The sibling writing assignment this week is “A Gardening Disaster”. You will find my siblings’ assignments here now and here soon. Since the three of us have done our share of gardening and watched a brown yard turn into a gardening marvel at our childhood home, but along with plentiful harvests come disasters. I had to share more than one. As I began to embrace gardening seriously many organic tips were passed on to me. I also took on the role of “ the garden pruner” back then. Alas, disasters occurred.
Gardening Disaster #1: Deer Deterrent.When we saw the remains of some chrysanthemums one fall day we knew the deer had enjoyed a midnight snack. We decided to fight back. Wisely I didn’t use the raw egg/ pepper mixture because I read it may attract skunks. Another seasoned gardener said Irish Spring soap was the answer. We hung bars of the strong smelling soap on bushes, trees, and the fence close to the gate the deer jumped over. After a few days we figured out it wasn’t going to work. Every time we turned around one of our dogs was spitting and foaming at the mouth as a bar of Irish Spring came flying out it bits and pieces.
“No Emily… it is not a loaf of bread.”
“ No Lucy, it will not help with the odor of the dead animal you rolled in.”
“ It is okay Bluey… you didn’t need to wash your mouth out with soap.”
While picking up pieces of soap we knew there were deer in the bushes grinning. The rest of the mum blossoms were gone the next day and I got a bit tired of the dogs carrying in that “fresh, clean feeling of an Irish countryside” on their breath.
Gardening Disaster #2: Soil Amendments and DogsAs you have often read on this blog I had to do serious soil amending when I began gardening. Did Mr. Organic Gardener Rodale not have dogs? Lessons were learned the hard way as we tried enriching our soil. Bone meal is an excellent amendment to add to the soil when planting bulbs. It is also suggested to add it again after the bulbs bloom in the spring. With three dogs that thought this amendment was a bone they buried the fall before, we kissed our tulips good-bye. Our dogs had bulbs up out of the soil, moved to new locations, and missing in one day. Yes, I know some bulbs are poisonous. Our dogs seemed to fare well. It was not surprising when tulips popped up the following spring behind the wood shed. As least they didn’t smell like Irish Spring!
Gardening Disaster #3: Inland Empire Girl, Pruning Shears, and dear VirginiaTo add color to our gardens early on JEJ wanted to plant vines. As vines grew up posts, trees, and rails they added color and variety to the space. He loved Virginia Creepers, but this vine had a hard time getting started up the trees. One spring day I was deadheading flowers and pruning dead branches when I snipped the Virginia Creeper. He had been training that creeper for weeks to grow up the pine tree. All that was left was a little sprout and a couple of leaves. Yikes! I had to think fast. My mind raced as I asked, “ Do I get duct tape, fix it and hope he doesn’t notice? Can I try grafting it together in some way? Would a big pot in front of it cover the damage?”
I kept up with my garden chores that afternoon watching the snipped part go limp. JEJ walked up to his dear vine and gasped. “What happened to my Virginia Creeper?” I looked at him sheepishly.
“I was deadheading the Dame’s Rockets and accidentally beheaded Virginia. The pruning shears just slipped!” Believe it or not that vine has crept all the way up that pine tree now. “You just can’t keep a good creeper down", quoted my husband. Whew!
The Virginia Creeper on the tree in our yard today!
Now that I raise rhubarb I have collected quite a few recipes. I always make strawberry rhubarb jam later when the strawberries are ripe. I also like rhubarb better baked in a recipe with another companion fruit. Peaches, mandarin oranges, and again strawberries come to mind. The recipe below lists strawberry jello, but another recipe had 
and the Columbia River became Lake Roosevelt. Here is a stanza of a poem by Ronald Webster that captures this place :
