pole bed update

I spent a couple of hours outside this morning after the fog lifted working on my pole bed.  I had kitten help as usual.   I finally had all of the front part dug out and picked through.  As I worked I pinned the sweet autumn clematis back to work on the area under it.  Then I let it fall back over the bare soil to keep the kittens and chickens from digging in the loose soil. 

 I planted my yellow tree rose in the front center.  I usually bring it inside on the unheated porch every winter but it always leafs out too early, gets leggy and soft and then really has to adjust when put outside.  So this winter I will try to winter it over outside.  I also dug up a piece of a shrub rose that always gets buried in daylilies and ferns in the summer and never blooms well and transplanted it so that it is in front of the tree rose.  It is a pink rose if I remember correctly. 

I had some plants in pots that I added in various spots. I added an anchusa in the back center area, a pink hibiscus on one side, some pretty ground cover sedum and some hens and chicks on the south edge.  I planted some dwarf iris in one front corner and I dug up a pink iris from my wildflower bed and added that.   I planted a lungswort and some wild geraniums under the catalpa tree.  I cut off the lower limbs of the catalpa but there will still be some shade there.

After the larger plants were in I concentrated on replanting the daffodil bulbs I dug out and that was a real task.  I literally have hundreds of bulbs of all sizes.  In the spring the daffodils would almost cover that bed.  I grouped them in clumps of 3 or 5 bulbs to make a nice display but I want to leave planting spots for additional plants in the spring.  I still have a 10 inch hanging basket and a 2 gallon bucket of bulbs to find homes for. 

 I watered everything good because it is so dry.  I then put black plastic pots upside down in areas I couldn’t cover with the sweet autumn clematis in hopes that the areas won’t get turned into a dust bath or potty holes.  Tonight if it doesn’t rain I will concentrate on planting those daffodils in other places in the yard.  I wish tulips multiplied like that.

Garden therapy

Many times when I go out to my garden to work it's because I am frustrated or mad.  Digging and pulling weeds gets some energy out of my system and allows me to think alone.  Sometimes I just need to work out something in my head and gardening helps that. 

I went out last night to work on the pole bed project some more.  It was late when I started, about 6:30 pm .  Late for this time of year anyway.  I got to yanking and pulling out daylily roots and sifting through the sandy soil to look for tell tale pieces of yellowish daylily root left behind.  I lost all track of time and only quit when it got too dark to see. 

My husband looked at me with a bit of dispproval when I walked inside, not because I was gardening and dirty but because he knew I had left my tool bucket inside and that without my handy cobra head tool and some gloves my fingers would be killing me today, and they are.

The cobra head tool is like a tiny sharp triangle on a long, strong curved handle.  It gets under things like daylily roots and you can leverage them out.  It saves wear and tear on the fingers.  I didn't go get my tool bucket because I was only going to work for a few minutes, but you know how that goes sometimes.   When I garden I actually get down on the ground near the bed because my knees and back won't allow kneeling or stooping.  Once I am down there and comfortable I just keep going.

My arthritic fingers really don't like cold, prying and pulling work.  I had a small hand trowel that I had left in the bed the other night but it didn't really work great on those tough roots.  So I am paying the price today with stiff, sore fingers.

I did make some decisions on a personal matter as I worked though so I guess it was worth it.  And I got to spend some time without a dog at my feet, they aren't allowed in the garden area.  Because it was breezy and chilly even the kittens left me alone.  The turkeys strolled by a couple of times to see what I was up to but they didn't see treats so they kept going.

My husband also stayed inside because it was chilly.  He sometimes drives me nuts by following me outside and then sitting there trying to talk to me as I work.  Usually when I am gardening I prefer to be left alone.  He likes to work outside in the morning, I am an evening person.  But he does like to sit and talk to me as I work.  It spoils my thinking time and since he is hard of hearing I have to look at him and talk loudly when I reply to him.

I have actually hid from him when I hear him coming down the ramp in his wheelchair.  I go sit on the ground behind some tall perennials or a bush and pretend to pull weeds in case he spots me.  If I hear him coming and I can move to another site I do.  If he calls for me I pretend I don't hear him.  Sometimes he gives up and either goes back inside or finds something to do. 

Now this may sound as if I am a mean person but I am with my husband about 24 hours of every day and sometimes the reason I am mad or frustrated is because of him.  Gardening is my therapy and I need to do it alone. 

Tuesday notes September 25, 2012

What a beautiful day it is.  Our weekend weather was a bit chilly and we had some patchy frost on a few nights.  I have the majority of my house plants inside and now I spend time watering inside instead of outside. I managed to bring in a cricket with them who has been singing his head off every evening by one of the front windows filled with plants.  The frost didn’t kill my tomatoes, even though I didn’t cover them and I picked a few today.

