Fred and Ethel Have Arrived!

It is officially Spring now that Fred and Ethel have arrived to test the pond and scope out the yard.  The last several years this couple have come to our yard and tested the digs for what I can only assume is for a possible nesting site.  We fail the test every year, but they do give it a few days of a thorough tryout; swim in the pond, waddle about, eat any scraps of bird seed, sit on the lawn, and on the dock.  Maybe this will be the summer we pass inspection!

Welcome Back!

Over In a Flash

Summer was over in a flash, a flash of beautiful color this Fall and in a flash of brittle cold in early November.  The garden was put to bed with compost and straw and the Juncos arrived with the cold and snow.  We were also visited by the cedar waxwings in our crabapple tree, then the cardinals, woodpeckers and chickadees also thought it was a good place to hang out, lots of little apples for everyone!  We don't have quite the extra produce in our coffers like last year, but plenty of peas.  I'm already planning on growing greens again this winter in the porch, and hoping for a warm up and sun!

harvest moon



Fall has arrived but still trying to ripen tomatoes under the cloth.



grasses and asters

love it!

I had to add a few pictures from our travels to the north shore, it was a beautiful week of weather and adventures.

 

north shore  a calm day

wildflowers on north shore

the Baptism river emptying into Superior

Fall and Falls

our beach front on Superior

The Cedars descend

Cedar Waxwing

cedar waxwing

Too soon

Downy woodpecker



Cardinal


Until Spring,
Greenie

It's not the Heat it's the Humidity!

There is nothing like pulling weeds and moving large rocks around in a nice hot, humid Minnesota day! It is state fair time and the humidity has arrived just in time.  Maybe even soon enough to revive my rutabagas.  I actually pulled a tomato plant out today because it just wasn't producing.  The plant looked healthy but it only had one green tomato left and a couple of blossoms.  It did produce about 5 tomatoes earlier, some good size, but it was a losing battle with the Maple tree roots.  Next year will be a different story with the vegetable garden.  More inter-planting of tomatoes with the perennial garden and maybe a raised bed for the rutabaga or beans, or maybe no rutabaga. I'm excited about the change of combining the two gardens, but dreading the work.  I think the best solution at this time is to continue with the rubber edging and rock combination.  I'm ready to be done with the structural part of the garden so I can focus on the purpose of attracting bees, butterflies and birds. Seriously, I just want to be in the garden, not constantly creating it! 
Ok, so today is 70 degrees and no humidity, and I did take advantage of that and moved some more rocks!  I have some serious digging to do to expand the rain garden area, but I am getting more excited about finishing this part of the garden. Time for photos...

August 17th and still getting peas!  I took the pea plants out several days later and got another bowl full!

Removing the old plastic edging and putting in the brown rubber edging.

Finished with the edging and rock/paver layout by the pond bridge. 

Green beans in foreground doing well, crimson clover just coming up.

Redo of path to shed with large pavers and old rock.  Just need to add some more rock and mulch.

keeping tabs on the blue spruce growth

A series of storm cloud formations to the northwest of us with the setting sun.

This one had lightening inside of it, but I couldn't capture it on film.  Blue sky all around it!

 

These tomato plants are doing well.  I always plant a lot of tomato plants, because stuff happens.



Larry's brussel sprout plant in the foreground.  I like the look of the plant- may use as an ornamental next summer, or maybe in a pot.  Sickly tomatoes behind, soon to be pulled.

Signing off.  Greenie

Summer's Full Swing



true blue! my only pampered plant.

new grape vine!

Sometimes I wish I had a swing, an old fashioned rope swing with a wood seat.  In a couple of years the maple's tree branch may be strong enough!
I'm sitting outside writing this in what is an absolute perfect summer evening, a light breeze, perfect temperature, the ponds are bubbling and the garden is happy.  Our little expansion,( I call it phase 5 of the "plan"), with a small rock wall is ready for plantings.  I planted some green beans on the southern edge, and divided and transplanted all of the prairie smoke to the rock edge.  With the prairie smoke moved we can see the pond from the porch.

The hops have significantly expanded their territory. 
Already growing on the new arbor!

The peas did great and I will probably plant some more, never know, we could have an extended summer.  The beans are good and our small tomatoes are ripening, but the zucchini, rutabaga, and peppers seem to be very slow.  We just haven't had too much heat, but it has been a fabulous summer.  I'm glad for the farmer's market!

 I love how the lilies take turns blooming.  First the magenta, and now the large yellow lilies.

we've seen a lot of monarchs and yellow swallow tails this summer, love that! Gives me hope.

