Got mulch?

This is one of several mulch piles now decorating my backyard. Instead of getting one load and distributing it, we fetched two loads and piled it for later relocation. One reason for this strategy is so I don't have to keep borrowing my neighbor's pickup truck, but also so I can think about just where I want the mulch to go.

Yesterday, I spent the morning at a rain garden workshop, sponsored by the city. The goal of a rain garden is to reduce storm water runoff into the sewer system. My true reason for wanting a rain garden, though, is to have a city-sanctioned excuse to turn a fair amount of my front lawn into habitat. Rain gardens consist of native plants, which can look a bit wild and weedy, but registering the rain garden with the city keeps Neighborhood Code Enforcement at bay. Heh.

The latest bloomer in my backyard is the serviceberry.



This poor thing has had a rough time. Its first winter I did not protect it from the rabbits. Until last summer, it received too little sunshine. It has also suffered late frosts. But now I think it will finally come into its own.

In the pink - and green

I love my rhododendrons.



They are beautiful in the spring, and in the winter, I can tell how cold it is by observing the curl of their evergreen leaves outside my bedroom window.



Rhodies like acid soil. Cheap gardener that I am, I side dress my three plants with sphagnum peat moss and coffee grounds. Apparently, that is good enough for them.

And here is a quick video of Hip Hop enjoying one of his favorite snacks.



Mmmm, fresh parsley!

Neighbors

My eastern neighbor's front door is recessed into the front of his house, so as you stand there knocking, there is a wall on either side of you, each with a high octagonal window. While I was standing on said porch the other day, I noticed a lot of organic detritus under my feet. When he answered the door, I pointed out a huge nest on one of the window ledges.

There's one there, too, he said, pointing to the other window.

What kind of birds?

I dunno.

Just then, something swooped right at my head. I ducked so fast, I nearly fell off the porch.

That kind of bird, he said. Sitting in a nearby tree was a robin, beak full of dried grass and looking put out.

I guess I need to get rid of those nests, he sighed.

Well, I wouldn't, I allowed, but then that's just me.

But people can't come to the door with them protecting their nests.

Sometimes that's a good thing, I pointed out.

Meanwhile, the nest building is progressing in my yard as well. This is a grackle nest in the privat.



I took down the bluebird house that the sparrows were highly interested in, but to my surprise, they had not yet built a nest in it. I'll put it back up in May.

A year or so ago, when my neighbor to the north of me put up a bird bath and feeder, she commented about not wanting to attract the "wrong kind" of bird. I didn't ask her what she meant, but now I am wondering if she was talking about grackles and starlings.



They and the sparrows are my most frequent visitors now. I don't like to feed the birds during the summer - that's why I have a backyard habitat populated with food plants - but I also don't like holding birdseed until fall, so I am letting them finish off the sunflower seeds and peanuts.

Saturday would have been a good day to plant snap peas. I thought I had ordered some online, but apparently not. There was half a bag in the refrigerator, though, left over from two years ago. Wondering whether they were still viable, I soaked ten pea seeds.



Huh. Still good, mostly. Now if it would stop raining, I could put these in the ground.

P.S. There's a survey on honesty over here on one of my other blogs, in case you are interested.

Back acres

Today was one of those perfect spring days - perfect temperature, perfect humidity, sunny, no breeze to speak of, and a Saturday, so one could actually be outside enjoying all that perfection. So enjoy it we did, to the tune of one load of mulch. Since my neighbor threatened me, I had to use his pickup truck to fetch said load of mulch from the biosolids site (mulch is free, but having it loaded cost $5). And my SO, who washed my windows yesterday (I know - best boyfriend ever!), helped with the transfer of said mulch to various and sundry locations around the backyard. We ran out of mulch and energy about the same time. I need more (of both mulch and energy), but the perfect weather is scheduled to end at midnight tonight.

Before I trudge off for a long soak, here are a few pics from around the yard.

White hyacinth:



Grape hyacinth:



The march of the pink flamingos past the pink hyacinth:



I severely pruned the forsythia last year, and it is still pouting, so no golden arches this spring.

Stupid bird

I finally got him on "film"!

I got worms!

One of the many garden items I purchased for this year is a "worm composting system" from Gardens Alive. The name is a little misleading, as we are not composting worms here; the worms are doing the composting. All I have to do is keep them watered and fed, and they will give me black gold.



The composter components arrived last week, and I assembled them and waited for the worms, which arrived Wednesday. I wish they had sent me an email, warning me that the worms are coming, the worms are coming, because I was not ready. I would have taken pix of the building of the worm bed, but it was date night (my SO did not blink an eyelash when I greeted him with hands covered in something that looked like shit), and I was in a hurry and not a little flustered.



