Safety in the Garden

Let's talk about garden safety.  We all get out in our gardens in the spring. We look forward to getting down and dirty with torn fingernails and muddy knees.  Other members of the family can be on the roof cleaning gutters or looking around for the right place to dig a pond.
Because I am the granddaughter of an electrician, perhaps I am more aware of possible electrical accidents than most.  Or maybe because I dug ponds for so long.
Before you start doing any work on the roof or gutters, check around for overhanging trees that can hide power lines. If you see a power line, stay at least 15 feet away from it.

If you are digging a pond or a trench for an irrigation system, call 811 before you dig. That's a national number where you can learn the location of electrical lines, or any utility line in your yard.

If you have a pond pump, lights or anything else that connects to an electrical outlet, be sure the outlet is a GFCI. That's the one with the little red or black button on it. That type of outlet will cut off the electricity instantly if water hits it. That can save your or your children's lives.  It's important even if it is just written by a little old lady who writes a pretty little blog.

Be safe this spring and summer.

Today's featured flower:

Buddleia, a real butterfly magnet.

Spring rains on the garden

The spring rains have arrived in my garden.  Of course, here, near New Orleans, we have spring, summer, fall and winter rains, but at least the spring ones are pleasant and we are in the midst of one now.

So have a look at a rainy weather photo taken from the screened porch. 

The garden is coming to life early this year. The Asian lilies that usually don't bloom until late May are about two feet tall already. We might just see blooms well before May.  These are from last year. At almost 6 feet tall, they are spectacular, aren't they?

Don't forget, my book is out.  Click in the top right box in the sidebar for a closer look.

And visit us at pondlady.com to ask pond questions.

Planting the spring garden

My vegetable garden is not yet started for the spring. I am late and later.  I have no veggies left in the freezer from last year's garden and only onions to harvest from the winter garden.
On Christmas Eve in Arkansas, the ramp from the house was frosty. I thought as I started down it, "Wow, that looks slippery." Next thing I knew I was on my behind having slipped, feet going in the air and butt landing square on the ramp.
Broken tailbone and much much pain. That pain has not gone away yet and I understand it takes forever. So, no garden planted. That's my excuse and I'm stickin' to it.

See, frost on leaves

But this gives you an idea of what's to come.

Oh, and my book is available for sale on Amazon:

Check the top right sidebar to click over there and see what it looks like. 

Selling a house

Have you ever lived in a house that's for sale even as you try to live in it?  Well, I have and am even as we speak.  Trying to keep a house clean with a year old abandoned 50 pound dog with feet that go inside and out without really knowing or caring about the difference is a task I am failing at.  So, I have decided that houses are for living in even if they are for sale and buyers just have to realize that.  Our time in this house will end by the end of this year and we will be in Arkansas for good.

Hey, wanna buy a house?  It's huge, on an acre and the landscaping is fantastic and professionally done.  Guess who did it? (Smile.)

dog not included.

Azaleas mean spring

Spring flowers make us know that spring is really really here.  And yesterday was a red letter day in my garden. Or maybe I should say a white calla day.  The flower Katherine Hepburn called "The flower suitable for any occasion" produced the first of many I will see as spring arrives. Even through the hot New Orleans summer, the calla soldiers on.  I have mine in semi-shade which seems to be where they do best.  I often use them as aquatic plants, but again, put them in the shade. They do not do at all well in the sun.  I find that most broadleaf plants like a bit of shade to do their best.
And the plant for which the Gulf Coast area is famous, the azalea: It pays its rent in the spring.  Imagine gardens filled with these and you know why the shrub makes us smile.

I took these photos yesterday morning, March 8th, 2012.  Amazing, aren't they?

Spring arrives like a lion

As spring is arriving like Secretariat in the final stretch, I wonder about having a spring veggie garden this year.  I hope to at least plant some tomatoes, green beans, squash and eggplants.  I have to harvest the onions that have been growing all winter to free up that space. My garden beds are all raised so the crawfish will not build their chimneys right up through them. When the ground is wet, the crawfish need to breathe, so build their chimneys up to 6" about the ground. Makes the egrets and herons happy, but me, not so much.
It's definitely time to plant. Used to be the time to plant was after March 15th when the last danger of frost had passed, but even our USDA zone has changed.  It used to be 8b, now it's 9a. That's a big change.

Time to stop rambling and start my day in the fields.  Or dream about moving to the top of Dodd Mountain in Mountain View AR. Dodd Mountain is about elevation 1200 feet. Doncha know the air is thin up there :lol:

I really have no excuse for neglecting this blog for so long.  We are in the midst of leaving this house near New Orleans and living full time in Mountain View, Arkansas as we both retire.  The house there is smaller and easier to take care of.  And it has a pond. A natural one where turtles live, deer and other critters drink out of. Occasionally a cow wanders in for a taste as well. It's free range country and our 6.5 acres is open to all.  I love it.  It will be difficult to leave our house of 6 years after Katrina and my home of 40 years, but I love Arkansas and the lovely small townness of Mountain View.
The pond here will not stay. I originally built it as a temporary pond. It's a huge blue pot sitting in a round Rubbermaid horse trough.  I will make the trip with me one of these times when I drive up there. I will have photos when it gets set up.
Have a wonderful time getting your pond up and ready for spring. This is such an exciting time of year.

I think the time has come to get off my lazy butt and start to post in this blog. Things sure have changed on Blogger since I made my last half hearted attempt.
And things in my life have changed as well. First of all I have written a book.
You can find it on Amazon here:
A Practical Guide to Building and Caring for a Pond

Or you can find it on my website at
pondlady.com

I think it's a great book (of course). It's downloadable so I could keep the price down. The best part is that it's mapped out, so you can click on any subject and get the answer without paging through the whole book.

I will try to keep up with this blog better and we can watch spring arrive together.

deleted post

Got the green pond blues?
http://ping.fm/Y4ddK

Swimming pool to pond conversion:
http://ping.fm/DY2WS

See the Ozark Folk Center Fall Herb Harvest Extravaganza Dinner menu:
http://ping.fm/szrrR

Is the pond pump too powerful?
http://ping.fm/mIn1F

Another pond success:
http://ping.fm/3p2cA

Learn about ponds at http://www.pondlady.com

Water Hyacinths are not doing well - Pondlady.com http://ping.fm/nEfTZ

Indoor Waterfall/Pond - Pondlady.com http://ping.fm/yTpmN

Floating water lily - Pondlady.com http://ping.fm/AZe6u

Water lilies flowers - Pondlady.com http://ping.fm/Ibh3y

Tina Marie Wilcox http://ping.fm/RJyNe