January Gardening

I miss working outside in my yard. Being the daughter of a farmer, I love to dig, plant, and harvest. There’s just something rewarding about sweating in the sun and then getting to eat what you’ve grown or enjoy the foliage and flowers of the plants you’ve so carefully tended. (My yard is deer central and a good bit of my gardening time is spent spraying Liquid Fence on my flowers or reinforcing my garden fence to keep them out, but I won’t get into that today.)

Yesterday, I ordered seeds for my vegetable garden. I usually grow herbs, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and corn. I’m dropping corn this year and replacing it with beans. For the past three years, the raccoons or squirrels have raided my corn patch just when it is ready to harvest. I’ll be buying corn this year at the farmer’s market.

I do have a few things that I’ve been enjoying inside of my house. One of my Thursday tennis contract friends gave me this gorgeous amaryllis for Christmas. It started to open two weeks ago and is really putting on a show. I get so much pleasure out of watching it open and enjoying its beautiful flowers.

My orchid should really put on a show this year. It has eight buds. My friend, Kate, grows orchids and was kind enough to give me this one last year. The bloom last year lasted for weeks and weeks.

These are my old amaryllis. Quite a few of these haven’t bloomed in a couple of years. I’ve decided that those that bloom this year will stay and those that don’t bloom will find a home in my compost pile.