Dogwood Days

 

I had such great luck at our old house with Dogwoods, yet the only ones which thrive in our new place are the wild ones. Fortunately, I took a picture of this one, may it rest in peace...

Catalogue Your Burpee Garden Seeds

 

I'm usually so busy that I often forget what seeds I've planted and where I've planted them. Of course, the most common way to address that is to stick the seed packs into the dirt next to the garden rows. Sometimes they dry up, get lost, fall apart in the rain or through watering so I've developed a better method. I have a combined printer, copier, scanner so I scan the seed packs into the computer --see the photos shown above. Sometimes I take a picture of the just planted furrows and insert text labelling there. As the garden grows, I add notes to the photos. It's also a good way to compare seed manufacturer's. Burpee seeds are everywhere but the seed catalogues have plenty of other brands.

It may see cumbersome to some, but doing it this way helps you with next year's planning. You know what worked, and what didn't.

Garden Spot for Quiet Contemplation

 

On the edge of one of our gardens is a quiet spot where we can solve the problems of the world. The bench came from a relative who moved, and the birdbath was bought from a place which specializes in molded concrete. I wish I oculd remember the name of the place, but it was located on Route 611 near Upper Black Eddy. Upper Black Eddy is just a few miles south of Easton, PA. It's a fun drive and a fun place to look at a variety of concrete molded statues and other objects.

Peony: Deer Resistant with Unique Foliage

 Peony are everywhere in the country. Aside from the beauty of the blooms, the deer will give them the go-by. I like the leaves a great deal, and they have an elegance even before the buds arrive. Our flower beds are 800 feet higher than the ones down the hill and are later to bloom, even when compared to peony just half a mile away, which are right now fully bloomed.

Irises: Reliable and Steady like Old Friends

 A common as they are, there are good reasons for having Iris in your garden. They grow just about everywhere, in good and poor soils, and they come in a variety of colors. Hungry deer will eat the stalks in early spring, but soon abandon them to eat better tasting vegetation. Deer will totally abandon Iris when they have better choices and I've never seen the deer eating Irises during or after their blooms.

Spring Blooms and an Errant Photo of Fence Parts?

 

 

 

 

If you're going to install a more or less permanent chain link fence around your garden, you'll need a variety of fixtures and joining options. Here's part an assortment at a local Lowe's fencing department.

Photos of Early Spring Flowering

 

 

 

 

We're into late spring now, but these photos were taken in April. The redbud, also known as the Judas Tree, shows its colorful buds well before the leaves break out.

The ubiquitous Forsythia is blooming everywhere. There's hardly a household or farm which doesn't have some growing wild. You can pull up the spreading shoots and plant them elsewhere. The great thing about them is that they appear when the rest of the landscape is barren.

Those little things are wildflowers. Does anyone know the name of those little delicate flowers? I don't and I haven't had time to research that.

Quick Tip for a More Interesting Garden

 

Tip of the day concerns "found objects." This multi-textured stump was not natural to the garden, but will provide visual interest when the Morning Glory vines grow up around it. In fact, the hollowed out and dessicated former log was found in the woods and held in place with a channeled fence post. You can use anything--even tomato stakes. The object looks bare in this setting but the photo was taken in late winter.

Harbingers of Spring

 























These beautiful and graceful creatures can wreak havoc on some plants. We try to plant the ones that are "deer-resistant" but you know the drill. If they're hungry enough...

Free Lawnmowing! No Plant We Can't Handle

 

First Sign of Spring--After the Crocuses

&nbs

Ryobi Gas Cultivator

 I bought this machine after several years of hand spading the garden. It looks as if it may have come from a Star-Trek episode but really I got it at Home Depot for 200 bucks. Last year, I'd used a heavy duty and more expensive machine that I rented so the soil had been tilled once already. Even so, this little machine did the job. You can use it with all four tines for tilling or you can remove the two outer tines for cultivation between rows.


Some people complained that it was hard starting but I didn't notice. It's a four-stroke so maybe they didn't mix the gas properly. The only thing I have against it is that it sounds like a sewing machine. I think a woman could use it as easily as a strong man could :). I'm thinking of customizing mine and running straight pipes out of it to make it sound more macho.

I've run it fairly often and run it pretty hard, breaking new ground in one spot when I got ambitious and garden-crazy. I've run it over rocks. It stopped once when a big rock got caught in the tines. The warranty period will soon be over so I'm starting to be careful with it. There are better, heavier, and far more expensive machines but this is not a toy. It does do the job. I've bought a couple of Ryobi tools. Ryobi tools have the right price point for me. In this crappy economy, that matters.

You dont' want to spend a thousand dollars on a garden to produce 900 dollars worth of vegetables.