Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2018 14:32:58 -0500
From: “N.A. Booko” <>
Subject: The Garden In January . . .
I looked around at my Chatham Garden today – after much of the snow was melted. Seems there has been some damage with the storm. Not from the thickness of the snow, but from tree branches that broke and fell on plants.
I do not rake leave in the fall. There are plenty of leaves around. I have lots of shade, so lots of leaves. The winter makes the leaves compact and sometimes bond together, making raking a little difficult. I begin raking leaves in mid February. It takes at least three weeks to get it all cleared away. I need to be extra careful getting the leaves from around certain plants and careful not to pull up plants with the rake.
If I wait too late to rake leaves, new growth is very tender and can easily be damaged/ruined by the metal tines in the rake. Many times the ‘raking’ is done with my fingers/hand.
I have that thin black net deer fencing around a lot of my property and noticed about three fourths of it is down. The build-up of snow on it and falling branches did it in.
I am on the South side of hyway 64 and the melting process takes twice as long as the North Side. The shade from tall trees makes all the difference. But I will do as I have for the past 43 years- The best i can . . .
N.A. Booko
Tom not doing too well- Mater healthy and looking forward to Spring.