Monday, April 30, 2007
In the garden 'n' stuff
Well, the past couple of weeks have found us on Saturday afternoons outside in our gardens, cleaning up brush, tilling and planting.
In our front yard we have a cherry tree, a couple of grape vines, and a pear tree. These have been here for several years now, inherited with the house. I've also put a strawberry pot in the front, I got it for $5 at a local store, it comes with a brick of coconut fiber that you soak in water for 10 minutes, then you put in the 3 shoots of strawberry plants and wait. There's already leaves on 2 of them, but it looks like one of them got broken by something.
The cherry tree looks like it will be fruitful this year, if we can keep the birds off it. James figures he'll sit out on the front yard with a b-b gun to shoot them away! Or get a net to throw over it...that may be the more humane way.
The grapes look also like they'll give us a few bunches, again, if we can keep the birds off.
The pear tree however looks like its got some sort of blight that has taken most of the pear trees in the neighbourhood, and we may or may not get any from it this year.
There is also a wildflower shade garden in the front, I just tossed in some seeds, and I'll have to distribute the plants once they fill up.
Out back, in the vegetable garden that once was a swimming pool, we've put in some carrots, parsnips, peas, beans, ocra, tomatoes and blackberries. James also wants to put in some corn, but he needs to clear out a couple of small saplings first.
Yesterday I was in the fenced dog yard portion of our garden, clearing out some rather invasive vines and a few small trees that have sprung up since the yard had not been tended in a couple of years. There are 2 big trees, perfect distance apart for us to hang a hammock from, but we need to clear out that corner first. It'll be a perfect meditation and relaxation garden, its shady and private. As I was tossing dead tree branches behind me however, I heard a small rattle and decided to let sleeping snakes lie, and I came back into the house to watch a few DVD episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. :-))
We do have several types of venomous snakes in the area, including rattlers. We found a dead baby in the driveway 2 weeks ago. We don't know what killed it, but we hadn't run it over with the car, it wasn't squished, it was just dead. With its mouth gaping open like it went down fighting. It wasn't even old enough to have developed a rattle yet, but apparently the young ones are more venomous than the adults, so James picked it up with the pooper-scooper and tossed it into the vacant spot next-door that big brother Randy doesn't use.
The prominence of snakes is another reason we're clearing out the dead brush and opportunistic vines and trees from the dog yard and surrounding gardens. If we give them fewer places to hide, they'll go hide elsewhere!
I am however quite fond of the wee lizards and salamanders we have around here. All of these are harmless, and they're kinda cute.
If our cherries, blackberries and strawberries all give us fruit this year, we'll have some nice bumbleberry crumble at harvest feasts! Fingers crossed... ¶ 6:36 PM
In our front yard we have a cherry tree, a couple of grape vines, and a pear tree. These have been here for several years now, inherited with the house. I've also put a strawberry pot in the front, I got it for $5 at a local store, it comes with a brick of coconut fiber that you soak in water for 10 minutes, then you put in the 3 shoots of strawberry plants and wait. There's already leaves on 2 of them, but it looks like one of them got broken by something.
The cherry tree looks like it will be fruitful this year, if we can keep the birds off it. James figures he'll sit out on the front yard with a b-b gun to shoot them away! Or get a net to throw over it...that may be the more humane way.
The grapes look also like they'll give us a few bunches, again, if we can keep the birds off.
The pear tree however looks like its got some sort of blight that has taken most of the pear trees in the neighbourhood, and we may or may not get any from it this year.
There is also a wildflower shade garden in the front, I just tossed in some seeds, and I'll have to distribute the plants once they fill up.
Out back, in the vegetable garden that once was a swimming pool, we've put in some carrots, parsnips, peas, beans, ocra, tomatoes and blackberries. James also wants to put in some corn, but he needs to clear out a couple of small saplings first.
Yesterday I was in the fenced dog yard portion of our garden, clearing out some rather invasive vines and a few small trees that have sprung up since the yard had not been tended in a couple of years. There are 2 big trees, perfect distance apart for us to hang a hammock from, but we need to clear out that corner first. It'll be a perfect meditation and relaxation garden, its shady and private. As I was tossing dead tree branches behind me however, I heard a small rattle and decided to let sleeping snakes lie, and I came back into the house to watch a few DVD episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. :-))
We do have several types of venomous snakes in the area, including rattlers. We found a dead baby in the driveway 2 weeks ago. We don't know what killed it, but we hadn't run it over with the car, it wasn't squished, it was just dead. With its mouth gaping open like it went down fighting. It wasn't even old enough to have developed a rattle yet, but apparently the young ones are more venomous than the adults, so James picked it up with the pooper-scooper and tossed it into the vacant spot next-door that big brother Randy doesn't use.
The prominence of snakes is another reason we're clearing out the dead brush and opportunistic vines and trees from the dog yard and surrounding gardens. If we give them fewer places to hide, they'll go hide elsewhere!
I am however quite fond of the wee lizards and salamanders we have around here. All of these are harmless, and they're kinda cute.
If our cherries, blackberries and strawberries all give us fruit this year, we'll have some nice bumbleberry crumble at harvest feasts! Fingers crossed... ¶ 6:36 PM
