2018 Gardening, Landscaping, and Plants

[taldesta]

It's funny ... the scurrying and winging that occurs when I step outside at first light in the morning. Earlier the dogs wake me and have their walk in the dark. Then, with the light of dawn, I see life springing to defence. Fleeing red tails, striped backs, wings on the air. The ground and air seem to move all around me in escape. Now, in spring, I only go out so early to refresh the feed ... the feed that apparently is for chickadees, jays, nuthatches, grackles, redwing blackbirds, cowbirds, woodpeckers, goldfinches, whitethroat and white capped sparrows, mourning doves, squirrels, chipmunks and rose breasted grosbeaks ... and others that keep my nose tucked in the bird identification volumes that I keep by my lazyboy ... where I also keep my compact binoculars for ID. Hummingbirds are quietly regular.

Intentionally I pitched the screen tent (only one blackfly bite so far - but I know what's coming) with the door facing away from the 'bird' feeders to prevent difficult 'bird in tent' issues ... yet when I returned from town yesterday, there he was ... a calm rose breasted grosbeak ... perched, yet trapped ... inside.

I hate to frighten stressed birds further, but my presence inside and opposite to his escape door worked the trick. Not a batsilly bird even when trapped ,,, a calm escape.



BTW there are 3 pair of rose breasted grosbeaks taking sunflower seed continually so I do expect that they are nesting close by.


I may have lost the geraniums outside (although covered) in the trailer. -2C (28F) again overnight. Second such freeze. Yesterday they were not looking so hot. I had moved them to the high-sided trailer for transport to their summer location, freeze and wind protection - but I just had to reclaim the house for me and am reconciled to the loss if that happens. It has been a difficult spring and honestly, it is not truly here yet. Good working weather though, and welcome. By that - good working weather - Muskokans mean cool and not eaten alive by blackflies.



First trillium - the official flower of the province of Ontario is the trillium - also marks the first of the blackflies - 6 weeks of bloodlettting! Spray or give up blood or stay indoors ... and you know I am not staying indoors.



Black currants ... one plant I love but is a perennial and perhaps a premature commitment to this property ... will I be able to manage the challenges of this property ... will it be all work and little fun ... because I plan a lot more percentage of enjoyment over 'work' in my life ahead.

 

[annr]

taldesta beautiful bird!

 

[taldesta]

Thanks ... through the window with zoom as with most of my wild and flighty critters. They won't pose long once I open the door to snap a pic

 

[22-rimfire]

Taldesta, interesting that the trillium is coming into bloom. It seems that the early spring plants get compressed into a shorter time period. I spoke to my sister in PA last week and she said that there were no wildflowers yet and you're much further north. But then, she really isn't experienced along that line.

Hummingbirds get into my garage when the door is open and can't seem to figure how to get back out. I think that's kind of sad.

 

[eisman]

Days are getting longer and warmer here in Western WA. Most of the spring flowers are gone, but Rhoadies and Azelias are going like crazy. My lilac has decided to go for broke and is doing two shades this year. Kind of strange. Looks like the lilies are going to be good too, but I'll probably miss them while I'm traveling.

 

[taldesta]

That lilac is stunning!

 

[taldesta]

Taldesta, interesting that the trillium is coming into bloom. It seems that the early spring plants get compressed into a shorter time period. I spoke to my sister in PA last week and she said that there were no wildflowers yet and you're much further north. But then, she really isn't experienced along that line.

Hummingbirds get into my garage when the door is open and can't seem to figure how to get back out. I think that's kind of sad.

When the trilliums actually bloom in numbers, the wooded hillsides will just be a carpet of mostly white here ... so my one foundling, that does not look all that happy in the rain, is in a south facing niche location. An early wildflower.

Re: birds getting trapped ... yes, at my last digs they would fly in through the open overhead door of the shop and pick the closed windows for their escape - did not end well, so the door stayed closed a lot more than was convenient.

Speaking of birds, does anyone else have a chickadee that sups at the hummingbird feeders? In past I've seen a yellow bellied sapsucker do this, but never a seed eater like the chickadee.

Just to show that there is an element of civilization here leftover from my gardens of a past time ...



Today I planted several scarlet runner pole bean seeds at the feet of the tripod. Even though I had placed and weighted cardboard weeks ago to tame the wild grass roots, getting the shovel into the soil was tough going. The experiment in the centre of the tripod is based on the 'keyhole garden' idea ... where compost is placed in the centre and continuously feeds the plants around it. Contained in a circle of metal mesh screening staked into the ground ... and will be enclosed completely by vertical twig stakes. Do I think it will stop Daisy ...

 

[Rupestris]

Took out the Hostas today. Prepping for six tons of top soil and some landscaping later this week.

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[taldesta]

Sorry for the stark contrast amid all this beauty and lovely grass and wonderful improvements you gardeners have accomplished ... but I must confess that, when I posted that I was not sod-busting this year, I lied.

An experiment for a raised garden made from available materials, turf, just seemed so right for here ... it doesn't have to be pretty or long lasting. This front section will be plenty for tomatoes, lettuce and swiss chard when done. Potatoes could go in back of the bean poles - if the shovel and I both hold out There are lots of poles left for a rough dog fence.



The central compost is now shored up and quite strong with a lot of added poles hammered into the ground and further secured with two layers of rope 'wattle' woven in. Daisy is ignoring it.



Black currants are planted. I tried to mow the hill near the veg garden but the mower deck is hanging up on irregular turf and boulders ... so it looks like it will be gas trimmer and/or rotary mower or ?? leave some uncut. I do like neat but this hill is a lot to handle for me.