I don't even have many food scraps for them to eat yet, besides coffee grounds. I'll have to work on that because, once they are up to speed, they will eat three times their own weight in garbage each week. I started with 500 worms, but this composter will support 10,000 - 12,000. I may have to start a worm wholesale operation.

Under the subject of spring cleaning, you know how empty your house looks in preparation for carpet cleaning?...



Because everything that is movable has been crammed into the remaining rooms?...



Including the dog?

April (snow) showers

Yesterday my backyard was so soggy I had mallards. Today it looks like Mother Nature scrolled back the calendar.



But the daffodils are still standing!

My plan worked

While I was unloading mulch from the back of my CRV, I heard a voice ask, "Are you going to make me yell at you for not using my truck?"

It was my neighbor from across the street. Two years ago, when he owned a beat-up blue Toyota Tacoma, he offered said truck for mulch-hauling. But now he has a nice white Dodge Dakota. I didn't want to mess up his new truck.

"When you get up close, you'll see it's not that new and not that nice."

Okay, then, I will take advantage of him and his generosity.

But if you don't have such friendly, truck-owning neighbors, I can recommend the SUV liner pictured above from Lee Valley. It protects your vehicle when you need to tote something not-so-nice.

The above-pictured mulch (and a load of compost) were free, courtesy of our county biosolids site. Residents can drop off yard waste for a nominal fee, and if they load it themselves, take away compost and mulch for free. (There is another nominal fee if they load it for you.) Since their frontloader would not fit inside my CRV, my SO helped me first with a load of compost, then a load of mulch. The car looked full each time, but what I brought home did not go far. That truck will come in handy.

The compost went into making beds for peas and onions, but the weather is not cooperating. I was tempted to plant this morning, but I see the forecast is for freezing temps this week. Must be patient.

The daffodils are not, though. Last fall I ordered the "Hybridizer’s Pink Daffodil Mixture" from Brecks. Below is a sample.



Between ordering them and seeing them in real life, my mind's eye had pictured something different, something pinker. I may replace them next fall... or not. I'm lazy like that.

More signs of spring

The robins don't come to the feeders but they definitely like my yard. It seems too cold for worms, though, so I wonder what the robins eat.



The "naturalizing" daffodils are starting to bloom.



So are the ones I planted on the south side of the house.



I swear I ordered pink daffodils to go with the pink and white theme of this bed, but that doesn't look pink to me.

The Birds

Sometimes the best bird feeding days are not in the dead of winter, but in late spring when the "snow birds" return but there isn't much food available. The most obvious (and obnoxious) returnees are the grackles and starlings. They act like bullies and hog the feeders.



But the starlings cleaning out the suet feeders is a sure sign of spring.

(These are not the best of pics because I took them through the window, plus the dryer vent was expelling visible vapor not too far away.)

I rarely see more than one pair of cardinals at a time, so I presume it's the same pair.



They must have my yard staked out as their territory.



There are always plenty of sparrows and house finches. Some people consider them the "wrong kind" of bird, but they need to eat, too. And reproduce; I just wish they would not do it in my bluebird boxes.



Juncos are a winter staple.



I think this one is an Oregon junco; in real life, it looks rufous-colored. The Midwest is not their regular stomping grounds, but according to my Peterson's, it is not unusual to see them at feeders as far east as the Atlantic seaboard during migration, either blown off course or with broken GPSs.



The list of those that escaped my camera lens today includes a yellow(!) goldfinch at the window(!) feeder. We gaped at each other for a few seconds before we each came back to life. My camera was in the other room, and of course by the time I fetched it, the bird was gone. Another quickie was the hawk that swooped in, which caused a sudden scattering of grackles. I actually had my camera in hand, but it had not only gone to sleep, but shut down. The hawk left before I could react. Ditto a redwing blackbird.

(I have pics of mourning doves and female goldfinches, but they are too fuzzy to bother posting.)

We had our share of four-legged visitors as well.



This squirrel was actually one of two raiders. I tried to get a photo of the two squirrels, feasting on separate feeders, but squirrel #1 saw me and hopped down. Then squirrel #2 noticed squirrel #1 and gave chase. Once again, my tortoise-paced reflexes missed capturing the action.

A shy bunny hopped by briefly.



Rabbits usually feed at dawn and dusk, but it is one cold and blustery day. (In fact, it is snowing right now.) I'm sure he was hoping for a quick bite, but when the current nuclear feeding flock suddenly dispersed, he disappeared along with them. Smart bunny.

In like a lion, out like a lion

It is almost April, but you would not know it from the weather. Cold, windy, and tomorrow it may snow. I'm done with winter. Bring on the spring!