I just reviewed some long range weather reports from various places and the agreement seems to be we will have a mild dry fall.  (I also consulted a wooly bear caterpillar but he seemed to be equally black and orange.) Mild is fine but dry is not.  Our soils are still in a very dry state.  When you do any digging you find the soil is bone dry an inch or so down.  My pond is down at least 5 feet and one end is dried up.   I am getting worried about some of my trees.

 Pay attention to the weather reports this time of year if you want to protect certain plants from frost still.  The weather is extremely changeable at this time of the year and a warm sunny day can quickly become a frosty night.  Usually weather forecasts will warn you in the evening, but use your own judgment too.  Anytime its clear and the temperature is forecast to get to 40 degrees or below at night frost could happen. It doesn’t hurt to cover plants as long as you remember to remove covers when the sun comes up.

In the garden

 I have these swamp sunflowers in my bee and butterfly garden that are blooming like crazy right now.  The Jerusalem artichokes with a similar flower are also blooming again.  I will be harvesting a lot of “sunchokes” from them soon.  I like them because they produce a large harvest from a small space, are perennial and the seed heads also attract birds. 

 If you have never eaten Jerusalem artichokes you should try some this fall.  The roots or tubers are lumpy and odd shaped, from home grown plants, commercial varieties tend to be rounded lumps.  You can eat them raw or cook them in any way you cook potatoes.  They are quite good, if a little hard to wash, and don’t make the blood sugar rise like potatoes.  Try frying them with a little onion, like country fried potatoes and mix in some cooked crumbled bacon.  Delicious.

 The autumn joy sedum is quite pretty mixed with Russian sage right now and the zebra grass by my pond has some beautiful flower plumes.   I picked some seeds off the yucca plant while I was photographing the zebra grass.  I wonder if they are fertile as I never see little yucca plants come up from seed around the big plants.  I am going to try and see if they grow in pots.  I also have some nice gaillardia blooming by the pond.

My shrub roses are blooming again and the garden phlox is too.  The sweet autumn clematis is sweetly filling the air with scent as well as spreading a drift of white flowers all over one of my flower beds.  The ornamental kale is coloring up and as soon as frost kills the morning glories smothering them they will put on a nice show.

Birds

I lied when I said I had no apples this year.  I was looking at one of my apple trees and spotted an apple.  I went to inspect the tree closer and found 2 more apples.  But while looking so closely at the tree I found this year’s oriole nest, the first time I have found one before the leaves fall.  I think the orioles left early this year, I haven’t seen any for about 2 months.

 Last night the turkey vultures were congregating in huge numbers on our property.  We normally have a group of about 15 that roost in our trees at night but there must have been 50-60 around here last night.  I am hoping that they are getting ready to fly south as I will feel safer about the little baby ducks we have out in the barnyard right now if they leave.  They say the turkey vulture doesn’t eat live prey but I think they took some baby turkeys earlier and several old timers have told me they do eat baby birds.

 I have also had a small darkish duck on the pond all week I am trying to identify.  I think it’s a female of some species but it is very quiet, most female ducks quack a lot.  My Muscovys are neutral toward it but they don’t spend a lot of time on the water.   It’s eating the autumn olive berries along the shore and doesn’t seem too spooked by me watching it or the turkeys and chickens roaming around eating the same berries.

 Take a look at the picture of the duck.  Any birders out there with a clue?  I know the photo’s not great, it’s a magnification of a zoom.  Maybe an immature wood duck?  The belly is tawny, bit of white on the wings, sort of a bar by the eyes, haven’t seen a crest but maybe it is there folded down.  Little patch of iridescence on back.  Let me know if you think you can ID it.

 Building a better bat cave

 Gardeners in the know love bats because they eat a lot of harmful insects.  Some even go so far as to put up bat houses to attract them.  But recently bats in North America have developed a disease called “white nose fungus” that weakens them while they hibernate in the winter.  It causes them to wake up and leave the caves in winter where they perish, probably because they are starving as the disease consumes energy resources.  Holes develop in the delicate membranes of bat wings and a white growth covers their nose.

Researchers have recently found that the fungus that causes the disease is common in bats found in Europe, but that it doesn’t seem to have as much impact on the health of European bats.  Researchers think that the disease may have been carried to North America by people exploring caves in Europe and then entering caves here with contaminated equipment.  Many caves where bats hibernate have been closed to human visitors in an effort to slow the spread of the disease.

Now in Tennessee researchers are taking it one step further and they have built a climate controlled cave with easily cleaned concrete walls and floors, (with private funding).  Their hope is to lure the endangered gray bat into the cave with sound recordings and get them to hibernate there.  The estimated 270, 000 gray bats left in the world hibernate in only 9 known caves. The artificial cave is located near a cave where the bats do hibernate.  When they disperse in the spring the cave will be disinfected.  The cave is also fitted with cameras and other scientific devices to study the bats. 

