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We chopped down most of our sunflowers

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On Monday afternoon and into the evening we finally got around to cutting down / trimming our Sunflowers as per the notice that we received from the city last week.

Last Tuesday or Wednesday we were given notice that our Sunflowers that grow in the boulevard in front of our house were causing an obstruction and had to be trimmed to three feet in height.

They weren’t obstructing anything, but I wasn’t about to find out what the fine might be for not complying with the bylaw order.

So on Monday, Chris started torturing our sunflowers by cutting down the biggest one which I’m sure was at least 14 feet tall. We had to go out for an appointment in the afternoon so we didn’t finish trimming the rest of the sunflowers – perhaps 20 in all – until we returned in the early evening.

What a shame.

Some of the sunflowers grew multiple sunflowers at various heights so there are still some flowers growing on the three foot tall stumps. Still, I don’t know if the sunflowers will survive as we cut so much off the plants that they might just die down now.

People passing by kept stopping to ask us what we were doing and when we told them what and why they couldn’t understand what the problem was. The whole neighborhood loves our sunflowers and it’s a fact that we grow them and other flowers in the boulevard to help beautify the neighborhood.

One of my site visitors had suggested, when I first posted about this city bylaw order, that we take the cut sunflowers and hang them from a window so that the birds could still use the flowers. I took that suggestion and expanded on it.

We have two flower boxes hanging outside the two windows at the front of our enclosed front porch. Since I didn’t feel well most of the summer I never did get around to planting annuals in the window boxes so they were bare all summer.

I decided to stick several of the cut flowers on their stems in the window boxes. It actually looks quite nice and the flowers are holding up well. I scattered a few of the remaining flowers in the garden bed below the window boxes and the flowers that had been almost finished or that were starting to dry into seed heads were cut off and scattered in the boulevard at the base of the sunflower plants.

I’m sure the neighborhood squirrels will scatter the dried out sunflower heads throughout the neighborhood. Did you know they nibble on the whole head? I find bitten sunflower heads in the strangest places sometimes!

The nicest cut sunflowers were set aside and when we were done cleaning up our mess I brought them inside and put them in two vases.

I figure we might as well enjoy the flowers for as long as we can.

Stupid city bylaw.






Gardening takes it’s toll on our skin

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Working in the garden …

Digging in the soil, planting new plants, pulling weeds, pruning and wrestling bushes into shape, and cold water dripping down your arm as you water your plants – all of these gardening related activities take their toll on our skin.

I’ve been working in the garden a little more often lately and in the evening I find that my hands just feel so dry. I also happen to wear sandals when I’m outside in the garden and I sometimes get some dirt on my feet which, even after I’ve cleaned my feet when I’m done working in the garden causes my feet to feel dry as well.

I often have scratches on my arms if I’ve been pruning my roses or if I’ve spent some time staking my roses to make them look a little nicer or to keep them from flopping onto nearby plants.

I’m sure you experience some of these issues as well.

How do you take care of your skin after a long day in the garden?

Scratches and Puncture Wounds –

Me? If I’ve been working with my roses I usually inspect my skin for thorns that are still stuck in my skin. I’ve found pieces of thorns or those tiny hair like thorny needles stuck in the tips of my fingers, under my nails and in my arms. Heck, I’ve even found thorns or thorn pieces in my legs after a really tough session with the roses. I do wear gloves while working in the garden, but some of the thorns are strong enough to penetrate the gloves.

Once I’m done getting rid of any thorns that were embedded in my skin I put some peroxide on a cotton ball and I swab my scratches and puncture wounds. Since the scratches on my skin tend to swell and get very irritated I also often put an antibiotic ointment on them. If I don’t my skin is often inflamed the next day.

I should mention that’s it’s actually important to care for wounds that you receive from your roses as there’s a fungus called Sporothrix schenckii and it’s known to be the cause of rose-pickers disease. This fungus grows on the thorns of roses and can be inoculated into the body by an innocent prick from a thorn. I looked it up on eMedicine and it’s said to not be very common in the US and I suppose it’s even less common in Canada.

Any puncture wound can become infected, whether it be from the fungus that grows on rose thorns or bacteria that’s been transmitted deep into the subcutaneous tissues of your skin. An infection might be localized where the puncture occurred or it might travel up your limb through your lymphatic system and or become systemic.

