Roses and Blueberries

It's spring! Well, almost.  We trimmed the roses and blueberries today. That is, Jill trimmed, and I supervised...at her request, mind you. I'm supposed to be wary of garden soil, when my ANC  is low; and you can't get much lower than zero. 

I felt so powerful. "Cut that branch down to the ground! Leave these strong ones. Hmmm, not sure about this one. Oh, what the heck. Roses are weeds; they'll do fine. Whack that one down to the ground!" We only missed George Washington's Birthday by a couple of days. That's when my dad taught me to trim the roses, and it has served me well for decades. 

Since our blueberries are members of the rose family and took a severe beating in the summer heat last year, we cut out all the dead wood as one would do with roses. and left the healthy looking shoots. We can't hurt them. We got exactly 2 berries last year. These plants were mature when our neighbors Tom and Debbie gave them to us (unnecessarily) for helping watch after their home while they were snowbirding in Arizona two years ago. I think they (the blueberries, not Tom and Debbie) were in shock from transplantation. (On the other hand, Tom and Debbie were transplanted, too.) Then we neglected them (the blueberries) due to my illness. Then we had two blazing hot Julys in a row. Is it any wonder they (the berries) are struggling? This year we mulched them with sawdust and fertilized them. Now we have trimmed them back so that the stem to root ratio should be favorable for new stems to grow healthy. I don't expect we'll get any berries this year, but I'd rather look at a healthy, barren plant for a season and hope for bounty the next year. 

The sun is out and the temperature is in the mid fifties today. What  a treat to be able to get out. We talked with the neighbors and had a visit from their Siberian Husky, Kota. It's all very spring-like. We are told that there will be lots of precipitation next week, and some sources are suggesting some of it could be frozen. So we struck while the iron was hot, so to speak. Thank the Lord for sunny, spring days, even in winter!!

You visit the earth and water it;
    you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
    you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
¹⁰ You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
    and blessing its growth.
¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills gird themselves with joy,
¹³ the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they shout and sing together for joy. (Psalm 65:9-13)