Flowerbed Problem

Sometimes, perennial flowerbeds just DIE.  Oh sure, there are often 2 of 12 plants that don't return and need to be replaced.  But I mean a place where, for no known reason, an entire area just DIES...

Last year, this spot was filled with columbines and coreopsis.  They seemed healthy at the end of the year!  They are are up and 6" tall in other spots in the garden.  But they are just completely gone here.

What you see there are winter weeds.  Purple deadnettle or something like that.  I've pulled them up relentlessly before they flower in years past, but they seem unstoppable.  Yet, they shouldn't make any difference.  I mean, they shouldn't be stopping any perennials from growing back in Spring.

I'll give them several weeks to show up, then I'm scraping the surface a few inch deep with the spade and then planting annuals (hmmm, maybe tomatoes) this year.  This coming winter, I'll cover the hole area with black plastic and kill all the winter weeds.

Sometimes bad things happen and you just have to start again...

Spring Has Sprung, Part 3

This time, I'm showing off the daffodils.  Daffodils love it here and thrive.  Tulips are only good for a couple years between the climate and shade.  Hyacinths last a few more years, but after 5 they are barely noticible.  Thankfully, there are many more color combinations of daffodils than 20 years ago.

The collection is a bit of a mess.  I started with the idea of many different daffodils plants in individual clumps and expected them to spread.  In follwing years, I planted more where I didn't think any were planted previously.  As you will see, my memory of spots isn't that good.  But I do have a lot of color.

And this year was unique.  Most years, the various daffodils bloom at different times from mid March to early May.  This year, they mostly all bloomed at the same time.  Nice for quantity, but confusing for appearance.

Here are some pictures from different directions.  Usually, there would be fewer flowers at a time, but more similar-looking then.  This year is a riot of blooms of all kinds...

But because there are so many colors all together, here are some individual pictures...

 So it was one of the more spectacular booming years...

The tulips linger in places that suit them best, but they only last 2-3 years here.

This spot had 24 in Spring 2008, but there are only these few left.  It is getting too warm for them in southern MD...  I had some nice Rembrandt tulips bloom, they came and went in only 3 days.  They probably won't return next year.  Sigh...

Still, I sure am enjoying this years bounty of blooms!

Spring Has Sprung, Part 2

Though I have started some yard projects, I wanted to catch up on pictures of Spring before they get too old to mention...

Today, I have pictures of my 2 saucer magnolia trees.  There's a back story.  When I got a new job in central Washington DC in 1984, I saw some trees that just entranced me.  No, not the famous cherry trees (though they are magnificent.  But there was a small park across the street from my office.  Every Spring, these twisted gnarly trees would fill with large 6" pink blooms that just amazed me.  It took 4 years to learn what kind of tree they were.  When I found out, I bought two.  One for the front yard and one for the back yard.

I have tried to shape them, something I am inexperienced at, but I do it judiciously with the much older professionally-maintained DC trees in mind.  It isn't easy.  I suspect the DC trees were treated like large Bonzai trees with wires bending the branches into contorted gnarls.  I'm still working on that.  Each Spring, I work on opening the center of the tree and creating angles in the branches.

The Backyard Tree:  This one gets more sun, so has grown to about 15' high in 20 years.  I have gotten some shape by bending down some branches with cinder blocks.  And I see that, slowly, I need to limb up the tree so that I can walk under it safely.  It will spread wide and strongly as it ages.  But here is the current tree...

As you can see, I've left many lower branches on for photosynthesis.  I think this Fall I can remove the lowest limbs after dormancy.  Plus, I think part if the design technique is to remove most of the interior twigs along the branches, leaving all the outermost.

The Frontyard Tree:  This one is partially shaded, so it is smaller; only 10' tall.  It suffered some loss last year when I had a contractor drive a vehicle into the back yard.  When I planted it, I thought it was far enough away from the huge old oak for a vehicle to pass, but I had to remove some branches on one side.

I plan to encourage some of the tallest branches to grow to the right, but above the height of a vehicle.  I do have reasons for standard vehicles to get past it to the backyard every couple of years, yet I to want it to appear more balanced than it currently is.

Of course, from other views, it is quite shapely.  This is the view visitors get, so it's not bad.

