More Ice Damage (Update)

BY SKEETER

JUNE 13, 2013

 A year ago, I brought home a beautiful Oleander plant from the "Giant Plant Sale" (GPS) at nearby McCorkles Nursery.

June 24, 2013

I planted the beauty in my GEORGIA GARDENS and she gave me plenty of pink blooms.

Feb. 13, 2014

Then that awful Ice Storm hit us in February. The Saint is standing in the "Iced Over" garden of the Oleander. And that "Arched" tree remains in that position as of today! We'll get to it at some point if Mother Nature does not first.

June 10, 2014

 I feared the Oleander was a goner. Sigh... But I hung in there and let her be all Spring long.

June 10, 2014

 By NOT rushing to pull her out of the ground, I now have a new Oleander popping up from below! I did not loose her after all. But how many of you would have let this plant be that long without pulling it from the ground? Not me until this year. With that strange Ice Storm, nothing has been on track this year so I just ignored the dead plant and looking at it on June 10th, I found new growth below! I am still holding out hope for my Banana Trees as they have not shown as of today. But that hope is less and less each day.

June 26, 2012

I put this mailbox into place some time ago in hopes a bird would make a home in it. 

Oct. 24, 2013

So far, no bird has nested in it and Not either of the 2 Clematis I have planted by it have taken root. 

Feb. 17, 2014

I am sad to say, the Ice Storm took down a large Pine Limb which landed on top of the mailbox. Yes, that was one brutal Ice Storm to my gardens as well as our woods and trees.

June 6, 2014

 But, we always bounce back. I hammered out the dents and put a fresh coat of paint on the mailbox and changed it up a bit in the process. It is now Blue with Clouds and sporting some Bees instead of the butterfly.



June 6, 2014
 

 White Yarrow has taken off below the Mailbox, a Lily and few other things have been added to the area as well this year.

June 6, 2014

I am still on the lookout for a Clematis or some other type vine to climb up that Mailbox.

 I have made a Positive from the Ice Storm. Here you see my Vitex flourishing by a new planter.

 I took a few of the logs from the many downed trees we had from the Ice Storm and made a new Planter! By the time the logs rot, the Fringe Bush should be large enough to hold this area on its own. But for now, I shall enjoy my Red and White Petunia by the Vitex or Blue Bush as my parents call it.

 Another Positive, the huge stump from the downed Willow Oak had not shifted at all since Feb.

And we were able to get it back into its upright position! It shall remain "as is" until we feel it is becoming a threat to our driveway.

 The Saint had worked on this stump a bit as it was doing damage to the driveway. He removed a lot of the dirt from the root ball and also cut a lot of the root ball. We had some issues with this stump from the get go.

Our awesome neighbor and his tractor came to assist us with the stumps.

And after a bit of work, this stump was back in place as well. We shall have to do a bit of work on this part of the driveway. Hopefully we will be able to open up this side of our circular driveway soon.

 This past Saturday, The Saint rented a log Splitter and he and I went to work.

 He split the logs while I loaded, hauled and stacked the wood into the wood shed. Wow, that was hard work with high humidity. We put in about 7 hours if not longer.

On Sunday, a neighbor/friend came and split some wood for his wood shed. The Saint assisted him while I rested my achy bones. We still have some logs remaining and shall offer them to another good neighbor of ours. 

Loosing all those trees was sad but they needed to come down or Mother Nature would not have dropped them for us. So I planted a new tree in their honor. Remember me talking about my "Yard Sale" finds a few weeks ago? Well, here was a bargain, a Maple Tree for $5.00! I planted it in the Semi-Formal Garden and hope she will shine some day.

It has taken us some time but we are slowly getting our Yard and Gardens back to normal. That was one Ice Storm that not only us but many are still talking about today. I do not want any MORE ICE DAMAGE, In the Garden...

 

Note: I am attending the GPS at McCorkle's Nursery today and have won a gift certificate! Hopefully, I can find something to go under the mailbox. 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Fire

By Skeeter
What does this little hill of dirt in my Georgia Garden have to do with fire you ask? Click on the below video and see what happens when I poke a stick into this hill of dirt.


If my hand were to get in the way of these things, I would be on fire! You see these are the hideous Fire Ants in the Deep South. If you have never experienced these, be lucky as they are painful little buggers! The first fire ants I ever encountered in my life were in San Antonio, Texas. I freaked when I accidentally disturbed a hill and saw them scattering about on the ground. When living in Killeen, Texas, I once again experienced them but in a more terrifying manner. I was push mowing the grass when I unknowingly ran over an Ant Hill. They were all over my feet and ankles and bit right through my socks. You talk about fire, they are true to their name Fire for sure. My ankles were swollen so large I could not get my shoes on for an entire day! The swelling went down and the poison is in my body so they no longer affect me in such a manner. I also am more aware of them and try to stay clear. We spot treated them for several years with little luck in our yard. The spot we treated would disappear then another hill would magically appear the next day within a few yards of the old hill. We finally had to resort to drastic measures. We had to use a broadcast spreader and treat the entire grassy portions of the yard. That was 2 years ago and until this past fall, we had not seen another ant hill. We will try to spot treat again to see if we can rid them without having to treat the entire yard. I don't like using any type of poison in my gardens as I fear it will harm the wildlife that surrounds me. We used a product called "Over and Out" which is very expensive but it does work for us.