To get myself in the mood, I drove north to Huntertown Gardens, a fruit and vegetable "stand" where they also sell garden seeds and plants. I was in search of onion sets, which I found, along with ear corn and a neighbor. It was this neighbor who gave me some extra onion sets several years ago and I noticed they came from Huntertown Gardens. I had never heard of them, and it took me many years to actually seek them out. It seems like a bit of a drive, but I've driven further for good produce. And I hear they get Red Havens from Michigan. Mmmmm!

That little purchase jumpstarted me to get online and make some more purchases, from Lee Valley, Gardener's Supply, and Gardens Alive. (Gotta spread the wealth.) I'll post more about those purchases as they arrive. Suffice to say, my backyard is going to be transformed.

Fat Friendly Fraze

Squirrel acrobatics:

Me: Help! Thief!


FFF: You talkin to me?


FFF: Don't make me come down there!


FFF: Are you going to behave?


FFF: You can run but you can't hide.


FFF: This is your last chance.


Flash!


FFF: How did you like them apples?


FFF: Hope you learned your lesson.


FFF: All is forgiven.


FFF: Speaking of apples, the ones you threw out for the robins are delicious.


And, finally, the first yellow of spring:

Wait mode

I think my neighbors down the street have the right idea. They leave town for the month of March, and when they return in April, spring is here and it is time to start gardening. The rest of us just sit around and mope and gaze out the window, wondering when the grass will green up.

The heating contractors never returned my phone call about readjusting the baffles in the heat ducts, so I manned up and put on my overalls and crawled under the house and adjusted them myself. Now the West Wing is within a couple of degrees of the rest of the house.

For the past several years, I have been using my bonuses to fund home improvements, and I had big plans this year until the stupid economy intervened. I did get a bonus (and no, my employer is not getting a bailout from Uncle Sam, so I am not returning any of it), but it is not enough for what I had in mind. And frankly, I was not looking forward to the next phase of reconstruction. So I might just concentrate on finishing up what was started last year - the West Wing needs some new furniture and the yard needs some trees - and leave it at that. Maybe. We'll see.

Mud season

Yesterday I slogged around the yard a bit, working on a lasagna bed for my snap peas. A while back I had thrown a bunch of yard debris into the pea fence contraption, but decided that would not suffice. So I removed all the trimmings and replaced it with a layer of newspaper, topped with peat moss and compost. If I can figure out a relatively easy way to shred the yard waste, I will add that as well. And I'm wondering where and how I could get some fresh manure.

Days like these, I miss having a pickup truck. It's a good time to buy a vehicle, IF you have a stable job, but I can't quite convince myself that I would be happy replacing my CRV. I like the front wheel drive and realtime 4WD and its ease of parking and halfway decent gas mileage. But it can't pull a camper and is fairly useless for transporting mulch and manure. Maybe if I test drive a truck, it will help me make up my mind.

Winters like these make me wish I had a chipper/shredder. With all the downed branches, I could have made my own mulch. The city gives away mulch and compost, but you still need some way to haul it. My neighbor across the street offered to let me use his truck, but that was when he owned a small beat-up Toyota. Now he has a shiny new Dodge Dakota that I don't think would fit through my gate. I'd hate to scratch it up when he has been nice enough to snow blow my driveway a time or two.

And I'd like to spruce up the kitchen and buy some new furniture for the West Wing and the yard needs a few trees. *sigh*

Then there's HipHop.



When I adopted him, the shelter said he was a she, and the vet could not tell, but he acts very he-like. Lately, he has been pestering the dog and spraying her and consequently the carpet as well. If I lock Betsy away during bunny hour, things seem better, so I'm guessing Betsy is bringing in rabbit scents from outside, which is setting off the rabbit. I may look into having him neutered, if I can find a vet who knows something about rabbits. Otherwise, I'm going to shift bunny hour to a later time, after Betsy has gone off to bed. My carpets need a break.

In like a lion

It is fairly sunny today, but that wind is brisk. I spent some time outside doing the usual - poop scooping and bird feeding - and came in rosy cheeked and snotty nosed.

Before abandoning the yard to the weather, I took a stroll around the estate, chatting up the few brave souls that were peeking out of the ground: shoots of iris, daylily, and daffodil on the south side of the house. I advised them to wait a while.

A grackle came to visit the feeders, and a pair of chickadees scolded me for letting the cracked corn run low. I looked for them in the neighbor's pear tree, but they were in a viburnum about six feet from me. Of course, by the time I went in to get my camera, they had fled the scene.

The forecast is not springlike this week, so I guess we'll just hunker down under an afghan with the seed catalogs.