Even then, the lower limbs need to be slowly trimmed upwards.  This is a tree you should walk under, not around.

And by the way, you see that large rock near the tree?  I had that delivered 4 years ago, planning to create an flowerbed island around it and the tree.  I'll be doing that this year.  I'm planning to take some old carpet and cut it to shape.  If I do it soon, that should kill all the grass by Fall.  I'll remove the carpet, plant daffodils there in the Fall, mulch in heavily, then plant perennials next Spring.  Or maybe annuals so that I can change the colors each year.

Spring Has Sprung

It is time to start projects again.  I'm just not good at doing stuff during Winter.  Even indoors.  It's weird.

But every Spring starts off with "Spring Cleaning".  This time, the major kickoff event was TRASH DAY.  I should explain.  I don't pay for regular trash pickup, because I only generate 1 bag per month of households trash and 1 small bag of kitty litter.  At $35/month for scheduled trash pickup, that's hard to accept.

So, since I regularly have stuff to bring to the recycling center (which is also the landfill), I just pay for trash weight at the same time.  They have a flat fee of only $5 for all the residential trash you bring.  I DO have curbside recycling, but they don't pick up boxes, bulky metal, etc.  So I end up going to the landfill every few months.

Well, with the snow in Feb/March, and since I was saving winebottles since Oct thinking I might try making my own, I had a real load.

Part of it was my trash.  I compost everything organic and recycle everything possible, so there isn't much per month.  1 bag.  And it doesn't smell. 

The stuff that DOES accumulate is kitty litter.  I buy the new kitty litter in tubs and keep them for the used litter.  Gaze on this and be amazed...

That's 6 months worth of used kitty litter.  I bet ya haven't seen that much ever.   Don't worry, the sealed bags I use prevent any smells...  But still, that's a LOT of used kitty litter, LOL!  300 pounds of it!

The car itself was filled up with boxes, trash, old fluorescent tubes, unrecyclable styrofoam, etc.

I expected an easy delivery process.  Thursday afternoon right after lunch.  Who would be there?  Well, the whole world, it seems.  I forgot this was Spring Break Week and apparently a lot of adults take the week off too.  The line to get IN to the dump was 15 minutes long and the line to get OUT (and pay) was 30 minutes.  I ALWAYS forget that school is out this week...

And then I discovered that the $5 flat fee doesn't apply to trailers!  It cost me $13 instead.  Still, I can't complain much.  6 months of $35 trash pickup would have been $210!  So I'm $197 ahead (minus 1 gallon of gasoline).  That's a lot of steak and wine...

At least the weather was perfect.  70F, sunny, and a light breeze.

Next, Spring is really here and the gardening is underway...

The Annual Spring Peeper War

I live across the street from a slight swamp.  In the late Winter, the Spring Peepers call constantly.  They started yesterday.  That's OK, because there are thousands of them and the sound is a sort of "white noise" a 100 yards away and on the far side of the house from my bedroom.

What is NOT OK is the dozen or so Spring Peepers that are attracted to the small pond outside my bedroom window.  They are individual callers and  drive me crazy, like the infamous Chinese Water Droplet Torture.  It's an individual thing; so people think the chirps soothing like rain on the roof, others go nuts.

I go nuts.  I can't sleep when it happens and it lasts about 2 weeks.  Before I retired, I was reduced to fitful sleeping in the guest bedroom (opposite side of the house) keeping several doors closed between the pond and me.  I even put acoustical ceiling tile in my bedroom window, but the shrill chirps came  right through the walls.

I confess it sometimes became so bad that I would sneak out at 2 a.m. and stalk the peepers, stomping on them.  I felt like an idiot standing outside in the middle of the night desperately hoping to stomp on a few poor little innocent frogs.

THEN, I got the bright idea of simply closing down their little dating bar.  No open water, no frogs.  No frogs, no noise.  No noise, good sleeping...

TA DA!!!

The side view:

I feel sorry for the little guys (and gals) I really do.  At least they are just the losers in the choice of water to "date" in, and there is an endless supply of frogs with better choices in locale (he swamp from whence they came across the street).

It started this season when I went to get my morning newspaper and heard all the swamp peepers calling.  I knew what was coming next.  So I looked around for a cover for the pond.  Last year, I used a big piece of plywood.  This year I found something easier.

