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September 30, 2004
Bbbbrrrrrr....
OK people, I know that it's the last day of September, but why oh why did it have to be 39.6 degrees this morning when I woke up? Yikes! Gus gazed at me before I let him out with his "you're not going to make me pee in the cold, are you?" look.
My answer was a strategically and gently placed slippered foot on his hairy little rump.
Tonight, we are having our lawn aerated. We have very dense clay soil here in Michigan, and aeration is a good way to open up the soil to air and nutrients. When we moved into our home, we opted not to to do the whole sod thing, but instead just go with the hydroseed that the builder applied to the existing (crappy) soil. So far, so good. A lot of our neighbors spent 3K and up on sod, and frankly, their lawns don't look any better than ours.
Today I am going out and buying some spring bulbs. I'll be planting crocuses and tulips in one of my raised beds. Seeing crocuses pop up through the ground in the early spring brought me so much joy this year! And tulips are my all time favorite flower, so I must plant more of them. We have an eight foot fence, so deer are not an issue. I hear they like to snack on bulbs. We do have a few bunnies around, but they eat what falls on the ground from my neighbor's birdfeeder. Smart bunnies! I haven't had a problem with them either, bulbwise.
Once late fall and winter comes, I am really going to miss being outside and messing with the dirt and plants. This year was the first time I have ever done any gardening at all. Ever. It has been a very fulfilling experience. I am already planning a bunch of projects for next year!
Posted by Lisa at September 30, 2004 08:16 AM
Comments
We're still having highs of 80 degrees here (in Atlanta) but the mornings are getting nice and cool. You've inspired me to start thinking about some bulbs too. Daffodils are my favorite, they're so beautiful for about three days in the spring but I love crocuses too, the lovely purple colors are so gorgeous. I enjoy gardening the most in the spring and fall, the summers here are just too hot for comfort and the mosquitos will eat you alive!
Posted by: Faith at September 30, 2004 09:27 AM
Yes, summer is the best time to sit back and let the garden go on "autopilot." Weed, feed, water, and enjoy!
Posted by: Lisa, keeper of the blog at September 30, 2004 10:15 AM
Tulips are like filet mignon to deer. They love them! I've discovered that the squirrels around my house are very frisky. They ate the flowers off my tulips this spring (I didn't figure out it was the squirrels until I noticed one running along the back fence with a flower in his mouth.) I started calling them tulip decapitus. They also ate my tomato plant -- not just the tomato, the entire plant. Oh yes, and all the heirloom sunflower seeds I'd purchased. Bastard squirrels.
Posted by: Noneya at September 30, 2004 11:04 AM
Small (but helpful) bits of gardening trivia: if you have problems with deer, woodchucks or other mammel-garden invader try:
1) Burying chunks of Irish Sping soap between your bulbs and plants. Apparently, the odor is offensive to the critters (when we lived in Fairfield, CT we had a HUGE problem with both deer and woodchucks and this was the "thing" that worked for us)
2) Predetor urine – can buy cayote urine in an Agway (is expensive) – or [ick!] use the urine of any meat-eater....
Posted by: zahava at September 30, 2004 03:19 PM