 

[Rupestris]

Sorry for the stark contrast amid all this beauty and lovely grass and wonderful improvements you gardeners have accomplished ...

Any gardening I do brings to mind the old adage, "it's going to get worse before it gets better". I just don't post photos of the "worse".

 

[22-rimfire]

I do the sod busting by hand (shovel) and then let it dry out a bit, till everything and rake out the grass and roots. That's how I start a garden space.

 

[taldesta]

Any gardening I do brings to mind the old adage, "it's going to get worse before it gets better". I just don't post photos of the "worse".

"Better" may take a while on this end!

I do the sod busting by hand (shovel) and then let it dry out a bit, till everything and rake out the grass and roots. That's how I start a garden space.

Yes, sounds like an ideal way to prep a garden, 22-rimfire. I think one of the toughest things about sod-busting by hand is shaking and pounding the good soil away from the root systems. At least I skipped a lot of this back-breaking work too although the sod sure looks rough cut.

A tiller was offered to me for the job but the turf raised bed was appealing on several counts 1) available materials & free 2) no DIY skills required 3) I had never seen one 4) according to the description "Due to the soft material of the turf, the edges of the raised bed make a comfy seat too"

Yesterday's progress. I may line it with landscape fabric just in case I don't get this weed-wild hill under control this spring.






I took a break in the heat (yes, heat) to play with water, filling the water barrel, a Re-Store special found earlier. The well is still on overflow. I will attach a manifold and run underground gravity feed hoses to the veg garden and the two old concrete birdbaths - all downhill.

 

[22-rimfire]

My neighbor was going to create a large flower bed area and perhaps a garden. We were talking and he clearly wanted to use my little tiller. I told him using my tiller was a waste of time with heavy sod. It's too light. Since my gardening and landscaping beds are somewhat limited, I have a small Troybilt tiller (the little ones that weight like 28 lbs). For heavy jobs it is not enough. I'll go rent something if I have to. Honestly for 95% of what I do, it works perfectly (assuming it starts.)

It would see general cultivation duty in a large space like I grew up with. We had several tillers that we used including one of the large Troybilt's. They pretty much revolutionized the home garden tilling chore. We used to get the whole thing plowed by a tractor. After getting the tiller, we would chip away at the space with the Troybilt. I think it would have been more efficient to have the entire space plowed in the spring and then freshened up with the Troybilt when you needed to plant an area. This was a large space... over a half acre.

 

[taldesta]

Thanks for pointing up that some tillers are up to a certain job and that others may not be ... because I didn't think of this, even when choosing the turf raised-bed for the veg garden. The ground here has been fallow since depression era and honestly, I have to rake the long grass from last year away before even trying to penetrate the turf to cut it into sod ... otherwise when I jump on the cutting edger, I just spring back into the air. Testimony to the strength of natural fibres together. Cordage.

In past times, when breaking ground for gardens here, I have turned up a lot of animal bones, again testimony to the agricultural past of this property in supporting a large family through depression era.

Mostly, I don't trust my own ability to maintain and easily start gas engines and that includes a tiller, hand or riding mowers and snowblower. Liking, probably far too much, to keep things under my own, manual control ... it is a losing battle of course, especially on a country property ... yet I kind of like the fight.

 

[LEGION 12]

 

[bmilla35]

Planted around a dozen tomato plants and a handful of peppers last Sunday. This morning has been the first glimmer of sun they've seen since then. The typical explosion of vegetative growth I associate with transplanting from tiny seedling container to ground has been non existent. While interesting to see how important the sun is for growth first hand, it's getting old!

Anyways, I met a friend in the hipster N-Liberties section of town this morning for brunch and there is an awesome plant store next door. I ended up purchasing 3 plants (2 tomato, 1 pepper) in varieties I've never heard of.

(ETA: The three new (to me, at least) varieties are: Tappy's Heritage tomato, Wild Boar Farms Liquid Gem tomato, and Sugar Rush Peach pepper.)

 

[22-rimfire]

Experimenting with new varieties is fun. Good luck with those. Hope the sun shines.

 

[taldesta]

(ETA: The three new (to me, at least) varieties are: Tappy's Heritage tomato, Wild Boar Farms Liquid Gem tomato, and Sugar Rush Peach pepper.)

I hear you on the new variety names - last year I planted seeds called 'mortgage lifter' and hoped to be pleasantly surprised

 

[taldesta]

This past Sunday all 15 geranium pots enjoyed a very slow, very long drive in their high-sided trailer to their summer spot at my friend's home. Frost would not be a problem by the lake. I did bring back home for planting here ... only 4 pots that were the leftover - the most 'irregular' geraniums.



That shadow between the two plants in the distance is a blackfly on the lens



For this year, planting the 'irregular' geraniums here in a neglected rockery is taking a lot of shovel work (levelling, water retention barrier) ... but if I can get enough 'red' flash and dazzle into this sloping garden it will show to the road and to the house - a welcome to the property.





Sunday night's forecast was for only +1C and clear so I covered everything here. Monday morning only the cover over the tomatoes in the veg garden was lightly stiffened with frost ... so all was well with the protected plants. Looks good from here on.

I've started some planters that can be located when I have the deck levelling work and shade issues resolved on the sunny West side of the house ... all in due time. For now they are in the dappled shade of a young maple tree, planted in 2012.



Happy gardening all

 

[Rupestris]

My wife was able to get a little done while I was at work.



I repurposed a couple bonsai pots. They're just flower pots now.