I set my post hole digger across the pond.  The handles open up to make a stable support for a bucket.  The bucket provided height to make the rain drain away.  Various random objects sealed the edges so that the peepers couldn't crawl in underneath.  I trust that Skeeter and LC won't object to my temporary use of the grave markers.  LC always did enjoy annoying the frogs...

My friends sometimes laugh at my makeshift arrangements.  I prefer to think of it as "resourceful use of available objects".    LOL! 

Anyway, so far, not Spring Peepers ruining my sleep...

Seed Starting Success

Well, the seeds are doing well this year.  Partly because I have been making extra efforts to provide each flat with the best conditions for them.

One flat was all cole crops.  The cabbage, chinese cabbage, broccoli, pak choi, and raddicchio are all up (100% germination!) and I move them to the strongest sunlight each day and give them grow-light bulb light for several hours in the evening.  Best seedlings of those I've had in years!

Another 2 flats are bell peppers and tomatoes.  Those haven't emerged yet but are in the guest room at 70F and should emerge very soon.  When they do, they will get all the natural sunlight plus artificial light they can stand.

The flowers are more demanding.  The salvia and impatiens and wave petunias need "strong but not direct sunlight" so I move then around a lot.  They need up to 3 weeks of this, so I will stay on it.  I was relaxed about them last year and had no success, so I am giving them lots of attention this year.  Fortunately, the deck glass doors are south-facing and get maximum sunlight at this time of year.  Yet there is plenty of space that is ambient-bright not not "direct sunlight".

If that doesn't work this year, I will give up on all the seeds that "no cover and bright indirect sunlight"...

 

  

Doing my best this year with these "light-exposed seeds"...

Hello SPRING!

Yay!  First group of crocus blooms yesterday!  Daffodils are emerging.  Hyacinths are emerging!  I have 5 flats of various veggies and flowers started in flats indoors!

Crocuses:

 

 I should mention that I didn't plant 5 bulbs in that pattern.  I plant in groups of 7-20.  That one is a small group where a few died.  If they had all survived, it would have been generally a circle.

I went around the yard and woods today looking for the first emerging Spring bulbs.  I mark them with landscaping flags so that I don't step on them while walking around.

Here is a picture of the flags so far.  There will be more to emerge, but those others aren't peeking up yet...

Most of those are bunches of daffodils 7-20 in a spot.  I think they average about 10 initially planted bulbs so I'm guessing I have 1,000 planted bulbs.  But many have multiplied, so I probably have about 3.000 stems.

And that's not counting the 1,000 that I planted in a dense bed farther back in the yard.  There are about 500 spots and they have multiplied for 15 years.  I think I actually need to thin them because too many stems do not bloom due to crowding.

I would guess that I had about 6,000 daffodil blooms last year and this year will be about the same.  It is impressive when most are in bloom at one time.  I have early/mid.late bloomers, but at the midpoint, there is a sea of blooms.  I like that!

I've given up on tulips.  They only last a couple of years around here and they last less these days than 20 years ago.  Global warming...

The hyacinths are more durable than tulips but less so than daffodils.  They are good for about 5-8 years depending on sunlight and drainage.  They don't like wet roots but tolerate it for many years.  But they die eventually.

The tulips and hyacinths also die out due to vole predation.  I have moles.  They don't eat bulbs, but voles use the mole tunnels and they do eat bulbs.  Daffodils are toxic to herbivores like voles but tulips and hyacinths are not.

I have planted more daffodils up along the rising backyard...

This year, I am going to identify pathways through the woods.  Plants in the way of the paths will be pulled or dug up and replanted.  Available spots for Fall plantings will be marked with paver stones set at ground level (I need to be able to mow down grasses and weeds).

I hope to get around to establishing paths using edging borders, landscape barrier cloth, and hardwood chips.

I can't wait for the daffodils to be in bloom in April!

Starting the Garden!

It is time to plant the first few seeds indoors.  That is usually the best single day of the season (well, maybe eating the 1st ripe tomato is, too).  So I took my seed tray out of the fridge, opened the index card tray of which seeds to plant (more on that later), and went to open my seed list.  Hmm, the seed list isn't there in the seed tray.  So I looked around at likely spots.  Couldn't find it...

