By Diane Lockspeiser

As most of you certainly know, we didn’t get much of the usual back-and-forth weather this Winter. No warm spell lasted long enough to allow for any “infrastructure” work outside. It’s mostly been downright frigid. The depth of the snow, although welcome for protecting both plants and underground pipes, also didn’t allow for us non-skiers to do much outdoors.

Still needing to walk our dog Max, however, made me take a good look at our surroundings. I observed what needs trimming, what needs fixing, and what needs to go altogether. What I like, what I don’t like, what doesn’t matter (I find that as I get older, more and more really doesn’t matter).

My restlessness made me start looking around inside my house and studio as well. Too cold for airing things out, or doing any inside work that is best done with ventilation, I could still sort through areas and clean them up. I threw some things away, burned some in the wood stove, gave some away, and put some aside to bring to the Thrift Store in town whenever it opens again. A small upholstered chair that I’d like to refinish became a project, stripping it down and cleaning it up to be ready for the wooden parts to be painted once the weather allows.

One item outside that I really enjoy looking at is the gnarly base of the Concord Grapevine near our back porch, especially how it looks with snow. It has also become painfully obvious to me that it needs a seriously severe pruning. A few years ago, I injured my shoulder and couldn’t reach overhead to properly prune the vines. I let it just grow, unpruned. BIG mistake! When I did start trimming it again, it was just too overwhelming for one person to do. It got wilder and wilder. The vines started growing up a nearby tree and into some bushes. They took over part of the gazebo. Without proper airflow, the grapes that did develop mostly shriveled up with fungus and other pests.

Last year I started cutting down the bushes that had also gotten overgrown and blocked the airflow. I cut and pulled down whatever vines had gone up the tree. In the Fall I started to work on the rest, but once again got overwhelmed. Then this Winter settled in.

I have asked for help from the Andes Garden Club. I figured that the abundant vines could be used for their wreath-making, or for crude baskets, or for whatever else anyone wants to use them for. Some members volunteered, so it will happen sometime in mid to late March, before the giant wakes up and starts sending out more vines. Hopefully, most if not all of the snow will be gone by then to make it easier.

If you’d like to help, please contact either me or the Andes Garden Club. Thank you!~