The Crop Report

I can't believe it's been a month since we planted "the crops" for the Urban Farm Project here at Auntie K's Garden. It seems like yesterday we were mixing soil and compost and building the raised bed and planting seeds and seedlings. According to the seed packet, the radishes should be ready to harvest any day now. (Don't tell the Riverman, but I pulled one yesterday to see how ripe they were, and I think they're going to need a few extra days. They still look like radish pencils rather than round radishes.)

I'm astounded at how full the raised bed looks and how lush everything seems! We've got weensy peppers and tomatoes and the peas are just starting to blossom. The onions are doing really well in their special box. We've eaten a handful of strawberries already (now that I added extra squirrel protection) and there are more to come. The raspberries will be ripe any day now, and we're seeing color on a few blueberries.

I think a few things have suffered from a little too much lovin' in the watering department. Two pepper plants lost blossoms and the cukes and squash ended up with a few yellowing leaves. We've held off on the watering for the last couple of days and they look like they're starting to recover. Whew.

For the Birds -- A Hummingbird Feeder

Part of the joy I get from the garden is that the birds seem to enjoy it as much as I do. I plant things they like and provide both water and supplemental food (when the plants they like aren't quite ready). It's supposed to be a scorcher of a weekend here, so I'm keeping an eye on the birdbaths to make sure they stay filled.

In an earlier post this year, I mentioned the variety and number of birds we saw -- just sitting on the deck above the Mississippi River. I didn't mention that we saw a couple of hummingbirds -- which are among my favorites.

The Riverman asked if there was something you could do to make the hummingbirds visit. I said there were a number of plants that are attractive to hummingbirds and that we have many of those plants in the garden. Then, I mentioned that there are special feeders for hummingbirds. His eyes lit up and asked if we had one. I said we didn't but could get one. We put it on the west side of the house -- just outside the sunroom -- so we can see it while having coffee. And, to my surprise and delight, two days after I hung it, we had hummingbirds! I haven't seen them for a few days. I don't know if it's because they've moved on or if they're coming at times when I'm not around. I know they'll be back when the Monarda blooms, so I may just need to be patient.

p.s. It looks like I'm having trouble with the scheduler for my posts! I'll try to be more diligent about checking that they're actually live rather than trusting the scheduler.

Creature Feature

One of my favorite things to do is to sit in the sunroom and watch the birds in the garden. (The Riverman now enjoys this, too. ) We've seen a couple of butterflies in the garden and lots of bees. The hawk -- a once regular visitor to the birdbath -- has been absent for a month or so, but we've had other visitors at Auntie K's.

The first regular visitor this year has been a baby bunny. I was worried that the bunny would get the blueberries or some of the strawberries, but when I've seen him, he's been munching on Elmer's fallen leaves or on dandelions. Go bunny! (Yesterday, I saw a bigger bunny and thought "the crops" might be in danger, but so far, so good.)

The oddest -- and most enjoyable -- visitors to the gardens this year has been the trio of mallards! Two males and a female have been hanging out in the neighborhood -- wandering from yard to yard. Many mornings, I find them under a tall hosta or the big arborvitae. They watched us plant "the crops," and although they quack if we get close, they must sense we're not a danger to them, because they just waddle a few feet and nestle in again!

Do you have usual or unusual visitors in your garden? Post a comment and tell me about them!

Lovely Lilies

In past years, the gardens seemed to bloom by plant -- first the tulips, then the peonies, then the roses, then other stuff. This year, the tulips still came first, but after that it's been like a free-for-all by color starting with the blues, then the pinks, and then the yellows. But, now we're back to plants.

And, the plant of the hour is the lily -- both lilium and hemerocalis! Maybe they bloomed together in past years and I just don't remember. The only lilies left to bloom are the Monte Negro in the front boulevard garden. The Martagons finally bloomed this week. (A friend's bloomed weeks ago.)

And, my beautiful pink lily bloomed this week, too. (The year I got it, it was 4 feet tall. The bunnies got it the following year and the squirrels nipped it off last year.) But this year, the creatures left it alone and it bloomed. It's shorter than it was the first year, but I'm grateful that it bloomed -- at any height!

The Stellas are popping out -- adding a burst of color to the corner garden. As we walked through the gardens this morning, the Riverman asked about the pretty yellow flowers and I told him their name. He was very excited that a flower had the same name as his mom. He looked at them again and said, "I think she would have liked these."

How is your garden growing this year? Flower by flower, or color by color?