OK, I should explain my system...  Several years ago, I got tired of trying to remember when I should plant seeds of each crop.  I sat down and thought about a system for such stuff.  The 1st thing I decided was that knowing when each type of seed should be planted depended on the average last frost date (AKFD).  8 weeks before ALFD, 4 weeks, plus-two weeks, etc.  And I needed a quick reference for how deep, what kind of light, germination time, etc.

ALFD was easy to determine (April 20 here).  So I took a calendar and marked the Saturdays plus or minus from the ALFD.  Two weeks before ALFD is -2; four weeks after is +4, etc.

Then I bought index cards and dividers.  I marked all the dividers with - or + week numbers (-12 through +12).  Then I designed a card template suitable for all crops.  The top line names the crop and the - or + weeks from ALFD.  The next line says what action is required ("plant seed inside", "transplant to larger pot", "transplant outside", plant seed outside", etc.

Notes on the further lines mention unique requirements regarding fertilizer, transplant depth, spacing, etc. For example, there are individual cards for initial tomato seeds planted inside, (-8 weeks) inside transplant (-4 weeks), and outside transplant (+2 weeks) all based on ALFD.  So on each weekend, I look at the marked calendar to see the - or + week number, open my index card box, and take out all the cards with that number.  Then I now exactly what I have to do for the day...

The other half of my system is my seed storage method.  Years ago, I found medical specimen vials for sale cheap.  They are about the size of your index finger.  I marked them all with indelible marker numbers.  I placed each type of seed in individual vials and made a list of the vial #, seed type, variety, and year.  Then I made a wooden holder for them.  I just took a piece or pegboard and used it to mark spots, then drilled holes in plywood that fit the vials.  I glued a bottom on the plywood and now I have a permanent holder for all the seed vials!

There is even space in the tray for my index card box and all the seed packets (for detailed information should I need it).  I keep the seed vial list in the index card box.  The seed list is done in Excel (easy columns, and it is also stored on the computer.  When I buy new seeds, I merely write the changes on the list in red ink and change it on the Excel file each season.

So, why did I have a problem this year?  Because I didn't follow through on the Excel file changes...  I got many new seeds last year and this year.  I made the manual changes to the list.  I put the changed list on the computer table to update the Excel file.

And didn't do it...

I make notes on scrap paper all the time.  Any piece of paper around the computer may have bits on information on several subjects.  I go through them from time to time and throw away the ones I no longer need.

So there I was, with no updated seed list in the index box, in my gardening notebook, nor sitting around the computer.  But I couldn't find the hand-written changes of vials identifications!  I felt sick...  Yes, I can tell corn seeds from bean seeds, but I can't tell among 5 varieties of lettuce or 5 varieties of tomatoes or 5 varieties of peppers, etc.

I searched the house from top to bottom.  I'm not the most organized person.  I write notes on scrap paper, on the backs of stuff I print out, on old envelopes.  But still, I had checked all my piles of scrap paper, the index card box, the gardening notebook, etc.  I had run out of spots.  I even checked under the fridge vegetable crisper in case the list had fallen over the side.

So I checked the piles again.  At the very bottom of the pile on the floor next to the computer, I noticed the list of this year's seed order.  And when I turned it over,,,  The LIST!  Oh, I was, I was SO RELIEVED!!!

I think that was the single deepest breath I have taken in months!

I immediately updated it on Excel with a few seeds I bought locally, and printed out 3 copies.  One for the seed tray, one for the index card box, and one for my gardening notebook! 

At least now, I am ready to plant the -8 week seeds this evening and know which all my seeds are...

WHEW!

Catching Up, and Random Thoughts

This has been a really annoying and unhappyWinter!  Computer problems, seriously excessive snow, trying to quit smoking, losing a dear cat, really delayed delivery of things I ordered, elder-parent concerns", etc.  I can't complain too much about any individual thing and I know things could be much worse, but it adds up.

As a result, I've been somewhere between a couch potato and a recluse, trying to ignore the problems and slow to take action.  I just haven't felt like doing any projects lately (and I sure have plenty of them on my list).

