Phase One

Tree cutting has commenced!
I hired a local logger to come in and cut trees that might present a problem around the area where I plan to build my barn, as well as a few ugly trees that really needed to go because...well, they were ugly.

The barn area:

December 20

 

December 22

 December 24

And the ugly trees - two big, twisty pines and one bushy cherry.

December 20

December 22

December 24

I can't get over how open that section of pasture looks now; amazing what removing a couple old trees can do.

The old run-in shed has seen better days and will most likely be torn down at some point, so in preparation of that I had them take the nasty cherry trees that flanked it.  Mom wanted to save the small chestnut tree that grew beside it, so that will remain. 

 Before

 

One cherry down!

 After

In the future, I'd like to replace the run-in with a similar sized stick built greenhouse/conservatory.  Something more Victorian rather than the plastic wrapped style most often seen.  We'll see.

So that's where we are now, lots of open space and lots of ability to see that even more needs to be cut!  There are so many overgrown pines and standing dead trees and nasty cherries that it makes my head spin, but one step at a time.  The next phase is to have a proper building plan drawn up for the addition and to upgrade the existing septic system.  It's all very exciting!

Resurrection

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it?

I haven't been sitting idle.  I put the house on the market just after July 4th and quickly had two showings. The second showing was a fabulous couple who put in an offer, and after much ado the closing happened on November 6th.  I'm very pleased that the house now has owners who are over the moon about the place; they couldn't be more perfect.  As for me, it's as though a massive weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and for that I am so thankful!  It really was too much house for me, and the location was less than ideal. 

The mules have been temporarily stabled at a kind neighbor's house for the winter, which is walking distance from my mother's house.  Moving was not without hazards, of course.  In a panicked effort to get Fargo loaded onto a trailer, I made an error in judgement and wound up with a broken wrist.  Lesson learned.

For now I'm living with my mother, and in the spring I'll begin getting bids and contractors in line to build an addition onto her existing house for myself.  The structure is technically called an Accessory Dwelling Unit or ADU.  It's basically the same thing as an in-law apartment, but in our town it's required to be attached to the main structure.  Mom and I discussed options, and both agreed the best attachment space would be a four season sunroom.  I'll have to build a barn for the mules, as the old run-in shed the horses used to occupy has seen better days.  There are also future plans for a greenhouse, and possibly a small fruit orchard.  It's my new 10 year plan!

So since I'm homeless at the moment, I'm not doing much other than nursing my broken wrist back to health and dreaming of being in my own space again.  I'm hoping the addition will be built soon enough in the spring that I'll have the summer to plot out my new yard, but only time will tell.  Until then I'm lost in a sea of building plans, red tape, and dreams.  And I love it.

Saturday Musings Part II

New plan of attack to keep the cats out of the vegetable beds - this better work.

 

And I don't know what's going on with the little pond.  Either I've put a hole in the liner, or the water is evaporating because I don't have floating plants in there yet.  At any rate, it's nearly empty, and I've refilled it twice.  I won't give up on it until I've put the floaters in and see if that makes a difference.  I have a few more weeks before it'll be warm enough for that, so it's a hurry up and wait situation.

Saturday Musings

Apparently last year was a banner season for maple trees, and this spring everyone I know is absolutely infested with baby maples.  In the gardens, suffocating lawns, springing up between cracks in the cobblestones.  My property was not spared - I just spent two hours weeding my holding bed and 95% of what was plucked out were tiny maple trees.  One bed down, a bunch more to go.  But it does look better, and I'm finding that plants I had divided and moved around last year have survived the winter and are looking healthy.

 

 

 If finances allow, I'm hoping to re-mulch this bed.  It's been three years and it desperately needs it. A gardening friend really loves cocoa mulch, but I understand it can be dangerous to dogs and cats.  If I try it, I'll only use it on the beds in the front yard, where the cats aren't allowed.  It's pretty expensive compared to good old bark mulch, so that may factor into my decision.

I met with a realtor to begin the process of selling my house, so I do want everything to look nice.  Fingers crossed that I can get a decent price for the place, because if not, I'm stuck here.  It's not a horrible fate, but the commute to work, high property taxes, and expenses of keeping an older, massive house maintained are beginning to wear on me, physically and financially.  I need a smaller house where I can focus on the land more than the buildings.  It's all about the outside for me!

