No Gardening Got Done On Christmas Day

Bob Bauer

December 27, 2019 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 2 minutes

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December 27, 2019

No gardening got done on Christmas day, but a big bag of wrapping paper makes for a great burn pile the day after. Once you get out of the house and start moving around lots of things will dispel your cabin fever. Being cold makes you want to go back in but a fire keeps you entertained. I start thinking about what I can add to keep it going, and end up gathering sticks from all over the place. Pretty soon I'm taking off my outer layer of clothes because I'm getting hot..

Then I start cutting more branches, sticks and vines and look for dead wood on the trees. I'm roaring like the fire now, an inferno of energy that came out of nowhere. It's gardening at it's finest, with abandon and total absorption in the moment..

December 28, 2019

When I started writing about gardening I thought I could help people appreciate it more. I had been gardening all my life and kept enjoying it above all other pasttimes. I thought my knowledge would be helpful in expanding other people's perspectives, and adding the joys of discovery to their experience. I began to feel like a teacher, and realized I should be careful not to disseminate misinformation..

With this in mind I began fact checking some of my habbits and found irregularities and obsolescence. I also began to unearth (pun intended) a vast amount of information about gardening. I became a student, a bit overwhelmed by the immensity of the subject matter..

December 29, 2019

December is a good time to check your garden's perimeter for places where a rabbit could get in. The fence line should be clear of plants, vines and weeds so it will be open for inspection. I found numerous places where the bottom of the fence was pushed up and in, indicating I had nocturnal visitors. Possums, raccoons and squirrels can all climb over but you can save them the work if you leave openings at the bottom. The easiest fix is to use tent stakes to hold the fence down..

Notched sticks work too but will rot out quickly. I have stapled the fence to boards and critters have failed to burrow under. Rocks also work if you have enough bottom fence for them to sit on. Piling garden waste along the fence line does not keep critters out, it only conceales their activities from your observations..

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