Very philosophical - beats actually working. But while spending an hour moving along the steep front bank, I had to make many decisions about what to pull and and what to leave in place. I also have a middle course for the many things I am ambivalent about - I clip them down without pulling them out. My thinking is to give other things a chance to compete.
Some things are purely evil and come out without a second thought. There are fewer of these than you might think, at least in my yard. English Ivy. Raspberries. Poison Ivy - except it can't be pulled, must be sprayed, so its a trip back oft postponed. Honeysuckle. Lambs quarters. Sweet Clover. Dandelions.
But many more things have at least something to recommend them, and I pause and reflect before yanking. I often make different decisions about them in different places or times. My decisions may appear whimiscal to an outsider, but being who I am I'm constantly looking for the decision criteria behind what I'm doing.
Native versus non-native. Doug Tallamy (Bringing Nature Home) has the most succinct explanation about why natives are always better than non-natives: they are the foundation of the wildlife food chain. No natives, no insects, no birds, no squirrels or raccoons. It is a fact. Exotics "untroubled by insects" are better than concrete from a cover and temperature-moderating sense, but provide little or no food for insects. I have set aside the steep bank for natives, but there are some legacy plants from before my conversion, and I have never gone nuclear on them.
Blooming versus boring. Non-natives that are interesting and beautiful have a chance with me. I've gone out and bought them, though I think of those parts of the garden as my exotic "zoo" where I need to keep them caged.
So what filled a whole big brown bag full of weeds? Raspberries (use gloves!) and only one sprout of english ivy. Much vinca (that I have posted about before) - it had spread much further below and around the ash tree than I had realized). I pulled a lot of wild oats (Chasmathium latifolia) - its a native grass that seeds and sprouts prolifically. I planted it, and I want some of it, but I try to keep it within some bounds. This is one where I'm looking to allow other plants to compete successfully - there were a whole bunch of smaller wildflower plants looking pitiful around the roots of the grass. I planted some liriope back when I first got here, and it keeps spreading upwards. Eventuallly I will nuke it, but it will be a big task so I'm putting it off for now.
I have many oaks and a few hickories growing on the steep slope. It is already crowded with trees, so I pull willow oaks without a second thought (many in the neighborhood) red oaks go away too, white oaks I cut back or pull, but with some ambivalence.
A couple other things I've planted or encouraged have proliferated too much. In particular, the blue heart-leaved aster (the very last thing to bloom each year), dark foliaged somethings (agastache?), and goldenrods proliferate in wide sweeps. I hit on cutting them back a few years ago, just trip them down and give other things a chance to thrive among them. Allows ambivalence. The asters for sure branch out and bloom - I'm not so sure about the goldenrods but I don't mind.
Eventually I will need to make more choices but for now I've done some OK and worthwhile cleanup.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Vines Rampant
Today I woke to rain and turned over to sleep again for two hours. WooHoo! I love my sleep! I built a day plan on indoor projects, but after lunch it started to clear and dry out. Perfect timing for weeding, so I headed out for a couple of minutes.
I did some minimal deadheading, weeding and pruning along the front corner, kept on going around the corner and into the driveway, headed at the kitchen door, when I stopped dead at the sight of the overwhelming vines choking everything along the back walk. I've got one or two types of morning glory / bind weed vines going there, and unchecked they were rampant. They were outcompeting two big garden thugs - mint (along the house) and butterfly bushes! Now that's tough!
I worked at it assiduously for a couple of hours. I filled a brown compost bag with the vines. I pulled it out of the grass, off the butterfly bushes and from within the mint. I tried to follow the skinny vining stems down to the ground and grasp firmly to get roots, but I really didn't succeed very often. Sometimes I got stem from beneath the surface, but it didn't seem to have any roots attached.
I think there is probably a root the size of me living six feet down under there, sending shoots to the surface wherever it can. I haven't positively ID'd the culprit, but I know there is a weedy species around here that does just that. So probably what I did today is only a stopgap measure. But it was a useful one, in terms of giving the butterfly bush and mint a fighting chance to get going.
