alfreda89 | Gardening: First salvo

Well -- I have been eying my garden for about a month now, waiting for my hands to stop hurting. Can't wait any longer; our weird weather is hitting the eighties by day and the forties by night. Lantana starts leafing out at 80 degrees. Surely taking off the brittle pieces from my lantana won't hurt? (This is the lantana I previously planted in a huge pot in front of my business, because the deer ate everything else I planted there. After four years in a pot, it had circling roots as thick as my index finger. It was time for the ground, and it was happy last year by the path to the new office.)

I went out with gloves and clippers to remove the dead part of the lantana so the plant would come back properly, from the root ball, and discovered that neither thumb joint will allow me to use the clippers without quite a lot of pain. Even encircling the plant and yanking is easier than the small clippers.

So, I got the pruners and snicked off the lantana -- and then took out a dozen dead palm branches as well. And some hemlock/tickweed and thistles, by the roots, no less -- ground is soft near the palm...and near the lantana. Not so otherwise in the side yard. Time to spread more mulch right up to the path, looks like.

Note to self: ALWAYS attempt to carry palm fronds by leaves, not stems. Even if they look like they can be stacked, they can't...

I sure hope the arthritis foundation has some pruners I can use. Even if we plant heirloom roses, they are happier with a wee bit of attention. I have to do SOMETHING....

I want tomato plants!