The Seen And The Unseen

Some times I have so many garden plans and then found that we had lots of unseen things that we had no idea what was going on in the yard and gardens.  Oh I had lost of plans this year, but so did others and it took some time to figure it all out.  I have not written on this blog in quite some time.  I was so disenchanted with my whole yard, on my acre, in the middle of the big woods, on the side of this mountain, that I just could not bring myself to post anything.

The beginning of Spring, I planted lots of things and they were all doing so well. I had 2 Tomato plants and one of them was a patio tomato and wanted to see how it would do in my raised garden. Planted to green peppers and one hot one to make some salsa.  We had some squash that came up on it's own, cucumbers, and cantaloupes, and my favorite Purple Beans and lettuce and spinach.  They were growing so good and I was so happy. I was going to be able to do some canning and freezing for the summer and the winter of this year.  Dreams of a full pantry were on my mind.

DEER

Then we had a kind of beautiful/disastrous problem in just one night.  No kidding it was beauty and nature and I do love that part, but it was also so devastating that happened in one single night. We are graced with many deer on this mountain and they are such beautiful and graceful creatures and I just love to see them,

but.....and a big BUT.....they ate all the gardens that you see above and left me with nothing. I planted things that they are said to not like and they ate all of them too. I almost wanted to cry.....seriously.

Our grocery bill has been higher because of this and it saddens me greatly that I could not go out and pick some beans and lettuce and garden vegetables for a fresh salad.  Oh, I did try and plant more seeds, but for some reason they did not want to come up at all.  Though it was the middle of July, but still nothing.

VOLES

We also had voles and I thought they were moles.  They eat different things and that is the difference that I was told. They eat bulbs, which I had bought and planted in my front garden last fall.  Only 2 of them came up.  Really, I had no idea what killed something like 50 or more bulbs.   We live in the woods and lots of trees and weeds and all kinds of things and flowers that we planted and they really did clean out the yard and gardens.

We were told to get some Vole no kill repellent and that would fix the problem.  HA!  We used 3 bags of that stuff and I still see some new holes. At first the holes that I saw I thought were made by snakes. Notice in front of this Rose Garden how there is no grass or clover or anything growing there.  We had seeded lots of Clover there for the bees to get to, but all the grubs ate that and of course the favorite food for the Voles is....grubs.

These are the main Bearded Irises's that I divided and put many up front along the road. They had eaten every single one of the bulbs in that garden.

We were on the war path during most of the summer, trying to get control of our yard and gardens.  Very sad to say that will take another year, maybe more.

GRUBS, BUGS, FLEAS AND MORE 

Then I remembered that we didn't put Fast Acting Pulverized/Powedered AgriLime down this year!  We had something stored in one of the Metal Trash cans that I use lots but couldn't remember what it was.  Oh and Next time I will put the bag in there to let me know what it is that is being stored in there.  Just before we put that and a heavy coverage of it down we have a major flea problem.  So we are still dealing with that, but not as bad outside now that we put the AGLime down.  It has been a hell of a year around my house and in my house. I mean one has to be creative to get things to grow and keep growing and not eaten or kill anything.  We spread the AGLime to kill the bugs, grubs and to keep the Voles out.

FENCING

The Deer problem is more of a community effort as the neighbor that we have wasn't aware that feeding the many birds around here also feeds the Deer.  There is one Momma deer and she has twins this year.  Oh they still had their spots and that is unusual this late in the summer too.  I am not sure what is going on this year with all this.  I do know that we had a very warm and wet Winter and Spring this year, so far.  I am not sure what this Fall will bring though.  People do not get it when I tell them that every year around here is a new planting schedule and seasons.  No two are alike that I have found out by living and working in the yard and gardens since 2002.

Here is a new project to keep the Deer out of the Vegetable Gardens. It has taken us a while to get it all together because of all the setbacks that we have, but it is 90% finished. Though Lowes had many of the things that we thought that we needed some of the supplies weren't exactly the right sizes,  So we had to use our thinking caps and came up with something that would work. We also had to hire someone to do the work because I had hurt my hand badly and could not hold anything.