I think my next battle with these vines will involve spraying. The trick will be finding something I can spray without killing the other plants - so down near the ground as it re-emerges near the butterfly bush will work. On the other hand, in the mint bed, I might need to let it get taller than the mint and spray the foliage there. At least I will have given the daffodils in the same bed a chance to wither away. I'll get it, my pretty, if its the last thing I do. If worst comes to worst, I can always just nuke the whole mint bed and start over - I don't need a whole bed of mint, anyway.
I did some minimal deadheading, weeding and pruning along the front corner, kept on going around the corner and into the driveway, headed at the kitchen door, when I stopped dead at the sight of the overwhelming vines choking everything along the back walk. I've got one or two types of morning glory / bind weed vines going there, and unchecked they were rampant. They were outcompeting two big garden thugs - mint (along the house) and butterfly bushes! Now that's tough!
I worked at it assiduously for a couple of hours. I filled a brown compost bag with the vines. I pulled it out of the grass, off the butterfly bushes and from within the mint. I tried to follow the skinny vining stems down to the ground and grasp firmly to get roots, but I really didn't succeed very often. Sometimes I got stem from beneath the surface, but it didn't seem to have any roots attached.
I think there is probably a root the size of me living six feet down under there, sending shoots to the surface wherever it can. I haven't positively ID'd the culprit, but I know there is a weedy species around here that does just that. So probably what I did today is only a stopgap measure. But it was a useful one, in terms of giving the butterfly bush and mint a fighting chance to get going.
I think my next battle with these vines will involve spraying. The trick will be finding something I can spray without killing the other plants - so down near the ground as it re-emerges near the butterfly bush will work. On the other hand, in the mint bed, I might need to let it get taller than the mint and spray the foliage there. At least I will have given the daffodils in the same bed a chance to wither away. I'll get it, my pretty, if its the last thing I do. If worst comes to worst, I can always just nuke the whole mint bed and start over - I don't need a whole bed of mint, anyway.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Miracles Happen, with Effort
I think seeds sprouting are truly miracles. I fairly casually spread grass seed around my back yard a couple of weeks ago without much hope. No soil prep, old seed, minimal watering.
But the grass is growing! There is a big patch where I used to park the motorcycles, the biggest bare patch of ground I wanted covered. Just tender little sprouts, but enough to look solidly bright green from a little away. Hooray!
If I hadn't taken those few extra moments to try, I'd still be staring at bare dirt there. No doggie visitors for another couple of weeks to let it get better established.
- iPhone uPdate
But the grass is growing! There is a big patch where I used to park the motorcycles, the biggest bare patch of ground I wanted covered. Just tender little sprouts, but enough to look solidly bright green from a little away. Hooray!
If I hadn't taken those few extra moments to try, I'd still be staring at bare dirt there. No doggie visitors for another couple of weeks to let it get better established.
- iPhone uPdate
Friday, May 21, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Coloring Inside the Lines
I have very modest goals for this year's garden. One of them is to actually plant most of the plants I buy (versus letting them die in their original pots). So now I try to buy and plant all in the weekend, scaling my purchases to specific blocs of time.
This week was annuals into boxes. I decided two of my 3' x 3' boxes along the side in full sun would be dedicated to annuals. When I saw the very bright colors at Behnkes, I went for monochromatic approaches. I have a red box, and I have a yellow box. They each have several types of flowers, but all in the same color. I had to work to make sure the reds were truly red and not orange or magenta. The yellows, again, NOT orange. White or cream is OK.
I also decided on a basil range. One box is devoted to basil - I bought two plants each of eight different varieties. I left the center of the box open, thinking something taller may need to go in there.
This leaves me one box - I think I'll do beans there - but maybe I'll do sunflowers. I have seeds for both. Something tall, anyway.
This monochromatic approach I really like. I have a yellow bed of perennials that pleases me much. I also have a blue and purple patch, that never fails to grab me. Here is May Night salvia with siberian iris transplanted from Mom's house in Bellport.
I ran out of time, but I'm pleased with what I got done.
