The Thawing

Ahhhh, spring-ish!
The snow is finally gone and yard work has commenced.  I have to admit, I'm sad that I don't have my own yard yet, and a little lost because of it, but there's enough to do for Mom that will keep me busy.  
My tomatoes are out of control and I've had to pinch them back to keep them from getting too leggy.  When I transplanted them into bigger pots, I did bury them as deep as I could.  Something I never realized before is that those little white hairs on the tomato plant stem will actually become roots, so burying the stem works well to support leggy plants.
My peppers and radicchio are not as spectacular, but they're still alive.  I need to set up my container gardens and replant some of my cool weather crops.  I did plant my peas a few weeks ago, so I'm on track with at least one crop.

The bank behind these pots is one of my future projects - I'd love to create a terrace garden here.
And check out my latest Craigslist score!

This is an 8'x3'x3' fiberglass structure that was used to cover some kind of electrical transformer.  The seller had two, but I was only able to get one of them.  It's going to make a fantastic raised bed planter!  It's open top and bottom, so drainage will not be an issue.  I won't be able to use it this year, because I'm not sure where I want it.  Once this thing is filled with dirt, there will be no moving it, so I want to be sure I've placed it in the best spot.  I'll most likely use a hugelkultur-type method of filling it, like I do with my stock tank gardens.  Start with a layer of branches/logs, add leaves or natural mulch, waste hay from the mule pen, composted manure, and then soil.  As the layers decompose yearly, I just add more soil to the top.  I cannot wait to get my gardens set up!

Seasonal lament

Spring in New England, gotta love it.  Used your heat and air conditioning in one day?  Yup.  One day you're in a t-shirt, the next morning you wake up to a dusting of snow.  Although, it's still beautiful.

And this will be the view out my living room window next year.

I need to find a good tree person to work on that mulberry tree in the center of the pasture.  Over the years the horses ate all the lower branches and now there's bittersweet vines beginning to choke it.  If you've never had mulberries, they're the most delicious berries ever, so saving this tree is a must.

I have my finished plans for the ADU in my hot little hands, so now I'm just waiting for the septic design.

This little woolly bear caterpillar crawled out from under a snowbank the other day.  Little early, dude.  You can see him just above the crack in the step.

Yesterday a big fox was out in the pasture, and Fish & Game has started to ask people to bring in bird feeders because the bears are beginning to emerge from their winter dens.  Love these signs of spring!

These signs, not so much.

Ugh.  The big barn is temporarily a large flooded mess.  Mom & I spent a few hours pumping it out to try to get it to dry up.  I had to move the snow blowers and my air compressor up onto pallets to get them out of the water.  In some spots it was about 3" deep.  Always an adventure!

Wildlife

Just some random shots from the past few months.

 

Meteorological Spring!

To be fair, the winter of 2018/2019 wasn't all that bad.  Instead of the long stretches of bitter arctic cold, we would have a few days here or there.  Unfortunately, we did have a lot of rain, and that made for a very icy winter.

In the past few months I've made a small amount of headway on the new living quarters. A septic designer has been retained and as soon as the snow is gone, they can get in here to survey and dig test pits and whatever else it is they do.  Since it will be the first phase of the entire project and will be located behind the existing cape and new addition, the septic system will need to be completed first.

A building design and floor plan are in the works, as well.  It's really starting to feel more like a real project, and less like an abstract idea.

My mom has also been gracious enough to allow me to set up my little greenhouse so I can start my seeds.  I'm sad that I won't have my gardens to explore, because seeing all the plants emerge in spring has always been my favorite part of gardening.  I can still wander through Mom's gardens and check my own plants in their temporary holding beds, but it's just not the same.  I'm kind of glad that I've been doing so much container gardening over the past six years, because that's going to be my first year garden until I get a yard situated.  I did have an idea to build terrace gardens into the hill next to the old run-in shed, but we'll see how much time I have to do that.

Since I can't remember where I put my old plant starting equipment, I splurged on some Burpee seed starting kits.  I like the mat that wicks water up to the plants, so I don't have to spend time misting the seedlings every morning.  I've started two types of beefsteak tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, grape tomatoes, sweet peppers, and for the first time ever, Radicchio.  I'm also trying to start some of the perennial seeds I collected from my old gardens...I'm not sure they'll actually grow, but it's worth a shot!

So that's where I'm at!  We have a small snow storm coming in tomorrow,  but after that we're looking at temperatures in the 40s, so things will start to break soon.  Let the great melt commence!

Surprise Visit

We were sitting in Mom's living room today and movement caught my eye out the window.  I jabbered about a wild cat, but Mom thought it was just a stray house cat. I grabbed my camera and the long lens and started shooting.  Yup, a small bobcat!  The quality isn't the greatest, shooting through two dirty windows, but I'm excited to add these to my collection of wildlife photos.

 

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.