I will be hanging something light on the top of the fence to scare the deer and other animals away and make it pretty. During Christmas I will hang Christmas balls and during Easter I will hang some of those colorful plastic eggs on it.  They will match the colors of the raised garden inside the fence.

I do hope that my plans work out for next year because I am a whole lot more knowledgeable.  

THE SEEN AND THE UNSEEN

It was a really quick SEEN and the UNSEEN adventure this past year.  When putting some of that repellent in one of the holes one of the voles ran out. My cat, Frederick, caught it and then let it go. They have huge claws.  I think it got him and he had to let it go.  That thing was the size of a fat hamster.  It dug back down into the ground in less than 20 seconds!  My husband and I looked at the surprise on Frederick's face.  Frederick looked at us too.  We were all very surprised at how fast that creature went underground.  

What else will be SEEN AND UNSEEN in my yard and gardens the rest of the year and how well this fence does?

Such Is Nature Around My Gardens

I have not written in a while here on any of my blogs.  I have been busy with many other things and switching computers because somebody decided to jump on my keyboard for my desktop and broke it Sidney is a big cat.

I can't share much with you about my gardens because it has been terribly dry this whole Summer and everything up and died.  That and the tamed deer that I named Maverick came around and ate anything that he could find.  Most deer will not touch anything that is even the slightest bit prickly, like squash vine.  That didn't both him though and he ate all the leave off my plants.  I had a good number of them growing because we get those vine borers and thought the more the better.  Not when Maverick came around.  I got one squash from all 9 plants.  He even liked my roses.

I didn't get any cucumbers and the beans didn't do all that well this year either.  I did get a gallon sized bag of them to freeze, but that didn't last long.  I love beans and put them in lots of dishes or we eat them as a side dish.  I like to eat them cooked up in butter...all by themselves and as a meal instead of a side dish.  How about you?

 

Our lettuce and spinach didn't last all that long either because it got hot too fast and rained so much early summer. The rain drowned a good many of our seeds that we planted.  It was just a not a good year to grow anything.  

Even the farmers that grow corn every year had a late start planting their crops.  First it was cool and too wet at planting time and then it all of a sudden got hot and dry and has stayed that way for the whole Summer and is still that way here in mid-September.  All I can do is dream for next year and hope that it will be better for planting vegetables and maybe some fruit next year.  

Here on the west side of our mountain you cannot ever predict what the weather will be from one year to the next.  It is not like in the valley where you get abundant sunshine and rain and pretty much the same every year.  I also live in a forest and try as I might it is hard to plant the right vegetables at the right time and then if I do get that then we have the onslaught of insects and now the deer.  My deer chasers don't work on Maverick.  He puts his nose right in them and gives them a good smell.  Wild deer won't come near them.

Well that is all I can say about our gardens for this year.  Hoping next year is better.

It's Weed Season On Misty Acre

Many folks have three or four seasons in the year.  Some like Florida have only two.  I have five, if you want to call them that.

We have Summer, Fall, Winter, Early Spring, Weed Season and Summer.  Weed season lasts about a month.  One year we filled three large contractor's trash bags full of weeds.  That was just from the gardens and not the lawn.  It was crazy, hard and tiring.  It is all uphill and you use the muscles in the back of your legs.  It makes you wonder how your leg muscles can hurt so much after doing that.  Just sit down for an hour and then get up and try doing that gain.  I have heard that even the fittest people have problems with this.  Though they might not for as long as those of us that have a more sedentery style of life.  

Some weeds are pretty while some take over anything they can grow on.  I have many different types of those and then this year we have yet another kind of weed.  Though it is pretty and has very petite flowers on it, it has take over most of the yard and down into the woods.  I have never seen this weed before.  I surmise that some bird brought it into the yard as it spreads seeds from far and wide around these parts.  I am not sure I want to get rid of it, and I don't use chemicals anymore.  It is pretty.  I don't know how long it will be here before dying down.