This weekend Mom and I are headed to the Freyburg Home and Garden Show, which should be fun.  We've attended many times and always find something new.

Last weekend I went to the falsely named World's Largest Yard Sale in Rochester with my friend Kim.  We were both disappointed at how many vendors were selling cheap, new products instead of actual used treasures.  Granted, there were deals to be had, but it wasn't nearly as large or exciting as we had hoped.  I did come home with some little guys for my gardens.

And this great jewelry box that I'm using to store my remote controls and various pairs of glasses. It matches my coffee table perfectly!

 

Why yes, I did inherit the junk loving gene.  My grandfather was instrumental in passing that along.  Never pass up a deal, and free stuff is always best.  Which reminds me, time to do a dump run and check out the free section; I've come home with some great stuff from the dump.  *unapologetic* 😏

True Dat.

Updates

Two updates.

1. The fence laid down over the garden doesn't keep one of the cats from using it as a toilet, she just does her thing and walks away without attempting to bury it.  Clearly this is one feline who has zero effs to give.

2. After two days, the solar fountain stopped working.  The company is sending a replacement fountain, so we'll see how the next unit fares.

The Little Water Garden

 A few years ago I decided to create a little water garden using a 35 gallon plastic stock tank I'd picked up at a yard sale or off Craigslist.  I set it in the ground, surrounded it with flagstone pavers, and filled it with water plants.  My little water feature thrived, and I even had frogs move in the first two years.

Last year was not so good.  I ended up having an algae problem and was too lazy to address it, so nothing really wanted to live in my little "pond".
Even though the tank garden worked well, it was still a pain to have to disassemble it for winter every year.  After the first killing frost in the fall I pull the plants out, discarding the water lettuce and water hyacinth.  Whatever perennials I can keep over winter, like dwarf papyrus and lavender musk, I bring indoors.  The dwarf cattails go into the basement in a bucket of water for the winter, where they never freeze and hardly ever see light.  Then I can drain the tank using a small sump pump, give it a good scrubbing, pull it out of the ground and flip it over for the winter.  Doing this prevents the water from freezing and cracking the tank.  I've decided that it's time to make a more permanent water feature out of my tank garden.

The first thing I did was pull the tank, then clean out the hole and remove the stone edging.  You want to be sure the hole and sides are smooth; the PVC pond liner is durable, but it's thin, and sharp stones or sticks can puncture it.  As an added precaution, I added two 50 lb. bags of play sand to the bottom of the hole.

Tutorials online also suggest old carpeting as an underlayment.  One thing to note - the pond liner (purchased on Amazon) has a shiny side and a dull side.  There were no instructions with the liner that told me which side was supposed to face up, and a quick search online resulted in the oft repeated answer that it doesn't matter.  I chose to put the dull side up because the water is reflective enough without a black high gloss shine coming from below.   Luckily, the 4'x6' sheet of pond liner I ordered fit perfectly.  I secured it in place with some heavy stones, making sure to leave a little give in the liner to accommodate for the weight and distribution of the water that would be added.

Before I started setting the edging stones, I mostly filled the hole with water to be sure I had given it enough slack, and to be sure the heavier stones would hold the liner corners when the pond was full.  I also started VERY GENTLY adding river rock to the bottom, and set a few larger rocks in the pond.

Once I knew the corners were secure, I moved on to the outer pieces of stone.  The black flies were brutal at this point and I just wanted to get it done and get back inside.  I didn't take the time to level out the stones and ensure they were locked in place with the stone dust.  I also only had one bag of stone dust, so later in the season I'll probably reset the edging properly.  Once that was done, I filled the pond to overflowing, to try to drain out some of the dirt and debris that had found its way into it.

I added some barley extract to help clear the water, and tossed in a small solar fountain I'd also ordered.  Hopefully these two additions will prevent another algae outbreak this year.  I pulled the cattails out of the basement and put them in there, too.  I normally acclimate them to the outdoors, but again, I was in a rush and I know they're pretty hardy plants, so this year I'm just winging it.
The next morning the water was much more clear, and the plants still look ok.

