Dirt Therapy

Late February to early March is the time for the major pruning of roses. Back in December, I did a preliminary pruning , now is the time for the last major pruning before the spring season begins.  First, a comment on hybrid tea roses. This is what most people have in their gardens. I only have a few hybrid tea roses. These are the roses that need the most drastic pruning. Basically, you cut all the canes down to about 1 foot, making the cuts right above an outward-facing bud. The result will be something like this -  Most of my roses fall into the shrub and climbing categories. These roses are pruned differently and not as severe as the hybrid teas. For shrub roses (and many of the David Austin English roses fall into this category), I first take out the older canes completely to the ground. The older canes are easy to spot - they will be thicker and darker in color. After thinning out the older canes, I remove any canes that are damaged, crossing one another and canes that ...

We woke up to around 4 inches of snow today. We already had a dusting from yesterday. If I am not mistaken, we've had at least one big snowfall every winter since we've lived here. They usually occur in January or February but sometimes as late as April. Here are the obligatory photos. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

I am re-sharing this post that I did 15 years ago. This is a good one for Valentine's Day, especially if you are snowed in like we are! Why are they called buckeye balls? Because they look just like the nuts of the Ohio Buckeye Tree ( Aesculus glabra ). Some people just call them "peanut butter balls" which is basically what they are. All you need to make them are these 4 ingredients: 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3-4 cups sifted confectioners sugar (If you prefer them less sweet, use 3 cups) Line a baking sheet with wax paper (you may need two depending on the size). In a stand mixer, mix all the ingredients until the mixture is creamy. (You can also do this with your hands).   Shape into balls using 2 teaspoons of dough for each ball. (You can experiment with the size you want - some people like them larger, some like them smaller.) Place on prepared pan, and refrigerate for several hours or you can freeze...

I mentioned in my last post that I came across several books that I had not read before while I was reorganizing my library.  One of them was a tiny volume titled "The Gardener's Year" by Czechoslovakian writer Karel Capek. I cannot remember where I found the book but I was vaguely familiar with it. It is considered a classic in horticulture literature.  Before I get to the book, I wanted to share some information about the author. Karel Capek (1890-1938) was a writer, playwright, critic and journalist. His works cover a wide variety of genres, but he was best known for his political journalism and his sci-fic/utopian works, particularly the play  "R.U.R." (1921) and the novel "War With The Newts" (1936).  He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature seven times but never received one. Capek received a Doctorate of Philosophy in 1915 from Charles University in Prague. He then began his writing career as a journalist along with his brother Josef...

So I have a lot of books. Before we moved to Washington state in 2016 from Alabama, I had even more but I got rid of most of my library with the exception of my gardening books. I also have quite a number of film history and biographies which you cannot see in the photo. The main unit, front and center, is the bulk of my gardening library, which consists of around 325 titles. To the left is my collection of "The Secret Garden" editions and a half-hearted collection of Ruth Rendell & PD James novels. And the books along the top are miscellaneous titles and ones that I'm in the process of reading. Earlier this week, we had a cold, windy and rainy day, the perfect day for an overdue project - organizing and recording the library. Before this, I had the books arranged by subject matter, but this was not working for me. It seemed that every time I needed to find a particular book, it took me a while to locate it. I decided to organize the books by author. I usually remembe...