It's the ugliest time of the year

Now that the snow is gone, my view of the backyard is decidedly ick. Everything is brown and gray and wet and muddy. On the one hand, I am excited about spring coming; on the other, whew! what a lot of work I have ahead of me.

Updates:

• The heating contractors need to return and adjust the baffles again, because now the West Wing is downright chilly, worse than ever. I'm tempted to crawl under the house with them and see just what is what with the baffles, so if need be, I can adjust them myself.


• I did rearrange the two spare bedrooms so they each have a bed. One is cozy, the other cramped because it still has too much furniture in it. Someday I will get rid of the some-assembly-required desks I have accumulated over the years.


• The cat is using the litter box in the cat washroom! Now I will begin phasing out the old litter box.

The seed catalogs are enticing me to order too many plants and seeds. Again. Burpee has a tomato collection that is calling my name. One problem with Burpee is, they think they know better than I do when it is time to set out tomato plants in these here parts. The other problem is, do I really need nine tomato plants?

Deceptively sunny

It has been a busy weekend, but in a good way. The junk room Creativity Center is about 95% cleaned up. I think I am going to rearrange the two spare bedrooms so that they each have a bed instead of both beds in one room. That means I will have to keep at least one of them guest-ready instead of letting them both degenerate into storage closets like before.

I also worked on the garage - it is about 50% there. I assembled all three of the storage thingies from Target. One is for tools and is halfway loaded. One is a tall cabinet, and when I discovered my vacuum cleaner would fit into it, the kitty washroom (which the cat eschews) was shoved aside in favor of the storage unit in the laundry room. If I ever get a closet cleaned out enough to house the vacuum, the storage unit can go back to the garage. Storage thingy #3 is shelves and is in the garage.

(In a previous lifetime, I made it a habit to clear out old papers and clean the garage once a year. Somewhere along the line, my discipline collapsed and now I am paying for it by spending most of the weekend attending to both.)

Today the heating contractors returned to adjust the baffles under the house, to send a bit less hot air to the new room and a bit more to the main body of the house and a LOT more to the Creativity Center, which was really chilly.

Speaking of the new room, I decided I want to call it the West Wing. Never mind that I never even watched that TV show, West Wing just seems accurate. My daughter thinks this is a silly idea, but I challenge her to come up with a better name.

After the heating guys left, I picked up my lawn mower from the lawn mower place. Servicing + two repairs = $80. And on the way to pick up the mower, I stopped at a used bookstore and purchased From Julia Child's Kitchen and The New Seed-Starters Handbook for a total of $20. I spent $100 in just one day. I did the same thing a couple of days ago, after hitting both the people food store and the animal food store. Where's my bailout?!?

Spring has sprung - NOT

Where I work, we get Presidents Day off, and on the Friday before a long weekend, we also may leave at 3pm. The sunshine was misleading, but despite the chill and the still frozen ground, I used the extra time to work in the yard.

First, there was poop scooping. Then there was ornamental grass shearing. Then there was hosta bed clearing. I also cleaned up the pink and white bed on the south side of the house a bit and discovered that the pink daffodils I planted last fall are peeking out above the ground. Either I planted the bulbs too shallow or they are mistakenly precocious.

The pea fence was never put away last fall, so I relocated it and started filling it with yard waste in preparation of my first lasagna bed. That is this year's experiment - lasagna gardening.

That's gratitude for you

There has been this "grace in small moments" thing going around Blogdom. Most people are grateful for their jobs, their health, their families, a pretty sunrise, moonlight on the snow, etc. Me, I'm grateful for indoor plumbing.

It is a good thing I have two bathrooms because at any given time, one or the other has something wrong. At the risk of enraging the Plumbing Gods, I will share this with you: right now, both toilets flush without requiring subsequent handle jiggling, and they refill without fiddling with the innards of the tank. All drains are draining, and no fixtures are leaking, although everything could use a good scrubbing. And there is always hot water at my command.

Even the reverse osmosis faucet in the kitchen is now upright:



The original ring around the base was plastic, and it broke after less than a year of use. My son-in-law replaced it with a metal one.

It's true: it's the little things that matter.

My bad? Maybe

The electrician came and now there is power to the outlet. I can tell by the little green light on it. Upon closer inspection, I discover that the outlet includes a reset button. I wonder if that is all I needed to do to make it work. And I wonder if the bird bath tripped the circuit. Experiments forthwith.

Once the deck was gone, I thought the rabbits would abandon living within ten feet of the back door.



Apparently not.



They have taken up residence under the porch that goes between the French doors of the new room and the patio slab. I'm hoping it is just temporary or the dog will be trying to dig under the porch.

BTW, I need another name for the new room because "new room" is what my ex-in-laws called their new room, even 30 years after it was built. Any ideas?