We have another one that we have that is a very persistent weed.  It has taken years of pulling to gain some kind of control of it.  It gets really tiny white flowers on it and the root system is almost non existent.  I asked around and someone finally told me that this plant is a Galium aparine. The many names for this plant are: cleavers, clivers, goosegrass, catchweed, stickyweed, robin-run-the-hedge, sticky willy, sticky willow, sticky geordies, velcro weed, and grip grass. It is a herbaceous annual plant of the family Rubiaceae.  There are many herbal uses for this plant but I still call it a weed.  It sticks to everything.  Native people and those who use natural forms of medicines use this to treat burns and insect bit and also uuse it as a strainer for milk.  

Then we have this plant that seems to grow in the dark like under the crawlspace and in the wooded areas and right out in the sun.  I have no idea what it is.  I thought it to be some kind of mushroom thing, but when I touched it the plant was more woody that mushroomy.  If you know what it is please tell me.

We also have, I think it is, Monkshead.  I am not totally sure if that is what it is called but it also likes to grow everywhere and it is very pretty.

Meanwhile We have already gotten our raised gardens prepped and planted and covered and trellised.  This year I have planted Lettuce (Bibb and Buttercrunch), Spinach, Three colors of Bush Beans (Purple, Yellow and Green), Summer Squash, Broccoli and Cauliflower, Patio Corn and Cucumbers.  A few beans have come up, some Cucumbers and the Lettuce and Spinach.  We are still waiting for the rest.  It is still early though and we have had some cool, wet days.  I am not sure about the corn though becasue it doesn't like the cooler temps but I had tried them in pots on the patio last year and they didn't do so well.  I planted them straight in the ground this year.

These are my gardens and how they are progressing.  

How does your garden grow?

How I Made A Trellis

How To Make A Trellis From Scrap Wood 

Rose On Trellis March 24, 2016

It started out when our Rose that was climbing up the side of the house decided it wanted to grow the opposite way.  Oh I trimmed it every year, but it still grew towards the ramp.  I also wasn't happy about how the house looked with the lattice on the side.  Someone told me that it looked like my house had wings.  They weren't all the pretty either.  So  I decided to allow the Rose to do what it wanted to do and made a trellis for it to climb on.

The Rose in the Wooden Barrel.  See opening on the bottom of the house...
that is where the rose decided that it was going to send the tap root to.

At first we thought that it would be easy to dismantle the old wooden barrel that a neighbor gave us to uses many years ago when she was moving and couldn't take it with her.  That was further from the truth as one can get.  Oh, taking down the boards around the planet was the easy part because they were so decomposed.  Digging out the Rose was an entirely different story.  The main root grew and grew and grew and it is still right where it grew and we cannot find the end.  It grew right down under the house and we cannot get to dig anymore under there, so there is where it stays.  

So we kind of leaned the Rose up against the trellis.  It likes it there and is coming back pretty good as you can see on the top picture.

I went around the yard and under the crawlspace and under the back deck looking for things that I could use to make an easy and pretty Trellis.  I found a few 2x4's and some old wood flooring planks that were left over from making our kitchen counter top with.  I measured the deck or ramp at the point where it was the most straight.  It does curve before the banisters start.  So I had to get it just right. 

All parts painted and ready to be put together.

I figured out how deep I needed to make it and measured the boards and then cut them.  I want birds and bees to nest and feed in the Rose and on the trellis so I pained the boards bright colors.  The Rose is a bright Pink.  I don't think it really matters because when the Rose gets full you will not be able to even see the trellis.  During the winter months you will though and I painted them to match the colors in my Raised Gardens at the top of my lot.  We have an acre but only want to use the top portion.

