Happy Holidays!

With last night's snow and today's wind, it's a good day to update this blog. While I miss living in the woods, there are some advantages to living in a town. First, we're already plowed out. Second, we are able to drive around town to look at lights. Downtown is festive with lighted trees and wreaths as well as individual businesses and their decorations. Our neighbors near and far have decorated as well. Our outdoor electricity set up is odd, so I have one outdoor decoration, but lights in the windows facing the street. The long nights can be difficult for someone who loves sunlight, but the color and sparkle highlight neighborly spirit and hope. 

More Snow!

We have a nice, two-inch coating of snow, which is predicted to melt. Elsewhere in Minnesota, the same snowstorm dumped 20 inches and more. The photo shows my garden beds and compost bin. The photo below is my hibiscus. I had seriously considered composting it, but I didn't have the heart. So I bought a new container and potting soil. It's doing well so far, and I'll set it back outside in May. I have been spraying it with neem oil, which seems to be the only thing that takes care of fungus gnats. Or maybe they're fruit flies.  I didn't have a problem at the old place, so I'm learning. Thomas Jefferson said, "But tho an old man, I am but a young gardener." So true!

First Snow

There was barely enough snow to be pretty (honeysuckle above, hydrangea below), and now it's melted. Do not despair! More snow is on the way. Or maybe despair...if you don't want the two to three inches predicted.  

Bonfire

Bonfire! Well, maybe it's not a roaring, raging bonfire, but it was a nice way to stay warm during a crisp, fall evening. I dug out a rectangle of grass and placed a few granite pieces (below). Previously I had killed the lawn because that metal gets hot. I can mow right over the pieces as needed. Did I measure precisely? Did I layer in some sand? Did I tamp the ground level? Nope. But I can move the pieces anytime I want to, depending on how the shrubs grow. Sometimes perfection is overrated.

A Hard Frost

Beauty can be dangerous. The frost sparkles delicately. It desiccates and destroys. Yet it's a necessary part of the life cycle here in Minnesota.

The cosmos didn't do so great during this summer's drought, and I rationed water, so they didn't bloom until after significant rain. Ten days is better than no days. 

Limelight hydrangea 

Yummy carrots

A cosmos blooms on October 13.

Where is fall?

A pumpkin spice zinnia? This year has been good for the zinnias. They keep blooming no matter what. The weather has been warm and will continue to be so. Fall usually has comfortable days and cool nights, but it seems the warmth continues. I'm not a fan of hot days, especially when teaching. Also, I've been hesitant to plant garlic, but I may have to take the plunge soon. Below is the current state of my second planting of lettuce. I haven't been vigilant about thinning, so the plants are smaller than usual, but that's okay. Anything I get this time of year feels like a bonus. Below that are the asters I planted last spring and worked to save from the rabbits. I'm going to try to save some seeds to plant next spring...and I'll try to outsmart the bunnies. 

September Update

The zinnias have perked up in our recent rains. These are a welcome burst of color as other things fade. (I may have faded on my blogging, too.)

The strawberries have rallied, too. The five plants I saved (note the fence surrounding them) are shooting runners out in ever direction. 

We may have been in a drought, but I got plenty of tomatoes. The wind blew the plants over, so I gathered them in all states of ripeness. I donated quite a few. Also, this wagon? It was a gift from my hubby when we first got married. It's seen a lot of wear and tear as a toy and a garden tool. That's why the old sheet (saved for frost protection) is there, to protect the tomatoes from dirt and rust. 

A couple of weeks ago, the bees enjoyed teh pruple coneflower...and now the birds are eating the seeds. See the spot of yellow on the left side below? That's a gold finch.

In other notes, the zucchini did very well, and the green beans are still producing a bit. The second crop of lettuce is in the seedling stage. And I'll leave you with the Winnipeg Parks rose. I'm loving this vibrant fuchsia!

August garden update

It's harvest season! While I'm overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of the zucchini, everything else is wonderful. The butterflies are loving the zinnias, and I like that the cucumber vines are compact.

All the basils are doing well, and the tomatoes are ripening.

I'm finally getting green beans! I'm digging up an occasional carrot, and the strawberries (background) are recovering and sending out runners. For fall harvest, I've planted some bok choy and lettuce (garden bed not shown...because...boring). Note in the background that the grass is brown and dry. We're in a drought, and I'm only watering as necessary. Plus I'm using water from the dehumidifier and the rain barrel. 

Newly Planted Shrubs

The photo above is NOT my yard. It is the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, where I find inspiration and relaxation. We had a lovely trip when I finished teaching my summer class. Below is my addition of five honeysuckle 'Kodiak Orange' shrubs. That circle of dirt was a fire pit, which was too deep to be effective. We dug out a metal tractor tire insert and several bricks. Our plan is to have an above-ground fire pit area in the center. That's more digging, and I will wait for cooler weather since temps are in the 90s F this week. You can see that I water the shrubs (deeply, once a week) but not the grass. Not pictured are three serviceberry 'Regent.' The far left are native viburnum cranberry bush (five of them), the center is the honeysuckle, and the right is three hydrangea 'Limelight.' I know that the hydrangeas are not pollinator plants, but these are for myself. I have been consistently spraying the shrubs with repellent, so they haven't been eaten (yet). I'm trying to get a nice shady, naturalized area. It will never look like the Arboretum, but I'm hoping it will be a good place to relax. 

