Belated Merry Christmas/Happy New Year!

I have absolutely no idea where to pick up here. That's what I get for doing a large draft of what I wanted to publish but sent it to draft because I was dilly-dallying, this in December. The unthinkable thing happened--my 'puter went kaput. At this point I am getting my information together, hoping that there will be something left in the warranty. Luckily, I have a backup until I can get my pet back. (I'm so spoiled to my laptop!)

We have had a good taste of winter here in Northeast Mississippi. Some days have been mild and fairly warm, but others are bitter cold, so on those days I feel content studying my Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew and planning with Friend Hubby how we want to incorporate some of those ideas in our garden this spring. I like the idea of the trench method of gardening, and I am hoping that will help cut down on the laborious watering such as we experienced this summer.

I had wanted to mention that our two generous neighbors have gifted us with a huge amount of small oak leaves, even bringing them to our compost "fence." We are adding to that our household scraps of remains of veggies, egg shells, coffee and tea dregs, etc., and this coming week, hoping that our schedule will slow down somewhat from the holidays, we hope to visit our local garden center and find a good, affordable, source of "mature manure" to help speed the process of composting. I do know that our state cooperative extension service has much helpful information on gardening, and that office is just about a mile from my home. A visit there would be something to do on a cold day. I want to get a kit to test the pH in my soil so I can proceed in a more educated fashion in amending the soil. Besides the oak leaves, we have our own supply of pine needles, which afford an ongoing supply of straw. Our little patch of mustard greens and turnip greens has about seen its best days, and those green tops will go toward composting. I did read from one interesting blogger that she had given up on the mixture of the greens and browns, etc., and just let nature take its course. That might work, but I have all this stuff to get rid of anyway, and I just cannot stand the thought of throwing that away when it can "give back" whence so much of it came.

Sometime in December before the rains/cold came, I had spent a coupla hours spading a row where we will be considering "trenching," just to see how that would go. It went well, but then weather and the holidays intervened. I had done a little display of the veggies I had canned from our own garden this year, and it was with a little pride that we could show and share with family/neighbors what we had been up to.

As far as things other than vegetables, our pink camellia has just bloomed probably better than it ever has. I don't know its name. It usually blooms by Christmas. The dark red one has many buds, usually blooms after Christmas, and I hope the freezing weather hasn't ruined that. Camellias are just gorgous and really add welcome cheer in winter arrangements. The hawthorne next to it has started blooming, but the weather has slowed that down. Of course, jonquils will be blooming in a day or two. Ah, Spring! If I can find some pix of the camellias, I will post that. Friend Hubby is the photographer amongst us, but we aren't so well organized yet on where he puts those things. That would be a nice job for me on a cold day--organizing photos!

Remember gardening?

Gardening? What a concept! I have not had the intestinal fortitude to post pictures of what happened to my garden during these several days of furnace heat, better known as the Mississippi Summer. This morning, very early, I took my courage in hand and pruned the overdone okra. Undaunted by the heat, we should have enough new pods soon to enjoy until fall.

Gone are the squash and pole beans. We might get a tomato or two occasionally. The peppers look as they had been stir-fried right on the stalk. This morning, I picked the remaining few Christmas butterbeans and also the ones that had dried on the vine, mostly not filled out. Note to self: Remember to get these planted earlier next spring so that they can start maturing before the summer heat.

I consoled myself while gleaning these butterbeans by making mental notes of what we can do this fall to have the garden in good shape next spring. We could have a fall crop of greens, if we are lucky. Our pitiful little Cranberry seedlings/plantlings look so forlorn. Watering doesn't seem to help much. Well, we tried. Yes, we did.

Can't complain altogether, though. I have not counted the jars of green beans I canned. Our son and grandson visited over the weekend a couple of weeks ago, and I twisted his arm almost off, begging him to take a few jars of beans, greens, pepper salts, cucumber pickles, etc., back to Virginia with them. Our tomatoes were disappointing in that we didn't have enough to can more than a very few pints. I usually get several quarts by this time. Oh, well. And I did freeze several packages of zucchini to either make bread or more of that surprisingly good soup!

Said son presented me with a couple of planters of beautiful coleus for my birthday. Unwittingly, I had already purchased those whiskey barrels on closeout from Kroger and three bags of potting soil from Big Lots at $1 each, so I was prepared to repot this coleus and get it ready for fall beauty. It is languishing under the remains of the old apple tree near the deck, being sheltered partially from this intense sun. Later, I can move it out to more prominent viewing.

This old apple tree looks as if it has seen its last days. Last summer, we had scads of wonderful apples. I did not have to buy much fruit at all during the summer except for other kinds I chose, such as cantaloup and watermelon. This spring, I sat on the deck and gloried in the beauty of the apple tree which was literally covered with blossoms, visualizing the bushels of apples again in the summer. Surprise! Here comes the freeze in April and there went my apples, along with peaches, red buds, tulip poplar, crape myrtle, wysteria, and anything else that had ventured out. We are planning to replace the apple tree this winter but will probably leave it as is for a perching place for birds for a bit longer. Its twiggy, barren branches are so convenient for the hummingbirds that have decided to pay a return visit after abandoning us for a few weeks, as well as the usual Southern birds that love our yard and the food someone keeps furnishing.

Excuse me a bit longer as we regroup from the aftermath of a shockingly hot summer. As the weather cools, we will think of things that need to be done outside but will feel more like tackling them later, I'm sure.