Duke

After painting the boards and allowing them to dry for a day or so, I started to assemble them.  The boards all looked very pretty.  I had to find something to go over the top so that the Rose will climb over.  I wish that I could put another climbing plant on the other side but my dog will tear that out the first time he runs to greet his Daddy when he comes home or after a cat that comes within his reach.  Oh he doesn't hurt them or chase them.  He loves them and they love him and the cats are always sniffing in his ears or rubbing up against him.

Skeleton of one side of the Trellis.

To put the board together I laid them down on the deck and screwed them together one side and then the other side.  This is where I needed someone to help me.  After screwing them together I needed some one to hold the sides up to the deck so that I could screw them into the sides below the floor.  Man was that so difficult!  The deck wood was pressure treated and it was deck wood.  It is a special kind of wood used for anything made to be out in the weather.  It was like cement!  I am not making it bigger than what it is.  

Side is ready to be put up.

My husband even tried hammering nails into it.  I hammered nails into it and the nail head was imploding into itself.  Nope not bending and I could understand that.  I even drilled starter holes in the wood and broke off two drill bits.  Thar wood is like petrified.  We think that we got enough steel in it to hold it. Crazy!

We finally get the sides up and still I have not figured out what I can use for the top.  Oh and my husband is tall and I had to make the trellis high even that he would not hit his head on it.  I had t get on a step stool for me to reach the tip of it.

Here I am tying down the lattice.

We had. still do, pieces of white plastic lattice leftover and so I screwed two pieces together in the center and laid it across the top of the sides of the trellis.  I had to put some leftover PVC pipe alongside of that to keep it from falling in.  I think that I did a pretty good job as we had 42 inches of snow fall during the winter....all at once and it is still standing.

When doing projects at our house, we really need to get creative.  We don't have a whole lot of money and I don't just up and throw things away.  I am resourceful and I like to recycle and re purpose things.  

That's How Gardening is On Misty Acre!

How To Make Your Own Compost Bin

Re-Purpose a 33 gallon Trashcan

I do not use these larger trashcan for trash or garbage.  I never really have since we moved into this place that we call home.  It used to be my parent's vacation cabin.  They transferred the deed to us and I have loved it ever since. 

I love working in the soil and it give me great peace of mind and the love of nature and all that is around me.  This place and my parent's gave me this wonderful place to do so.  It is my stress reliever of sorts as when I take care of all my gardens they also in turn take care of me and it is the only thing that I think about when "playing" in the dirt.

So this 33 gallon trashcan was used as a rain barrel that I collect water in for watering my plants.  I hate to use the city water for them.  We did in stall a water softener but it used salt to filer out the muck and chlorine from the city water.  So I use Mother Nature's watering system as much as I can.  Rain is a much better option and I do use that to my advantage when I plant plant right before it is going to rain.  Collecting the water is the next best things though and we have been doing it for years.

Well my rain barrel split open and it would not hold water past 2 feet up.  My husband was going to take it to the recycling center, but I got the bright idea of re-purposing it for a compost bin.  We do now use one of the gardens as a compost of sorts as we put our kitchen scraps in it and till it once a week or less.  I want to plant something in that one and this was the perfect idea.  We have had a few other purchased compost bins and none of them were nice enough to put it where we needed it.  It needs to go right up there where my raised gardens are.  That would make the most sense anyway.  It will be between the Yellow and Pink beds.  It is in full sun and will get hot very quickly to "cook" the compost.  It will be where I can use it the most.  We did have one down on the right side of our house, but it did not get enough sun and I had to lug things there and then up to the garden beds.  

Anyway the plastic can was grey and had a grey lid.  We did have a replacement for that as we had another trashcan that was not being use.  I switched the lids with that one because I had holes frilled in the top to allow the water into the can and not the leaves or other debris that flies around these woods.

I painted the bottom black with a Outdoor Satin paint and the blue on the upper part.  Then I painted some things on the black with the other colors that are used on the raised gardens.  Voila!  Now I just need to put it up there in the middle of my garden beds and start filling it up.  The first thing will be some of that compost from the Lilac colored raised garden that we are now using as a compost of sorts.  