Not great, but not bad.  I wish I'd lowered the back edge so it was not so visible, but floating water plants will help camouflage that.  Once the really warm weather gets here I'll be able to add water lettuce and hyacinth, as well as the other perennials.

Materials and costs:
Pond liner (4x6)         $24
Solar fountain             $16
Play sand   50 lbs        $5 ea.

The flagstone was something I had on hand, as well as the river rocks and random stones.  The most expensive part of the water feature, I've learned, are the plants!

Prepwork and Scheming

The spring cleaning and prep-work for the gardens continues.  More raking, and more musing as to where I'm going to put what.  I want to move things around a little this year as far as vegetables in the container gardens, but the late spring and weather conditions put me behind a little.  I suddenly realized that I still hadn't planted my peas, and May was upon us!  Peas like cool weather and I usually plant them as soon as the pots are cleared of snow in April.  In a panic, I planted them in the same containers the other day just to get them in the ground.  So much for shaking it up.

The little bed where I normally plant tomatoes is going to be dedicated to bush beans and radish.  Unfortunately this bed attracts the cats, even though I've built them an outdoor litter box.  Maybe it's because they're confined to a small yard, but I've found nothing yet that will deter them from using my gardens as toilets.  Last year I tried hundreds of plastic forks planted in the dirt around my plants, and the cats just dug them up and made room to do their business.  I've seen plastic mats with spikes on them that you can cut to size for your garden, but I would rather use something I have on hand.  For the half moon garden I'm trying laying down short wire decorative fence.

I figure it should leave openings enough to deter digging but allow plants to grow.  Time will tell.  As it is, I had to dig the top layer of soil off and replace it with fresh dirt.  It didn't go to waste, though.  I'm trying some hugelkultur gardening!

Hugelkultur (translation - hill culture) is a type of gardening that involves mounding materials to form a hill shape, and planting into that.  Generally you start with logs and/or branches, then layer materials like leaves, sod, and compost over that, and finish with soil.  The idea behind this type of gardening is that you're putting the power of compost to work over a greater period of time.  The logs and branches take a longer time to break down and tend to hold moisture, making watering sometimes unnecessary unless there's a drought.  The rest of the materials provide nutrients as they break down, as well as heat that's created during that decaying process.

Over the winter I had a bunch of pine branches come down on the mule shed, so instead of hauling them to the burn pile, I piled them up where they sat.  I added some leaves I had raked off the back yard, then tossed on some mulch hay that I had used as insulation against the house foundation, and tossed the nasty garden soil into the mix.  Once Reputa the Beauta (my trusty garden tractor) is out of her winter storage mode, I'll haul down some composted mule manure to add to the pile.  Then a layer of dirt, and finally...I don't know yet.  Again, what to plant where?  Should I try veggies?  Flowers?  I've seen hugelkultur gardens with a mix of things, so maybe that's a possibility.  We'll see!  I still have a long way to go prepping and protecting before I start planting.

To protect the new raised bed, I'm thinking of using some old fencing I made from grade stakes.  I'm hoping laying them down across the soil will deter the cats.  I'm thinking the tomatoes will go in this garden.

 

It's been heartening to see the daffodils popping up around the property, and everything is greening up nicely.

The black flies are out en force, unfortunately.  I've put the bug curtains on the mule shed and they don't come out of there until the dark of night, when the black flies disappear.  They are so thick right now that any outdoor chores are miserable.

One non-gardening chore that needed doing was having the septic pumped, so I dug up the tank cover before the septic company came.  The cats were immediately drawn to it, as it's cement and holds the heat of the sun and the heat generated from the tank itself.  They spent a good part of the evening writhing around on it.  Ew.

 

My goal for this weekend is to swap out my stock tank water garden for a more permanent water feature.  I've purchased some pond lining fabric to replace the plastic tank and a small solar fountain to provide aeration.  Depending on the size of the fabric, I may make the pond a little larger and deeper than the stock tank.  I'm excited to get started, and will document the upgrade in my next post. 

