January 3, 2020

The front border garden camellia is giving spectacular blooms to begin the new year and decade.

I remember the turn of the century in 2000, with the fear of computer crashes and watching the new year dawn in Fiji and travel across the globe.  I remember the turn of the decade in 2010, when estate planners wondered about the repeal of the federal estate tax for one year.

I drove up late yesterday afternoon.  For the first time in a long while I took the road by the Camanche Reservoir.  A sunny afternoon showed off the greening of Jackson Valley.

In the last few hours of daylight I finished pruning the  third rose, and offloaded and applied six cubic feet of organic raised bed soil.  Many months ago Mike created a mulch pile with his chipper.  I have fed it with coffee grounds regularly and spread it to allow rain to dampen it.  The time has come to use it, and I applied two generous wheel barrows full to cover the new soil.  I will feed the roses when the first growth appears, most likely in February.