Gardening for your health:

Regular, moderate, sun exposure helps us avoid Vitamin D deficiency and is also useful for combating symptoms of anxiety and depression (seasonal and otherwise). Exercise is also beneficial for one's mental and physical well-being. Gardening provides some of both. How cool is that?

Budding hope, or wishful thinking?

Well, things have been so busy, it's been quite some time since I've had the opportunity to do much out in the garden. I finally got out there to water things today. I'm amazed at how many of my plants handled so much neglect. I've hardly touched them in about a month. The container plants sheltered in my greenhouse have done amazingly well with the exception of my air potato vine , which now appears completely deceased. Rosemary, it appears, also has its limits.We'll see if I can nurse that back to health.

Which reminds me, my persimmon tree did not fare well in hurricane Ike, being almost completely broken off just above the graft. I stood it back up and bound it with grafting tape, giving it additional support by tying it to several stakes. That's pretty much where I left it, having become so busy shortly after that I hardly had time to even think about doing anything else with it. I'm not sure, but I think I may have seen some new buds while I was inspecting it today. I could be completely wrong, of course, but I am curious to see what will happen in the spring. In the meantime, I still haven't ruled out trying to replace the tree entirely. I missed the Urban Harvest tree sale this year, and won't make the Fort Bend County one either, so it may be awhile before we see a new persimmon here!

At this point, I'll just be glad if I can clear the weeds from my unplanted beds and get my roses pruned next week!