Click on the video to see a Good Fire in my Georgia Garden. This is one of many small bonfire type fires we have in our backyard. I dug a pit about 3 feet deep and 4 feet in circumference. This is where we burn all the fallen debris from our woods. We are only allowed to burn from Oct 1 until May 1 each year. We only burn on days when the wind is not blowing and we keep the area clear of leaves. On this particular day, the sweet gum balls were not removed by the Saint before he started the fire.

The Saint and I argue over picking up the fallen branches from the woods. He says to leave them where they fall for a nature preserve. I say he is lazy and does not want to pick up the limbs, hee hee. Na, not really. I went to a Forest Fire Safety briefing and found out that if you remove fuel (fallen limbs) from the Forest floor, then during drought conditions when a fire could be sparked, it will not be fueled by fallen limbs. Since our house is surrounded by woods and we do get into drought conditions, I want to do my part to keep on track, therefore, we pick up and burn fallen limbs. I call this "Cheap Insurance"
Ah, another Good Fire to have around. This fire in our living room keeps us warm during those chilly nights in the house.
Now this is a Bad Fire I don't want anyone to experience! This is a picture I borrowed from the Internet to remind us of how bad fire can be. I can only imagine the horror the family calling this place home must have gone through. I hope this is one fire I never have to experience!
Why am I talking about Fires today? I had made myself a Grilled Cheese Sandwich and came back upstairs into the office to read some Garden Blogs while indulging in my yummy hot lunch. I then was put to my feet by the sound of the smoke detector buzzing. Cats were running in all directions as I ran down the stairs. I left the pan on the eye of the stove once I had turned it off. A few of the crumbs of bread put a scent into the air that the fire alarm did not like. I reset the alarm and back upstairs I went. Then I heard a beep, beep, beep. Back to the alarm I went to find a dying battery. I changed the old battery with a fresh one and back to the computer I went. We so forgot to replace the battery on New Years Day like we always do. So I am writing this post today to remind everyone to put a fresh new battery into their Smoke Alarm. 2 minutes of your time is well worth it!

As you can see, some fires are good. But not all FIRES, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Tree killer

By Skeeter


We had to cut down a huge tree in our Georgia woods recently. The thing was rotting in the top and dropping large limbs on the driveway so time for it to come down. With the assistance of our neighbor and his tractor, he and the Saint got her to the ground. We cleaned up the mess the best we could and the Saint and our neighbor cut the trunk into lengths for firewood.

We rented a Log Splitter and spent one weekend splitting wood for the wood shed. Perfect timing as we had used the last stick of wood this past winter. While splitting the wood, we found the culprit to the trees death. Or what we believe anyway. Click on the video to see this scary thing crawling around.
See how large these creatures are compared to the Saints hands? They were like giant caterpillars that could saw a tree down!
Even out of the wood, their jaws were chomping as if trying to tunnel out of a tree! We plucked at least 100 if not more from the rotting wood. I contacted our County Extension Agent and he informs me these creatures are Sawyer Beetles. They are decomposers and eat dead or dying wood so they did not kill the tree. He says the tree looks to be an Oak and probably died due to the drought.
Here the Saint is busy splitting a small piece of wood from the limbs. Look at the size of the piece which formed the trunk of the tree that he is sitting on. The trunk pieces each made between 40-45 pieces of fire wood! The tree was really hard wood where it was not dying or dead. The Saint and I both worked as a team splitting the large pieces. He had to use the muscles to get the huge piece in place while I worked the levers on the machine. Together we got most of it split. About 6 remain in the woods where it will stay until it dries out a bit more. It was too difficult to split the wet wood while in such large pieces.

Yep, that was one huge tree to get to the ground then to get cut up into firewood.

We traded off splitting the small pieces of wood with the Saint splitting while I loaded my little red wagon and drove to the woodshed and stacked. Then I split and he loaded and stacked. Was a tough job and of course this took place with unexpected humidity in the air. Just our luck...We joke and say, "Yet another thing we can put on a Resume that we would never do for a living" Hard work I tell you and I admire the folks which do this to earn a living!

We stacked the good hard wood 2 rows deep in the wood shed and it should be ready for the fireplace this winter. We also split the rotting wood for easy burning in the outside fire pits. Will make some good campfires on cool nights.

It was probably the drought and not the strange creature that was a TREE KILLER, In the Garden...

Always trying to find the bright side of things, we have a shed full of firewood!