Peel Away the Layers

The weather gods have finally smiled upon us and this weekend was a perfect example of the quintessential New England spring.  Sunshine, warm but not hot, people emerging from their homes like bears from their dens to greet the new season.  Raking has been my first order of business, and there's no shortage of that.
Normally I like to "put my gardens to bed" in the fall, meaning I cut back all the dead stems and leaves so the gardens are clean and fresh come spring.  I learned that leaving gardens as they are and letting nature take its course is much more beneficial to birds and insects over the long winter.  I saw evidence of this by leaving my perennial sunflower bed alone - the amount of birds that took advantage of the seed heads over the winter was amazing.  According to what I've heard, the best practice if you're aiming to provide protection for insects and small critters like salamanders is to leave your gardens in their natural state until you have at least two or three days above fifty degrees, to ensure these little guys have woken up and begun moving around, so they can find shelter elsewhere when disturbed.
Thanks to the late snow and undulating temperatures, many of my plants were vigorously growing beneath the leaf litter.  I'll admit I'm not the most gentle of gardeners (I call myself The Savage Gardener because I honestly have no patience.) and I tend to injure tender greens when raking.  I try to get out before perennials get too big, but sometimes that just doesn't happen.  I did pull a few tendrils, and break a few shoots, but more plants than not made it through my assault.
One of the small front gardens revealed more green than I had expected; peonies, daffodils, tulips, foxglove, and horseradish were all working away under that brown blanket.

 

There is still some ice and snow within the leaf litter, so some of the beds are a work in progress.  They should be completely cleaned by this coming weekend.

The main section of my holding bed was also busy, with variegated Jacob's Ladder, tulips, daffodils, coral bells, and more poking up through the ground.  No sign of my trillium yet, but hopefully it'll emerge soon now that the sun can warm the dirt.

I had cleaned off my strawberry bed a little too soon, so I may have killed off my strawberry plants.  Time will tell!  This is also where the perennial sunflowers are thickest.  I used an antique metal weed whacker to hack down the long stems and found that I'm less than proficient with that particular tool.  By the time I was done I had whip marks across my face and hands from the woody stems springing back violently as I swung the whacker back and forth.  Next time I'll use my lawn mower and spare myself the beating.

Next I'll move on to the Pollinator Plus Strip, which is mostly just gravel from the plow truck to deal with, and a few leaves mashed up against the fence.  My goal this year is to mulch the entire bed, which should take quite a while.

The mules are eager for the pasture to be opened up, but they'll have to wait a few more weeks.  The green is coming, but slowly.

After the front yard is done, it's off the back yard.  Never a dull moment!

Spring...?

What a nasty little storm that was.
Luckily we didn't get the feet of snow the upper Midwest did, but it was a mess none the less.  Sleet, freezing rain, and rain mixed together to make for treacherous driving conditions and a miserable 48 hours.  The snow is so sticky, the poor mules are battling massive snow and mud balls building up in their feet.  As soon as one drops off, another starts building up.  Everything is sopping wet and cold and miserable. 
I was hoping since we only had a skim of sleet built up on the gravel road, that the town plows wouldn't come through.  Unfortunately they did, but they seem to have taken pity on those of us who have started our spring roadside clean up efforts, because they plowed right down the middle of the road.  I should only have minor dirt and debris to clean off the edges when this slop finally melts.

 

                                                             And yet, life goes on. 

 

These were a pleasant surprise to discover - I'd forgotten that I had planted tulips in the front garden!
Hopefully this winter mess will be gone in a day or so.  The meteorologists are saying warm and sunny for the weekend, which I welcome with open arms.

Yard Therapy

Ahhh, the sore back and arms that come from a day of spring raking.  It feels so good to get out of the house and start on yard work.  I've raked along the outsides of the fences on both sides of the house, cleaned up the main paddock a little, moved some downed limbs and branches, raked the head of the path to the cemetery, and cleaned up around the little stone planter at the corner.  I took it slow and steady, had a few breaks, and am feeling accomplished.  The best part about being out in the yard is all the neighbors who stop to chat when they're driving by, or honk and wave as they pass, or stop to catch up while they're out doing their own yard work.  Every corner of the neighborhood is beginning to stir after a long winter.  The only downside is that we're looking at snow, sleet, ice, and rain for the next two days.  Ugh!  Spring is such a little tease.  At least I'll sleep well tonight, and dream of all the bits of green I've seen poking from under the leaf litter.  Next up, cleaning out the gardens.  I can't wait!