This week was annuals into boxes. I decided two of my 3' x 3' boxes along the side in full sun would be dedicated to annuals. When I saw the very bright colors at Behnkes, I went for monochromatic approaches. I have a red box, and I have a yellow box. They each have several types of flowers, but all in the same color. I had to work to make sure the reds were truly red and not orange or magenta. The yellows, again, NOT orange. White or cream is OK.
This monochromatic approach I really like. I have a yellow bed of perennials that pleases me much. I also have a blue and purple patch, that never fails to grab me. Here is May Night salvia with siberian iris transplanted from Mom's house in Bellport.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Another Day in the Yard
I spent a good part of the day working in the dog's yard, doing major cleaning. It was a cold and windy day - a sharp front came through last night - and it was a bit too chilly to sit quietly outside.even in the sun, so it helped a lot with my "always keep moving" philosophy. But in typical gardener's fashion, one job led to another.
My first motivation to get going was because one of my motorcycles is gone! Hooray! With the big one gone with no effort from me, I'm motivated to get the other disposable one out the gate and gone forever. It opens up a big spot in front of the shed, with just dirt right now. Definitely improves the view from my oasis.
I started by cleaning just the patio. I moved all the furniture off it, swept and then hosed it off. I got inspired and swished bleach all over it and squirted it off, then windexed all the windows. I contemplated oiling the furniture but that will wait for another day - I had made everything too wet.
Somewhere in there I got into my citrus rehabilitation mode. My oldest Meyer lemon looked dead a couple of weeks ago. It bloomed its head off when first I brought it in last fall, and we assiduously tried to pollinate with a paint brush, but all the blooms dropped off (though they did smell great). It then got covered in spider webs and all the fruit from the previous bloom dried up and dropped off without reaching full size. Then the leaves all dropped off. There were periods in there with insufficient watering, I confess. So it had been reduced to nothing but sticks. I set it outside a couple of weeks ago.
Now it has a few tiny leaves starting to appear along the dried up sticks. I did some pruning of clearly dead stuff, and some more pruning of crossing interior branches. It is easier to see the structure with no leaves at all. I rubbed off the remaining spider webs and soaked it in insecticidal soap. I added citrus fertilizer and some additional potting soil, watered it well, and moved to the front corner. We'll see what happens.
I thought about working on the other two lemon trees but tried to stay focused instead on the yard. I hacked off some big branches from the beech tree along the fence line, just above where the motorcycles have been parked. It lightens things up, and improves the view into the trees and the park. I did not do a good job of pruning - it was definitely beech butchery. I cut as much of the english ivy and japanese honeysuckle along the fence and trees as I could get at from inside. I hosed mildew and mold off one side of the plastic greenhouse. I got the little motorcycles partly cleaned off and out of the yard. I emptied the rain barrel (drained it to the spicebush) and cloroxed the inside before fastening it back up again. I cut the grass (finally!) and cleaned up some twigs and branches from previous pruning. I raked up some of last fall's debris and got it into the compost heap. I spread some extra fencing to make it taller along the chainlink fence.
Lastly, I spread grass seed on the bare spots. I got lucky last year and spread grass seed back there in March, and then it rained all April and May and it got a good start. Now, this year, to spread it with minimal preparation of the ground, in May, during a very dry run is not likely to pay off so well. But it's worth a shot. Timing and serendipity lead to good results - maybe I'll get the serendipity this time, at any rate.
This yard has the potential for looking better than it's been for a couple of years. Some of the improvements are permanent, and some are the once or twice a year cleanup types. I'll enjoy going back out there to see what I've done and what a difference it makes.
My first motivation to get going was because one of my motorcycles is gone! Hooray! With the big one gone with no effort from me, I'm motivated to get the other disposable one out the gate and gone forever. It opens up a big spot in front of the shed, with just dirt right now. Definitely improves the view from my oasis.
I started by cleaning just the patio. I moved all the furniture off it, swept and then hosed it off. I got inspired and swished bleach all over it and squirted it off, then windexed all the windows. I contemplated oiling the furniture but that will wait for another day - I had made everything too wet.