Hard Winter for Lavender

The winter of 2010-2011 we had a lot of snow -- close to 90 inches -- more snow than we've had since the early 1980s. Plants were well insulated against the cold temperatures. Last winter -- the winter of 2011-2012 -- "they" predicted similar snowfall amounts. So... I didn't cover everything with straw like I normally do. But, the snow didn't come. As a matter of fact, we had crazy warm temperatures both late in 2011 and early in 2012 and the plants got mixed up and some of them started poking through when they should have been sleeping.

And, because of this oddball combination, many of the plants in Auntie K's Garden didn't make it. The azaleas, which struggled from the very beginning, are toast. (Actually, I see a few green leaves, but I'm not sure about their overall health.) One of the veronicas didn't make it, either. But, the plant that suffered the most was the lavender. Of the five plants on the sunny south hill, two of them survived. The other three are crispy critters. They just didn't survive the lack of snow and the frequent freeze/thaw cycles we had.

I'm so sad about this loss because I love walking by the lavender and feeling it and smelling it. I'm starting over in those three spots with tiny plants, but it looks a little uneven now. And, you can bet your bottom dollar that regardless of what "they" say the winter will be like, I'm going to cover the lavender with a winter blanket of straw.

Did your garden suffer any losses this past winter? Or was I the only gardener caught off guard?

Using up the Grass -- A New Path

Some of my neighbors think I'm crazy, but I have a goal of using up all the grass in the yard. I'm the kind of person who would much rather pull a few weeds than mow a lawn. I've had my grass free goal since I bought the house 5 years ago, but vowed that as long as Monty the Wonder Dog was around, I'd keep some grass for him to frolic in. He loved lying in the sunshine and rolling in the grass when I was working in the gardens. Now that he's gone, I can move toward my goal. I picked the Fourth of July as my "grass free" date. It's an arbitrary date, but I felt like I had to pick a deadline and Independence Day seemed like a good date -- symbolic. And, far enough off that I might just accomplish it!

Tonight, I made some progress toward my goal. I used some of the old flag stones from the kitchen walk to make a path/walk from the west hill to the front door. I had avoided this project because my original plan was to take out the grass and level everything and put down sand, etc. and that seemed daunting. But, after I made the "walk" the other day by the raised bed, I decided to do the same thing in the front yard. I just put the stones on top of the grass and tucked some heavy paper underneath as a weed block before covering it with mulch. Voila. Instant path!

Well, sort of instant. It was heavy work hauling the stones from the back yard where they've been stacked for the last couple years. But, it wasn't as difficult laying it out as I anticipated. I've got some stones left, which is a good thing, because I want to have a similar path on the west side of the house going to the hosta hill.

Trash or Treasure?

Serendipity visited Auntie K’s Garden yesterday. It came in the morning and stayed all day.

Neighbor Nancy came by early to see the new “path” I put in next to the raised bed. She admired the irises that were blooming nearby. I thanked her and said I had some short ones I needed to either move or get rid of because they weren’t happy in their current location. She perked up at the word “short” and said she was looking for one more short thing to add to her boulevard garden. “Sold,” I said. “I’ll dig them out for you later on.”

Nancy hadn’t met the couple who moved in across the street from me, and they were out in their yard, so I walked over with her to make the introduction. On the way, I mentioned that I also wanted to get rid of some Spring-blooming anemones that had begun to take over one of my shade gardens. She said another neighbor was looking for some and I should call her. I made a mental note to do that later.

As we arrived at the new couple’s house, the woman dumped a load of old bricks into a collapsible dumpster. After I’d made the introductions, I told the woman I was looking for some bricks for a project in my yard and asked if I could rescue the old bricks from the dumpster. “Of course!” she said enthusiastically. “If I’d known you were looking, I would have brought them over!” I brought my wheelbarrow and garden fork and hauled home 3 wheelbarrows of bricks!

And, as I was dumping the last load of bricks, Teresa, the anemone-seeking neighbor walked by on her way home from an errand. I pointed out where she could dig and told her to take what she wanted. She was thrilled to get them! And, to my surprise and delight, she said she had too many strawberries and would be happy to dig some for me.

It was definitely a day of “one gardener’s trash is another’s treasure,” or “one gardener’s weed/cast off is another’s sought after gem.” Mia’s trash-bound bricks became my garden treasure. My unhappy mini irises were Nancy’s glad addition. And, Teresa and I traded things we each had “too much” of. I love days like that!

Do you have a story about a great garden trade? If so, post a comment and let me know!