Time to dig.  Don't let that pretty dark earth fool you, underneath are rocks, rocks, and more rocks, oh and a few thousand ants! The only plants for sure going in here are the prairie smoke, a prairie clover and some crimson clover.  The south side will be used for vegetables, like beans.  You can never have too many beans, or peas, or tomatoes, or...

Echinops, I've grown attached to these fun flowers.

The beans were just planted, and they are already up a couple of inches as of today, I'll have to add another picture.

This picture doesn't really do justice to all the lovely flowers in the circle.  It really is a lovely mess.

The red Echinacea is new this year.

So, I will definitely add photos of vegetables in the next post, and hopefully phase 5 will be further along!

Greenie

No Complaints Allowed

Considering our past winter, no complaints allowed.  No complaints about humidity, strange temperature fluctuations, an over abundance of rain, etc., etc.  Today is perfection!  The monarchs are returning and that definitely puts a smile on my face.  We've had about 5-7 visits of monarchs this summer so far, granted it could be the same monarch, but it is an improvement from last summer.
From my last long ago post I was lamenting the sorry state of some trees in our yard.  Yes we did take out our Vanderwolfs in the front yard and replaced them with a sturdy Norway Spruce.  Our Redbud did survive but it has lost about 30% of it's branches.  We will take a wait and see approach, Wait to See what it looks like next Spring.  Our little pinnacle birch appears to have contracted some sort of wilting disease, trim the dead, and wait and see.
The perennials all returned with spectacular enthusiasm, even my little delphinium, that I almost dug up to replace.  It just made a very late appearance.  It may not even bloom this year.  Everything else really looks good.  Most bigger and better than ever!

overview of side yard.  everyone is healthy!

The tall knapweed, and Joan Elliot campanula doing really well.

patio side pincushions, butterfly weed, stella lilies, and strawberries.

We've had an abundance of robins.  Larry puts out mealworms.

The ponds are clear!

The prairie clover is thriving and was loaded with a variety of bees!

 

We are picking the cherries twice a day, instead of throwing the net over it.  The cherries are taking a long time to ripen but I've made a few jars of jam so far, might get a couple more jars.  It was loaded with flowers this Spring but we didn't have a lot of bees then, so maybe that is why it is such a small crop of cherries, but they are delicious!  I just recently discovered a garden center in Wisconsin that has a sweet cherry tree for zone 4, could it be true?  Very tempting, and if that Redbud doesn't rebound...

The vegetable garden is making a slow but consistent march towards harvest, the peapods are doing great, beans are starting to set, so the  next post will focus on produce, and maybe the new addition of large rocks?

I'm also looking at the perennial gardens with a more critical eye of composition and color while keeping in mind it's purpose of catering to bees, butterflies and birds.  A lot of my plantings have been experimental, to see who really thrives in this soil, to see who really attracts the bees, the butterflies and the birds.  Sometimes I wish I had a bit more space to play in but then my body reminds me it is a lot like work.

Until the next post.

Greenie

 

 

May 14th, 2014- The Leaves of Life

Is it possible Spring is here, even when the evening temperatures will dip to 39 degrees?  The trees and perennials say it is Spring, and they are the true authority.  After a long cold winter I'm thrilled to see all the survivors showing their green.  I also need to remember that there are a lot of late bloomers, and not to think the worst has happened to them, patience.
I am a bit worried about our little redbud.  Very little sign of life, but there are signs, patience.
Unfortunately, our new vanderwolf pines in front suffered from winter burn and will probably need to be replaced, but we will wait and see how they look in another month, patience.
I did get the peas in and I'm seeing signs of green poking through the soil even with the squirrels doing their best to dig up every inch of soil in our yard.  Feeling sorry for the critters over the winter and providing food for them has given us an abundance of squirrels in the yard.  I'd rather have a couple more bunnies to deal with than the squirrels, who tend to get a bit destructive, supersoaker.
We have a fabulous collection of birds visiting the yard, and a newcomer, a yellow-rumped "Myrtle" warbler.  Very pretty bird, I'll be sure to include a photo.  It's probably time to put out the humming bird feeders.
Another big project coming up with the final backyard installment with some rocks, steps and more plants of course.


NEW VISITOR! YELLOW RUMPED WARBLER

NORTHERN FLICKER

MAY 14 2014 OVERVIEW

PASQUE FLOWER

PRAIRIE SMOKE

 

Time to muck out the pond again- Greenie