Flying Windows!

Yesterday's storm had me in a tizzy!  The high winds that knocked Mama Dove for a loop and blew her babies to the ground, also did a tad bit of damage to the gardens.  I was extremely proud that so many of the herb seeds that I had planted in the new coldframe were sprouting.  In the past, I have had difficulty getting some of the purchased seeds to ever sprout.  The seeds would just sit there and rot without ever even trying to turn into that nice plant that was on the seed packet front!  Lazy seeds are not for me!  I want flourishing plants to grow from those tiny dots!  This year, with an exception of the Anise Seeds, the herbs were doing well.  Their hotbed seemed to be agreeing with them and they were all growing well.  Then came "THE" storm!  That nasty bunch of winds, torrential rains and then dropping temperatures was just not conducive to a plant growth spurt!

One of the coldframe windows smashed by the high winds.

Actually, as I stood peering out that window watching the treetops bend, I had the unsettling experience of seeing my coldframe being ripped apart by the wind.  All five windows became airborne at the same time!  They twisted and turned in the wind and then crash-landed on top of the squash and radish plants!  Miraculously, only one large pane of glass shattered and then only because of the metal frame of another window came down corner first on it.  But that was enough!  I just knew that my tiny herb plants were goners!  Still, I had no time to even survey the damage as I was in the rescue business!  Those baby birds were of high importance and the garden would just have to wait.

Seeing how the window tossed by the winds gouged out the ground, I am glad I was  safe inside!

This morning, I picked up the pieces of broken glass and gathered together the other four windows.  They seemed intact so I would reuse them.  The hotbed seemed to be in pretty good shape even without its glass top.  The tiny herbs held their own and did not give up the ghost!  They were not washed down into the Bayou!  This morning, the windows were all replaced and a new one added.  Large boards were placed on top of the glass in hopes that the storm predicted for later tonight will not do more damage.

The tiny herb plants are all snug in their revamped coldframe!

All in all, the damage was not as bad as I had first thought.  It seems that plants are pretty resilient.  They can take a pretty rough beating and still survive.  I suppose this just proves that idiom of "What does not kill you will only stand to make you stronger!"  After the storm yesterday...I fully expect to have plants with superhero powers!

No Spring Chicken..

I have finally come to terms with this aging process thing. I have had the realization that I cannot do what I am used to doing.  In the past, if something needed tending, I did it..no questions asked.  Now, the joints creak, the muscles ache and I move a bit slower at times. I am no spring chicken! This said, I am far from giving up what I like to do!  I am still bound and determined to garden even if it means moaning and groaning the day after spading up the ground.  It is nice that I have Michael here to do most of the heavier work like hauling the sacks of fertilizer from the driveway around to the back of the house where the garden is situated.  He hoists those sacks like nobody's business!   This makes life easier for me!

Speaking of making life easier, he did just such thing recently.  Last year, he built me a coldframe or hotbed.  I was happy!  This year, I am happier!  The coldframe has been elevated to a decent height so I do not have to be on my hands and knees to work in it.  Michael lifted the entire thing up off the ground, put a bottom in it and stuck it on posts.  Now it is at just above table-height and is much easier to reach.  This was actually done because ants and mice found the coldframe to be a nice place to spend the winter when it was flat on the ground.  Most of my seeds and tiny seedlings were eaten by the critters far before they were large enough to plant in the garden rows.  The coldframe will serve as a long planter after the seedlings have been transplanted.  Herbs should grow well in the eight inch deep soil that the coldframe holds.  He lined the bottom with a garden liner so with reasonable watering, the plants should not dry out quickly.

With the weather warming, I probably did not need to plant the seeds in the coldframe at all. Still it was nice not having to crouch down to sow the minuscule herb seeds.  With the high winds of the past few weeks, those seeds would have most likely wound up in the Bayou!  The herb seeds themselves were a gift from my daughter and son-in-law.  Elizabeth and Robbie sent the packets of seeds for my recent birthday.  Most were in the familiar little packets of about a hundred seeds but one was umm...quite large!  I had mentioned that I was going to plant catnip if I could find seeds.  She beat me to it and sent some!  The pack contained five thousand seeds!  What am I going to do with five thousand catnip plants?  Hopefully, some of my neighbors will want a few plants..or a bunch of plants!  Otherwise, Ms. Put, the Bayou Cat sure better like catnip!