Chilly Start

I'm glad I didn't uncover my gardens this past weekend - look at what greeted us this morning:

 

 That would be frost on the lawns...yuck!  And our weather continues to run like a roller coaster for the rest of the week.  I'm waffling back and forth on whether or not to uncover my perennial beds over the next few days.  We'll see temps in the 50s, so plants will be responding, but we're also expecting highs only in the mid 30s with a wintry mix on Sunday.  Decisions, decisions...

And She's Off

I've set up my little greenhouse and I couldn't be more happy!  I'm always giddy when I begin the growing season...if only I could harness this enthusiasm and mete it out throughout the year.  Oh well!

I purchased this inexpensive greenhouse at Ocean State Job Lots for $20 about three or four years ago.  I like that it's easy to set up and even when I have a multitude of plants in it, it's still light enough to move by myself.  Once we start getting really warm days I move it on to my porch, then bring it back inside during the night.  When nights begin staying above 40*F I'll leave it out there, and when the plants are strong enough I'll begin hardening them off by leaving the door up to acclimate them to the outside temperatures.  By the end of May or early June they should be ready for transplanting.  Remember the rule of thumb for planting in the northeast - wait until after the last full moon of May to plant, usually the danger of a hard frost is over by then.  Though, I've seen June come in with sweater weather, so you can never be 100% sure. 
For my first round of plants I've planted 8 beefsteak tomatoes, 4 Roma tomatoes, 8 sweet peppers, 36 Cleome, a small pot of basil, and two window boxes of the mesclun/arugula/mustard green mix.  I've moved the catnip into the greenhouse because it was in danger of being over eaten and the other pot is a sad attempt at propagating my hibiscus by seed.  Don't think that one will take, but you never know.  In a week or so I'll start a second round of mesclun and some spinach, as well as a few more tomatoes.  I haven't grown cherry tomatoes in years, so maybe I'll try some of those.  It feels so good to get started after this long, drawn out winter!

Get Ready, Here It Comes

Maybe.
Spring will be here soon.
MAYBE.
What fresh new hell have I awoken to this morning?

Ugh. 
Well, I can't really complain.  Spring snow on bare ground is what the old timer's call "poor man's fertilizer".   A few days ago I gathered up all the bags of waste hay and seed that I've been sweeping up in the barn all winter and scattered it around the bare spots in the pasture.  We had a decent rain that day to hold it down, and then this dusting of snow.  Maybe I'll get a little green out of that effort.
The Portland Flower Show was fun.  Small compared to the Freyburg show, but it was still nice to smell dirt and plants and flowers, and see all kinds of exhibitions.  We took in a lecture about habitat for pollinators that was really well presented by the creator of First Light Wildlife Habitats.  I'm happy to say that my Pollinator Plus Strip is on target for its purpose.  After dividing and transplanting plants last fall, I'm eager to see what it produces this year.  One goal for that particular garden is to dig out the grasses.  I had planned to leave them, as they produce seed that insects, rodents, and birds find useful (thus the addition of the word plus to the name), but since I'd like to sell this place I believe potential buyers would find it too unkempt.  I may even go so far as to add bark mulch around the plants, but we'll see how well my body holds up to the initial job at hand.
I've successfully resisted any premature seed starting this year.  Tomorrow I will set up my little greenhouse and prepare some trays for more salad greens, tomatoes, and peppers.  We're expecting a cool, damp spring, so I'll wait one more week before starting anything to ensure the plants don't get too leggy if they have to be kept indoors longer than normal.  Everything else I think I'll sow directly in the ground; squash, pumpkin, cucumbers, radish, peas, and beans.  I also have a multitude of annual flower seeds I can direct sow in various places around the property once the soil is warmed up enough. 
Even with this dusting of snow and the below freezing temperatures at night, there are signs of spring all around.  In the mornings I'm greeted by a cacophony of bird noises, trees are beginning to show buds, and perennials are pushing up through the ground everywhere.  As soon as we get a little warmer weather and it dries out, I can begin peeling the winter leaf mulch off my beds.  The fever is beginning to set in!

daffodils emerging from under the snow

oriental poppy in a perennial bed

 Bizzy enjoying a warm spring day in the yard