Again, these infections could be caused by any number of things. We shouldn’t be afraid to garden because we fear getting an infection, but being aware of conditions that can occur as a result of our hobby is just good sense. Take precautions. Care for any scratches or puncture wounds that you receive while working in the garden.

Tetanus

Tetanus is another type of infection that can be acquired through a puncture wound to the skin. Tetanus bacteria live in dust, soil and manure. As gardeners working in the soil we have a higher chance of becoming infected with tetanus.

Always wear gloves when working in the garden, especially when working with soil, manure or compost.

It’s also a good idea to get your booster tetanus vaccinations. It’s recommended that everyone get a tetanus booster vaccine every 10 years. However, the doctors that I work with in the emergency room have told me that I (meaning everyone who works in their garden regularly) should get a booster every five years because there’s a higher risk of getting this terrible infection which can cause lock jaw.

Skin Care

Now that you know why it’s important to try to prevent scratches and puncture wounds, and how important it is to take care of any wounds you receive in the garden on the day that they occur, lets talk about that dry skin.

This is probably the most common complaint of anyone who works outdoors whether it’s in a hobby garden or as a full time outdoor worker.

I’ve read that some people like to put a good hand cream on their skin prior to going out in the garden. This is supposed to delay drying and it also helps when cleaning your hands later as the hand cream seems to help the dirt wash off the skin easier when washing up when your finished gardening.

I’ve tried this method, and I’d do it more often if only I remember, because it does work. My hands never feel as dry after gardening if I protect them with a skin cream prior to working outdoors, and yes they do come clean so much easier.

Unfortunately, as I said, I don’t always remember to put hand cream on before I begin gardening so I do sometimes suffer from dry skin afterwords.

Skin Cream

I have two skin creams that I swear by. They are good for dry skin caused by outdoor work, and they’re good for dry chapped skin that occurs in the winter months as well.

The first skin cream is Glysomed. It’s a hand cream that contains glycerin, silicone and chamomile. The cream is made in Germany and I imagine that it’s available throughout North America and Europe although I can’t say that for a fact.

If I remember I like to use this cream before going outdoors. It’s wonderful in the winter time and I believe it also creates a nice barrier between the skin and garden dirt, and helps to make clean up after long hours in the garden a breeze.

The other skin cream that I swear by is Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula. It’s Cocoa butter enriched with Vitamin E and I find that it’s a wonderful moisturizer. It’s very soothing on dry skin.

I’m also a fan of putting cocoa butter on scars. I had part of my thyroid removed in my early 20’s (thyroid cancer) and once the wound began to heal over I applied cocoa butter to the scar daily for about six+ months. You can barely see the scar now, and in fact, by the time the scar was about 8 months old it was barely visible. Of course I also kept the scar hidden from direct sunlight for about a year too, and I’m sure that helped.

My mother had a skin cream or treatment that she swore by. Her skin would sometimes get so dry from working in the garden or due to cold dry winter air that it would crack. I can’t remember the name of the product, but it was a nipple cream for cow teats. Really. Yes it did work.

What skin care products do you like to use to sooth your garden ravaged dry skin?

I can’t catch up with the garden work

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I’m so behind in my garden work. I think I’ll finally have the summer work finished when autumn hits.

As I’ve said before I just haven’t been feeling well enough to get into the garden daily, sometimes not even once a week. I almost don’t dare walk in the garden as I see all the work that needs to be done and if I’m not up to doing it, it tears at me.

On Sunday we got some work done in the garden. My husband was out weeding the front boulevard flowerbed and he put up these 1.5 foot by 1.5 foot bamboo type fence things in front of the flowerbed where it meets the sidewalk. It looks good.

Over the last two weeks in my two or so garden work visits I’ve managed to plant all the roses that I purchased in June, one honeysuckle – why did I buy two? I’ve already got a dropmore!, a hydrangea, and two clematis vines.

We had purchased three new passion flower vines. Those I did not plant. I kept them in the containers they came in and placed them where I could make the vines grow on an object (bird feeder pole) or fence. I have to bring the passion flower vines and other tropical plants indoors once it gets cool so there’s no point in planting them.

We still need to put down the composted soil that we recovered from our composter a couple of months ago, and we haven’t even put mulch down on the flowerbeds yet. See I’m behind.

Are you behind in your garden work too?

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