Scientists do believe that over time bats in North America will build up a resistance to white nose fungus as they have in Europe but it may be some time before that happens and some rare bat species may be lost.  The disease was discovered here in 2006 in New York but it has spread west and south to numerous states.

Bulbs

 If you haven’t bought your fall bulbs yet better get them while you can.  If you don’t have any spring flowering bulbs to get spring started in your yard shame on you.  I have been digging up an older flower bed to get rid of some ferns and daylilies there and I ran into literally hundreds of daffodil bulbs which I am sorting and trying to get replanted in a less crowded fashion.  I think I will have some to spare for other places around the yard.

 Bulbs can be planted up to the time the ground freezes but its better to give them 6 weeks or so to grow new roots before then.  If you do forget to plant them and snow has covered the ground simply plant them in pots and put them somewhere cold, like an unheated shed.  You can bring them inside to a warm window sill 6 weeks later for early blooms or just let them bloom in the pots outside.  (You will need to take them out of a shed about March and put them in a sunny spot.)  When the ground has thawed enough you could plant the clumps in the garden.

 

Daffodils and alliums are deer proof but tulips are like candy to them.  I have never had deer eat crocus, grape hyacinths or snowdrops but other people have told me that deer have eaten theirs.  Put them close to the house and hope for the best.

 Master Gardeners across the nation

 In Washington State the Master Gardener class meets from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm once a week until 80 hours of classroom instruction are met.  Volunteers are expected to do 50 hours a year of volunteer time for 2 years to certify.  The course costs $245 but jumps to $745 if the volunteer work is not completed. That’s a big incentive. 

 In Alabama the MG course meets from 9am -3pm once a week for 13 weeks and requires 50 hours of volunteer time.  It costs $125.  In New York MG classes are generally held every other year in a county.  Class meets from 9am - 4pm once a week for 15 weeks.  30 hours of volunteer time is expected and the course costs $350.  In Pennsylvania MG classes meet for 3 hours once a week for 13 weeks, 50 volunteer hours are expected and the course costs $125.

Some articles to read

 

There is no doubt a bit of sadness when we notice the days are shorter and the nights are cooler. But many gardeners feel a bit relieved that the busy season is over. They anticipate that they’ll have more energy and time in the cooler days of fall for what garden chores they feel still need to be done and maybe some time to enjoy other activities outdoors too.

Continue reading here.

 http://www.examiner.com/article/things-to-do-this-fall-for-a-better-garden-next-year

 

Rice is the latest food being turned into a scary threat by people who are jumping to conclusions after some preliminary reports by the FDA and a push by Consumer Reports to get the FDA to set standards for the consumption of arsenic in food. The release of reports by the two groups has caused a rash of speculative articles from everyone.

Continue reading here.

http://www.examiner.com/article/arsenic-rice-should-you-be-worried-1

Grants for gardening projects with children

I saw an article in the County Press about a Lapeer County Master Gardener who was working with a school on a beautification project.  Those are rewarding projects and for those of you who enjoy working on volunteer projects with children here is a link

http://www.kidsgardening.org  that has a section devoted to grants for gardening projects involving children.  It never hurts to have a little money to work with.

 Open a window and hear the crickets sing.

 

 

 

 

Pole bed project update

My reworking of the pole bed has been on hold because I had too many other projects going around the farm and the weather hasn’t been real great.  I spent a whole afternoon bringing in and arranging houseplants and tender perennials but I am still not finished.  Every window in the house now has plants in it except for the main bedroom and Steve has to take the air conditioner out of that window first.  If he does that I am sure it will get warm again.  One window in that room we usually cover with a heavy drape because it lets in too much cold air so it isn’t usable for plants. 

 It’s always crowded in the fall when I first bring things in.  I have a step ladder in the big living room window that allows me to use vertical space.   There are plants on each step and on the paint shelf that sticks out toward the back.  I have shelves or tables at the bottom of each window and shelves across the middle of the window.  The only windows in our house that have curtains are the master bedroom windows ( 1 covered, 1 on the lower half).   Some plants got a lot bigger over the summer, like the lemon tree and the staghorn fern and required different locations.  I am still running around trying to find saucers for under each pot-they were put away somewhere and I still have to repot some things.

 Our house always looks more homey with the plants but it does make it a bit darker when the windows are covered with plants.  Until the leaves fall off the trees on the south side it is really dark, but after the leaves are gone  and the sun is lower on the horizon it gets better.

I covered some things last night because frost was predicted.  I’m not sure it did frost but it was very cold, down in the 30’s.  I didn’t want my beautiful dahlias to quit blooming.  I still have some tuberous begonias, cane begonias and geraniums outside.  Most of that along with my rosemary plants will come in on the back porch- as soon as I find room for the plants that are there now- which includes a couple of spider plants and 2 huge pots of hanging abutilons plus the planter my son got me for mothers day which has a huge dracaena and some lavender geraniums that I want to separate.

