Deadheading

Now that it is Summer, we enjoy seeing so many different flowers blooming!  But did you know that most annuals or even perinneal need deadheading so that they will keep on blooming all summer long?  What does deadheading mean?  Deadheading is the act of removing by pinching or cutting a spent or dried out flower at its stem so that seeds do not develop.  The idea behind it is that plants bear flowers in order to produce seeds so that they can continue to live on year after year through their seeds.  Once they produce flowers and seeds are maturing, somehow the plants know this and they will stop putting out flowers because seeds had developed but if you pinched off the spent flowers, the plant knows that they need to produce flowers that will develop into seeds, so as long as you keep pinching off the flower head before the seeds mature, your repeat blooming annuals/perenials will keep on  blooming.  

The Old Woman And The Oak Tree

When she is raking the leaves of the black oak tree that is growing beside her back porch, she sighed, and muttered to herself:  It is tiring to clean after this Oak Tree, for it does not let its leaves fall all at once.  It sheds its dried leaves a few at a time from fall through the coming spring.  A gust of wind blew carrying a few leaves from the black oak tree and a dried leaf brushed gently against the old woman's wrinkled face and with the gust of wind she thought she heard the Black Oak whispered to her in response to her mutterings.
Why do you complain about my leaves falling to the ground a little bit at a time?  Oh impatient woman....lots of things must be done gradually and some things must be done all at once!  There is wisdom behind everything that happens in nature.  You only have to observe and learn.

The old woman looked up at the old Black Oak tree and she imagined its old wrinkled face and sturdy rugged knotty neck bending over her.  She is old but this Oak tree is much older than her and probably lived through lots of wonderful, terrible, sad and happy events that happened in the lives of the families that lived or are still living in this community.   This Oak tree is a silent non-judgmental witness to all the the lives lived by the people that lived there.

The Oak tree stands on a hill overlooking the little lake community of Black Oak Lake.  It stood there like a silent sentinel, ever watchful of the comings and goings of the people that live there.

Emily, the current occupant of the cabin that sits half hidden within the drooping branches of the old Black Oak, is a white haired lady whose countenance manifests a peaceful, happy disposition.  Although she had been a residence of this community for a number of years and almost every residents of the community knew her, very few people know the details of her private life.

A stranger would deduce that she loves animals for her dwelling is surrounded by feeding stations for different animals including birds.  But she does not have a domestic pet of any kind.

Making A Vegetable Garden In A Hostile Environment

We moved to the country for the love of trees.  I want to be surrounded by them.  I feel secure and it seems that my tiny cabin is cocooned in their ever spreading branches every time I wake up in the morning and look outside.

Despite my love for trees, I found one downside in living in this area.  I cannot fully pursue my love for gardening.  Flower beds and tree roots just don't mix, despite what the experts say, of dumping rich fertile dirt in the garden area where tree roots are present, to sustain both garden plants and tree roots.  The tree roots always win!  I have to break my back and purse to dig up matted fibrous tree rootlets and buy rich dirt each year!

This year I have decided to try gardening again.  My goal is to make a garden bed that would last for sometime without the invasion of unwanted garden enemies!

These are the garden enemies:  Tree roots, quack grass, rabbits, deer (occasional).  I have to protect the garden bed from all these.

How To Prevent Root Invasion:

1.  Dig and remove all tree roots from the garden area.  Prevent future root invasion by cutting the invading root several inches away from the garden bed.
2.  Dig up a 4 to 5" deep ditch around the garden bed.  Keep this area dry and prevent rich soil from it.
Monitor this area constantly for any signs of invasion of both tree roots and quack grass.

3.  Till the garden soil every year and monitor for any new root invasion.

How To Prevent Quack Grass invasion:

1.  Dig up all Quack Grass roots and remove them from the garden.  Do not cover garden area with weed block! Rhizomes of Quack Grass thrive very well underneath any kind of cover.  The best defense against it is to expose it to sunlight and dry environment!

2.  Number 2 above is also defense against Quack Grass!

3.  Dig up quack grass roots and rhizomes quickly as soon as you see it.  Do not wait until they proliferate in the garden bed.

How To Prevent Rabbits and Deers Invasion:

1.  Build a fence around the garden.