So I've been watching way too much TV with a cat or two on my lap for hours.  And sleeping way too late.  It's easier than blogging or doing any serious work.

I feel snowed in.  There has been about 2' of snow on the ground for a month.  What melts is replaced.  My highest boots are only 14" tall, so it is hard to fill the birdfeeders or get items out of the toolsheds way in the back yard.  I went out to buy some hip waders, but no one was selling them yet this year.

I did make a couple heroic efforts to fill the birdfeeders with black oil sunflower and thistle seeds.  Hauling the stepladder out way hard.  And to open it, I had to hold it above the snow with one hand and open it with the other hand and one foot.  That was awkward but it worked.  I can tell that my 10 pairs of cardinals and the dozens on small birds appreciated it.  Well, it would be cruel to feed them partially all year and then let them starve when they needed my food the most.    But man oh man were my feet cold when I completed the task.  In spite of best efforts, my boots were snow-packed!

I tried to do some woodworking in the basement, but it was just too damn cold.  Its just not safe to work around a tablesaw wearing a fluffy jacket.  I'm just letting that go until the basement gets up to 60 F again.  Seriously, wood glue doesn't even seem to work right below 60 F.

I can see that the snow is beginning to melt.  There are a few spots where I can see bare ground.  And the melting will spread rapidly from those spots.  We are forecast to have some temperatures in the mid 40s for a few days and that might melt it all.

Well, except where it was shoveled to 4' heights around the driveway.  That will take longer.  Amazingly, some Winters, I have never had to shovel any snow at all...

I've been watching the Winter Olympics.  That's unusual because I normally don't care about Winter events.  But I got interested in speed skating, free-style skiing, an slalom.  Free-style skiing is the strangest event I have ever seen.  I think the participants are crazy.  My initial thought was "that's not possible", yet they all do it well.  I think it is like Summer high-dive free-style, but having to land on a hard slippery surface with boards on your feet.  LOL!

I don't understand the speed skating.  They seem not to be working very hard at all.  Well, obviously they are or more people would be doing it, but the movements just seem so slow and steady.  It must be that the successful format is of great precision and the "passing" technique is the main skill.

I notice the the USA teams are doing well.  That vaguely nice, but I am quite impressed with all the participants.  For the most part, I can't even conceive of doing any such thing.  I heard some people say "I could do THAT" (like with curling or speed skating).  Yeah, right!

I hope to get more active again when the snow melts off the lawn.  I just have this odd sense of immobility when the outside is not easily available.

I really hate snow...

Feeding the Birds

Well, I sure didn't want to go outside and drag a stepladdder and a bucket of sunflower seeds to the birdfeeder today.  I had filled it before the last snowstorm, but I noticed that the birds seemed to be pushing into the feeder hard to get any seeds.

So out I went yesterday.  The snow is still 2' deep, and dragging a stepladder (and setting it up in the snow) is a pain.  Think about it.  Just to spread the ladder legs means holding it above the snow while you do that.  Even fiberglass ladders are heavy when you have to hold them up with one hand and open them with the other!

I have a routine for this.  I use a cleaned kitty-litter bucket to carry the seeds (it's plastic, has a handle, and fits inside the trash barrel I use to store the seeds).  The stepladder hangs on a rack on the side of the deck.  I fill the bucket to a premarked depth, bring it outside, set it down, lift the stepladder from the hanger, and carry both to the feeder. 

Once there, I climb the stepladder, unlatch the top of the feeder, set the top on the top od the ladder, climb down, pick up the seed bucket, pour the seeds into the top of the feeder, drop the bucket, put the top of the feeder back on, latch it, and carry the ladder and bucket back to the basement.

I sure wish I had a bird-feeder pole that I could just lower, fill, and raise!  I love having 10 pairs of cardinals and many finches, other birds, etc, but it gets hardest when they need the seeds the most.  And I ain't getting any younger!

I considered putting on my chest-waders, but that is really quite an effort.  I think I'll buy some hip-waders.  Those are easier to get into and they would be good for work in the ponds.

Sorry not to have taken any pictures.  I had feeding the birds on my mind, not camera work... 

But it sure was nice seeing the birds mobbing the birdfeeder.  Feeding them now in the hardest time means seeing more of them the rest of the year!

But here are previous pictures to show the activity...