Rabbit Fence Update

After socializing (I know! so lovely after months of quarantining!), I learned that rabbits have been eating everything everywhere this year, even in areas where they haven't been a problem. Could it be a mild winter along with a drought? I'm not sure. In my yard, I have bunny food--a large patch of clover (which shows signs of being eaten) and grass (or had grass since it's looking dormant and perhaps dead). My lovely husband and I dug holes in dry, gritty, compacted soil for these U shaped stakes. Once in place, we hung poultry fence. This is flexible green vinyl with 3/4 inch openings. These baby bunnies are tiny, so I went for the smallest openings. At ground level, we bent the fencing out, which is supposed to prevent the rabbits from sneaking under. The "gate" (below) is the fence wrapped around a green garden pole. I align the pole with the U stake and attach it with a blue hair band. The bottom of the "gate" is attached with clothes pins. I don't want any gaps.  I bend the fencing when I go in and out. The result? No new nibbling!

We ALL love green beans

We ALL love green beans. "All" is defined as humans, rabbits, and robins. I'm embarrassed to show this photo because it demonstrates how the rabbits and robins have decimated my beans, whether it's the plants, the sprouts, or the seeds. You can see the netting surrounding the garden bed. The rabbit leaned on the netting to get in. A robin hopped around inside, finding bean seeds. I will attempt planting again, but only after I work on a fence. I hope to start this weekend. And we ALL love strawberries. Even though I planted 20 plants, below is all I was able to rescue. The baby squirrels both dug at them and smashed them while roughhousing. Fun to watch? Yes. But no strawberries for this human this year. 

Lawns to Legumes Garden Update

I'm happy to report that many plants I bought with the Lawns to Legumes grant have survived and thrived. Here are some coreopsis and blanket flower. The butterfly weed is slow to grow. I added some marigolds. 

The prairie smoke is doing well. More on that in a future post. 

I added a water feature this summer--solar powered!

The wild lupine looked fantastic a couple weeks ago. It's going to seed in this hot weather. The rabbits are still a problem, but I'm planting chives and Siberian irises, which they don't like. I hope to find a rabbit-resistant fall bloomer that will work in this area, too. Lately we've had fewer bunnies around due to a predator. My neighbors say it's a fox, but I suspect it's a coyote. I saw it in the distance so I can't be sure. Yet the rabbits that are still here chow down on the asters. Sigh. 

Viburnum blooming

The native viburnum, or cranberry bush, I planted last spring is blooming. The shrubs have gained at least a foot, looking healthy and lush. Below is a lounging rabbit, fat and lazy after eating just about anything and everything I've planted. I'm trying to observe which plants they don't eat, and I'll focus on adding more of the same. I can't share rabbit advice yet because they aren't picky.

Crabapple and Lawn Sign

The city of Saint Joseph may have been busy today and yesterday because of the garage sales, but it should really be known for the crabapples. They're gorgeously blooming in a large number of gardens here in town. Above is a photo from our place. I delight in this tree's blooms! Below is my Lawns to Legumes sign. I'm proud of it and working to add more pollinator friendly plants. 

April Snow Showers Bring...

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers...but what if they're snow showers? Then I must live in Minnesota. Above is a photo of a snowdrop, pushing up through the recent snow. I planted quite a few in the fall, but this is the only one so far. I'm a little worried because during the winter we had bitterly cold temps and high winds, which blew off the mulch. And we've got way too many hungry critters.

Above are marigold seedlings. I may started the seeds too early, but who can blame me? During this pandemic, my body craves being outside, digging in the dirt and creating some beauty...maybe because of the unrelenting sameness of each day. Below are some 2 liter plastic bottles. I'm slicing the bottoms off of them to make cloches for the seeds I'll plant. They do double duty--warming the seedlings and protecting them from hungry birds, squirrels, and rabbits. This is the kind of solution I love...cheap, effective, and recyclable.

Seed Starting and Sunflowers

Happy first day of spring! I thought I was ready to start planting early last year...this year even more so. The nicer temperatures have me inspired. And, gosh, this pandemic has made cabin fever worse than usual. Below are some of my seed-starting pots, cleaned and ready to use. Here are some photos of bees on sunflowers. The last photo is a bee house with a few of the cells in use.

New Vegetable Garden

The beds are ready for spring planting! (This is photo from November. Right now we're in a windchill advisory.)  It took some hard work and planning, but I'm not afraid of a little hard work, especially when I have help from my hubbie! 

The sunniest spot in our yard is the best spot for our vegetables. I took some time (a year) to observe where the yard is sunniest. I probably could have observed in a month, but time is an issue when we're both working. And then there's a pandemic, which affects everything. 

My hubby made the cedar garden beds from a kit.

We set down cardboard, which helps kill the grass, and covered it with shredded wood mulch.

Here's a "during" photo from Mid-July. In a spot where I knew I'd be planting, I dug out the grass (not recommended! very hard work!) and planted tomatoes and peppers, which survived the rabbits. 

And here's another "after" photo. This is an October 7 photo. That's frisee, Swiss chard, and three kinds of lettuce. All those poles are to keep the netting up, which prevented rabbits from eating everything.