Archibald Craven ~ The Secret Garden
Yesterday I sat down on the edge of our back porch, right smack in a large pile of fire ants. It was an accident, and even though Zoe tried to warn me, I didn’t realize what was going on until I felt like my bare legs were, well, on fire. How is this relevant? Well, owning a house with a large yard in a relatively unfarmiliar part of the world means that there are a lot of things pertaining to gardening that you have no idea about until they happen to you.
Yesterday, for instance, husband-dear and I had a discussion about whether the crepe myrtles were going into hibernation, or just dying. This was followed by a discussion about our sprinkling schedule. Now I’ve never had a green thumb, and a conversation about dying plants would have, a year ago, sent me to get water, fertilizer, or in the worst case, to the nursery for new plants. But it’s different here. People generally stop watering their yards right around October, and let their grass and plants go into hibernation. In other words, they let them go brown and brittle. And no, they’re not dead, because come spring your entire yard will be green and in full bloom. It’s amazing. And you have to see it to believe it. At least, that’s how it worked for me. I was convinced, for several weeks at least, that my husband had killed our grass, and that he simply didn’t want to tell me. What’s cool about this hibernation period is that you really don’t need to do anything in the yard for several months. The downside is that your yard does look, well, dead, for all that time too.
And then there are the new and odd bugs you have to get used to. A few plants in our front yard are suffering from a scary-looking fungus I have never heard of. And yes, I have sprayed, but so far, it’s to no effect. And unfortunately, we don’t have real frosts to kill problems like that. So I'm guessing we'll be buying two new plants come spring. Then we have the omnipresent roaches (of course), the afore-mentioned fire ants, and a host of other bugs, from spiders to those creepy-crawlers that curl up when you touch them. And the other day I heard at the vet clinic that several people have spotted rattlesnakes (or some kind of poisonous snake) in our neighborhood. Lovely. But you know what, Americans don’t mess around when it comes to getting rid of pests. Got fire ants? Just dust some of this powder in the area, and they will be dead within minutes. And they are. Only you, your kids, and your pets are not allowed near the area for a number of hours, and if it does get on your skin, you need to rinse and call your doctor right away. Okay. And rattlesnakes aren’t a problem either. If you live out far enough, you just buy a gun and get rid of them yourselves. And if you do live in a built-up area, you call animal control, and they will do it for you. It’s definitely practical.
And then of course, the soil is different, the grass is different, and the plants are different. You’re, at least down here, only allowed to water your yard on set days due to water restrictions, and then you have to make sure you water at the right time. Apparently if you turn on your sprinklers too late in the day, the water on the grass will cause it to burn in the sun, while if you turn them on too early in the evening, well, I don’t remember. The sprinkler-man (a.k.a the love of my life) has it down to a science anyway.
The seasons are different too. We’re not allowed to plant our trees until the end of October (when fall “really” starts), and there is no problem with planting vegetables say in April. They’ll be up and full-grown in the summer. It’s amazing. And contrary to everything people do in their yards down here, I will be planting some tulips come spring time. I can't wait.
5 comments:
Ehhh... Je hebt toch wel in de gaten dat hier de tulpen uiterlijk in december de grond in moeten he? Bollen planten is een echte najaarsactiviteit, maar zoals je al zei, er zijn verschillen tussen daar en hier, dus wie weet kan het bij jullie in april. Je zou zelfs nog kunnen overwegen om de tulpen in bakken te planten en de hele bak 's nachts in de vriezer te doen, om nachtvorst te simuleren, haha.
Crepe Myrtles are starting to get the black round dried up flowers now. So they are not dying just making seeds.
And to share your pain..... I also stood in a fire ants nest Saturday. And one foot is covered with red pinpoints....
Have put some "Witch Hazel" on it wich helps a lot against the itches they caused ;-)
I think there must be some secret yard/sprinkler information encoded into the y chromosome. My husband also has the innate capacity for sprinkler management, just don't let him near the fertilizer, although he does make such lovely stripes in the lawn!
There are too many creatures down there for my liking.
That dead look, isn't that called winter?
It look me a few years to learn how to grow stuff here, I can't imagine trying in such an extremely different climate from NL.
Vic heeft gelijk, hoor, de bollen moeten voor de eerste vorst de grond in! En plant ze diep, want de eekhoorns zijn er dol op! Rick wil meer bollen in onze tuin en hij mag dat doen, want ik vind de harde kleigrond niet om door te komen!
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