- Author: Jenni Dodini
After reading the very enjoyable Master Gardener article in the paper last Sunday, my eye was drawn to the article just below it. The article was about keeping oneself safe, particularly while driving. The article has been haunting me, not because of my driving, but because of my garden.
We are in that time of year when we have frosty or wet late nights and early mornings. When we had the freezing overnight temperatures, we dutifully protected our delicate plants. I pushed my outdoor palms together and wrapped them with Christmas tree lights. I made a little tent to go around them. I came home from work around 12:45 am and saw that I had not turned on the lights or closed the tent around them and saw that the deck was getting frosty. So, I got out of the car and went over to protect my lovelies. That's when I went for a little game of "slip n slide" on the step. Luckily, I did not fall, or even get a bruise. I was just plain lucky. Visions popped into my head of the poor little old "popsicle person" who was brought into the hospital a couple of winters ago who was "found down," broken, and very hypothermic in her garden by her equally old husband. That scenario could have easily been me!
So, one asks, why ever is she rambling so? The safety aspect was screaming in my mind!
It is that time of year where plants are mostly gone, or dormant, and kindly offering us an opportunity for an unobstructed view of our personal patch of paradise. I challenge you to take a look around your garden using your critical OSHA inspector eye for potential hazards in your garden. Are there tree roots popping up to grab your foot and throw you down? Tree limbs just waiting to smack your head as you walk by? Rotting wood that can go into attack mode as you walk by or on it? Now is a good time to make a list of things that need to be fixed or changed in order to prepare for spring planting safety.
There are so many things that we can be doing right now, in the garden, that have nothing to do with a plant, but everything to do with the beauty and enjoyment of our gardens.
Be safe out there....