. I've managed to get healthy enough to clear off another couple flowerbeds. This was after finishing the one that caused me to expe...
It seemed so glorious outside last Wednesday that I temporarily lost my mind and forgot it was still March in Montana. After doing some spring cleaning inside in the morning, I spent a couple hours in the afternoon clearing debris and dead leaves (so many dead leaves!) from one flowerbed. This particular flowerbed is on the south side of the house, closest to the deck, so it gets all the benefit of the sun as well as being sheltered from the wind. In it grows the Virginia creeper that has grown...