 I have decisions to make on some of the geraniums and begonias- should I actually bring them inside?  The cane begonia on the front porch is pretty yellowed, I think the cold already got to it or maybe it just needed more fertilizing.  I may cut it back and put it on the porch and hope it rejuvenates in the spring.  Some of the geraniums never did recover as they generally do over the summer and maybe should be scrapped.  I just have a hard time discarding plants, even though I am always advising others to do it.

 It’s sunny today and supposed to be warmer so I may work on my pole bed project later in the day and get it done before it turns into one giant kitty litter box for the kittens.

Old Blog is Being Updated

Hi Garden Lovers

A few years I started this blog then got too busy to keep it up.  I am now retired and ready to resume garden blogging.  I intend to mainly post about what I am doing in my garden but I'll post articles on here - there are a few old ones- from time to time.  I am a Master Gardener and I actually taught garden classes but you will see that my garden is not exactly a "Master Garden"  Its probably a lot more like your garden.  I tend to favor old fashioned garden ideas and plants and I am always interested in knowing more about plants than presenting a picture perfect garden.

There are challenges to my gardening.  One is money.  The other is my physical capabilities.  I can no longer work for long periods of time on a project or I will have my hands and knees screaming at me.  But I work for short periods of time when I can and I work with the resources I have.  You'll often find me laying on the ground in front of my garden work, with vultures circling overhead.  I'm not kidding- they roost in my woods and always seem to show up when they see a body on the ground. 

I share my garden with my turkeys, chickens and cats.  I devote another blog to chicken-farm interests.  But my hobbies do seem to overlap.  I also write a weekly garden newsletter which goes out free to a large group.  It shares information on current garden problems and presents some garden articles written by myself and others.   It occaisionally presents actual opinions ( gasp) expressed by this old gardener.  You can sign up for that weekly newsletter by emailing KimWillis151@gmail.com  and asking to be put on the list.

I intend to post actual pictures of my garden here as well as pictures from other gardens.  And this blog will focus on my efforts as a gardener rather than giving out advice, although that will no doubt slip in from time to time-its hard to stop teaching.  I hope you enjoy.

A Fall Garden Project

 

The picture is from 2008- the tree is bigger now.

I have this big square flower bed around a pole that holds a security light that no longer works.  It was the only flower bed here when we moved in and it contained a multiflora rose and some common daylilies.  The security lamp was on an old electric pole the former owner persuaded Edison to leave up when they moved and replaced poles.  It worked for a couple years then the lamp burned out and we have no way to replace it other than hiring a cherry picker.   We just decided to do without it.

 The flower bed is outlined with huge old railroad ties.  The first thing we did with that garden was to get rid of the multiflora rose and try to put a little pond/fountain there.  My husband tapped into the electric wire on the pole that had powered the light so we had an outside outlet there to run the pump.  It was ok for a season but we had to constantly clean the pump of debris and it got old fast.

 

We planted a collection of bearded iris there and lots of daffodil bulbs.  A bit later I planted a rose of Sharon tree and a sweet autumn clematis I hoped would climb the pole.  A catalpa tree came up on its own and now occupies the northeast corner.  However the common daylilies came back with a vengeance as well as some ostrich fern.  The daffodil bulbs multiplied with great success.   And the iris faded away.  Eventually the bed just looked like a tangled mess.

 

After the daylilies bloom and the ferns brown in the summer heat the sweet autumn clematis sprawls over them and climbs the rose of Sharon, at least for a while in the fall the bed is covered with a pretty white lacy blanket.  But this year, now jobless and with more time I decided to tackle the big mess and do something with that bed.

 I started in the northwest corner last evening with the intention of clearing everything out to start fresh.  I worked for at least 2 hours until it got too dark to see and maybe cleared a 2 x2 foot area. The ground was so thick with roots and bulbs a hand shovel could barely get in there.  I haven’t counted them but there must be 100 daffodil bulbs that I took from that area.   I am storing them for re-planting.  Most are small, probably from the crowding.  All the daylily bulbs and clumps of fern roots are going to the compost pile.

 I am trying to avoid the south side for a while as that is where the majority of the sweet autumn clematis is at.  But at the slow rate this is progressing it will probably have finished blooming before I get there.   My plans for the bed are still a little vague.  Some of the daffodils will be replanted.  I have some perennials in pots that will probably go there and maybe some things I can move from other beds.  I am going to prune and thin the catalpa but leave it on one side.  I want to put up some sort of arbor or trellis for the clematis.

 It will be an exercise in what one can do with a garden when you have no money to spend on it.  I am fortunate that I have some plant resources here.