Somewhere in there I got into my citrus rehabilitation mode. My oldest Meyer lemon looked dead a couple of weeks ago. It bloomed its head off when first I brought it in last fall, and we assiduously tried to pollinate with a paint brush, but all the blooms dropped off (though they did smell great). It then got covered in spider webs and all the fruit from the previous bloom dried up and dropped off without reaching full size. Then the leaves all dropped off. There were periods in there with insufficient watering, I confess. So it had been reduced to nothing but sticks. I set it outside a couple of weeks ago.Now it has a few tiny leaves starting to appear along the dried up sticks. I did some pruning of clearly dead stuff, and some more pruning of crossing interior branches. It is easier to see the structure with no leaves at all. I rubbed off the remaining spider webs and soaked it in insecticidal soap. I added citrus fertilizer and some additional potting soil, watered it well, and moved to the front corner. We'll see what happens.
I thought about working on the other two lemon trees but tried to stay focused instead on the yard. I hacked off some big branches from the beech tree along the fence line, just above where the motorcycles have been parked. It lightens things up, and improves the view into the trees and the park. I did not do a good job of pruning - it was definitely beech butchery. I cut as much of the english ivy and japanese honeysuckle along the fence and trees as I could get at from inside. I hosed mildew and mold off one side of the plastic greenhouse. I got the little motorcycles partly cleaned off and out of the yard. I emptied the rain barrel (drained it to the spicebush) and cloroxed the inside before fastening it back up again. I cut the grass (finally!) and cleaned up some twigs and branches from previous pruning. I raked up some of last fall's debris and got it into the compost heap. I spread some extra fencing to make it taller along the chainlink fence.
Lastly, I spread grass seed on the bare spots. I got lucky last year and spread grass seed back there in March, and then it rained all April and May and it got a good start. Now, this year, to spread it with minimal preparation of the ground, in May, during a very dry run is not likely to pay off so well. But it's worth a shot. Timing and serendipity lead to good results - maybe I'll get the serendipity this time, at any rate.
This yard has the potential for looking better than it's been for a couple of years. Some of the improvements are permanent, and some are the once or twice a year cleanup types. I'll enjoy going back out there to see what I've done and what a difference it makes.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Finally Cutting the Grass
I've got a young paid helper who thinks it looked nicer long.
- iPhone uPdate
- iPhone uPdate
Young Life
I've got babies all around me. At least two of the bird houses I've installed have families there. Both of the ones I know are occupied are attached to the eaves of the house - one in front and one in back. The one I'm watching now has very noisy babies in it. Mom and Dad are both very busy fetching things, and when one perches on the outside the kids inside burst out with a explosion of "cheep cheep cheep" which I assume means "feed me feed me feed me". Besides the noise, which starts very early, there are also by-products beneath the box that have to be cleaned up regularly. I still like watching them, though. One year my nephew spent a whole afternoon on this couch watching them, both with the naked eye and binoculars. And one year I happened to catch the moment they fledged. I think it is a single moment - they emerge from the nest, and I don't think they go back. They spilled out one at time, fell/fluttered to the ground, and in a few minutes fluttered back up into the tree.
The tree right outside my living room window is an old brittle silver maple that has a couple of hollows in it where limbs have fallen off. There is a hollow I can see from this same living room couch that often has a squirrel family in it. This year there are two babies, and one of them is our local genotype of black squirrel. They are small, but fully formed. They venture out of the hole and around the tree, but haven't yet reached the ground that I have seen. The maple seeds haven't come yet - that is a major source of food for them.
I hope the owl doesn't get my babies. There are much more useful things for the owl to eat than my particular friends. Maybe since owls hunt at night and squirrels have no night vision and stay home at night they will never encounter each other.
The tree right outside my living room window is an old brittle silver maple that has a couple of hollows in it where limbs have fallen off. There is a hollow I can see from this same living room couch that often has a squirrel family in it. This year there are two babies, and one of them is our local genotype of black squirrel. They are small, but fully formed. They venture out of the hole and around the tree, but haven't yet reached the ground that I have seen. The maple seeds haven't come yet - that is a major source of food for them.
I hope the owl doesn't get my babies. There are much more useful things for the owl to eat than my particular friends. Maybe since owls hunt at night and squirrels have no night vision and stay home at night they will never encounter each other.
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