a little gardening
Dec. 20th, 2025 06:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twoelevenyesterday it warmed up to 55°, so i attacked the snow-damaged bushes with a saw and lopper (and other instruments of mass destruction). the bush with the cracked branch was difficult to work on, because the branch was in an awkward place. i tried to undercut the branch so that i'd get a clean cut, but no, the branch broke a little differently than straight down, so there's an ugly wound with a big strip of live wood and bark missing now. i'm probably going to cut the branch further down to try to get a clean cut.
as expected, i spent a while trimming that bush. there was more dead wood than i'd realized, and i trimmed off even more than that to help another bush that it was shading grow.
and i cut a bent branch from a third bush. it wasn't obviously cracked, but since it was still leaning over the front stairs despite all the snow having melted, i figured it was messed up somehow. that also left a bad cut, but better than the other one.
then I had to cut up all the random branches i'd taken off to toss back into the woods. i also cleared out something that was trying to turn into a thicket back there, since it was easier to see the stems now than when the mass of shrubby trees and wild roses had leaves.
i probably should have lifted my dahlias weeks ago, but between bad weather and being out of town, it didn't get done. but one of the sites i bookmarked for advice on how to lift and divide dahlias said they have a fair tolerance for brief sub-freezing air temperatures, so long as the ground stays warm. the site also said that they had luck mulching dahlias in zone 6a, a bit cooler than zone 7a, where i am.
so, i'm conducting an experiment. each of the dahlias now has a foot-tall pile of mulch on it. we'll see if they revive in the spring. if they do, i won't have to lift them until it's time to divide them. that may be a few years if the antler rats keep chewing on them. (i'm trying to decide what to do about the antler rats too.)
as expected, i spent a while trimming that bush. there was more dead wood than i'd realized, and i trimmed off even more than that to help another bush that it was shading grow.
and i cut a bent branch from a third bush. it wasn't obviously cracked, but since it was still leaning over the front stairs despite all the snow having melted, i figured it was messed up somehow. that also left a bad cut, but better than the other one.
then I had to cut up all the random branches i'd taken off to toss back into the woods. i also cleared out something that was trying to turn into a thicket back there, since it was easier to see the stems now than when the mass of shrubby trees and wild roses had leaves.
i probably should have lifted my dahlias weeks ago, but between bad weather and being out of town, it didn't get done. but one of the sites i bookmarked for advice on how to lift and divide dahlias said they have a fair tolerance for brief sub-freezing air temperatures, so long as the ground stays warm. the site also said that they had luck mulching dahlias in zone 6a, a bit cooler than zone 7a, where i am.
so, i'm conducting an experiment. each of the dahlias now has a foot-tall pile of mulch on it. we'll see if they revive in the spring. if they do, i won't have to lift them until it's time to divide them. that may be a few years if the antler rats keep chewing on them. (i'm trying to decide what to do about the antler rats too.)