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Published
Friday, March 6, 2020
Oh my aching... By Victoria Torley Oh my aching ________ (fill in the blank. If the blank is too short, feel free to extemporize). Right now, it’s my ribs. I have no idea what I did. Has that ever happened to you? Usually, I can pin my aches and pains on a specific act, like carrying two concrete blocks (shoulders and back) or missing a step (ankle and knee), but I have no clue what I did to my ribs. Still, aches and pains are part of gardening, and it seems to me that some are unavoidable. Of course, there are little owies and big ones. For the little ones, we keep a healthy stock of Bandaids of all sizes and shapes, although I don’t think I have ever found a use for the tiny ones. Around here, owies come in medium, large and OMG what did you do this time? (I don’t get a lot of sympathy). So, what is most likely to require a) an ice pack, b) a heating pad? First and foremost, “I can handle this!” No, you can’t and you know it, or at least you should know it by this time. That statement is often heard when transplanting and I don’t mean seedlings, I am talking shrubs and trees. First there’s the hole. Go ahead and jump on that shovel, dig that hole, make it nice and deep and nice and wide. Right. Then grab that tree and maneuver it into the hole. Drag it, lift it, tug it, watch it slide right in. Of course it will. I once got a giant fern from a friend. It took three of us to get it out of her truck (the fact she had to use a truck should have been a clue). Then we had to get it 20 meters into the hole… Then there are those raised beds you want to make that will make gardening so much easier on your back. Someday. But not until Colono unloads the concrete block 50 meters from the garden and you have to wheelbarrow them over to just the right spot. Building a raised bed isn’t too bad – just dig the first range half-way into the soil, then build up using rebar to secure things. Not too bad . . . but then there are the rocks for drainage, then the soil, then the top soil . . . oh my aching, well, my aching everything by the time the raised bed is ready for planting. So, what caused your aching _____________ today? Plant
for the Week
 Had a problem recently with sniffling and sneezing, coughing and wheezing? Take a look around the yard and roadside near your house and see if you can spot this shrub. The plant is about six to eight feet tall and topped by clusters of these tiny flowers. This particular cluster was 10 inches wide and eight inches tall – one cluster makes a bouquet, not that you want to take it home. The flowers are lightly fragrant but oh boy that pollen. I would love to give you the shrub’s name, but it has many look-alikes. You’ll know it when you find it – by the sneezing! ----------------------- For more information on this article or about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley, gardener columnist, can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com More stories
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