March 2016 Garden At The Allen Home

Gardening At The Allen Home

Survey of Gardens In The Lower Yard

This year we start off with surveying our gardens. Everything has fallen into disrepair here this year.  We need to do lots of things, ...well not really lots but more time consuming. Everything around here is time consuming and it all requires that nature cooperates with us.  As you can see all the boards that surround our various garden plots in the lower yard need reset.  We cannot do this yet as there is more winter weather heading our way.  

The Vegetable Gardens

Last year we knew that a few of these would be needing some extra tender loving care.  We had already gotten the boards that need the most replacing and painted before winter hit.  Now we just had to cut them to the right size and paint them.  We cut them, but as yet it has been too cold and wet to paint.  The wind doesn't help either.  Nature just is not cooperating with us this year so far.  It is supposed to be a balmy 70 degrees in the next day or so, but it may bee too windy.  I did some painting last year when it was windy and I think that I got more paint in the woods than on my project.  So I will just wait it out.  I was hoping to try growing some colder weather vegetables this year, but that my not happen. 

Jonas, The Snow Storm

Jonas, The Winter Storm of 2016

Nature played a trick on us this year.  She sent in a freak snow storm and the weatherman named it Jonas. That storm dumped 42 inches of snow on us in a couple of days time.We couldn't get out our front door without trying to shove it open enough to get start shoveling. It was like a nightmare.  I have pictures on a deer coming to play with my dog Duke that very morning before the snow started coming down that evening. The weatherman only called for between 18 inches and 30 inches.  We got socked. It took 2 months before it all melted.  

Two Out Of One

Some work to be done.  The yellow raised garden is literally falling apart.  I mean that the boards are rotting enough that the nails have just about gone right through them.  It will not be too difficult in taking that raised garden apart.  We have no more use for those boards and found other boards to use and also bought two last year for another garden that we didn't make.  Boy do making gardens get addicting.  I need to stop that, but this one is a fixer upper.  With the boards that I marked and cut we will be able to make two new raised gardens out of the one. They will be smaller, but more manageable than the one long one.  That is going to take the most time and will be complicated.  We are waiting for the weather to cooperate so that I can paint them.

Spring Has Sprung

Due to the high volume of snow that we had and the longevity of it being here most of my flower bulbs were stunted.  I had many Irises planted in one garden that most of them aren't even peaking out of the ground.  So to end this I will leave off with a group of Daffodils that I took a picture of a few days ago.

Garden Journal June 28 2015

Welcome To My Gardens

I know that I have not written here in a while.  That is due to nothing really happening in the garden right yet.  I am just letting things grow as they should.  So this morning I went out and took some pictures of all my vegetables in their garden beds to show you the progress that they have made.

The first ones that I have pictures of is my cucumbers.  It seems like they have had blooms on them for a week now but are starting to have tiny cucumbers on them.  Oh and I did see a bumble bee pollinating them on Friday evening.

I think that I finally got them in my area and I think it is because I have planted some white clover in my yard.  They now have lots of things to get their meals from and pollinate at the same time.  I am hoping that will be the same for the humming birds that I have feeding at my feeders. I also have a bit of Bee Balm growing up front too.  Last year they did not flower, but they are flowering this year.  They are pretty to look at.  Perhaps I will take some out of the wheel barrow and plant them in other places in my yard.

Next stop is the Tomatoes.  I have lots of tomatoes growing.  I have so many that I might just get enough of the first picking to make a couple of jars of marinara sauce and put up for the winter.  I have many tomatoes on my Yellow Boys, Roma's and small ones starting on my Beef Steak Tomatoes too.  Almost time to get busy again.

Friday before it rained I added some more of the Thuricide to my lettuce and spinach bed because I was all those baby orange centipedes growing and crawling around in there.  I also saw some sow bugs and both of them are dining on my lettuce and spinach plants.  I think the plants are done in that bed anyway.  I am not sure what I can plant in there now.  I tried cantaloupe seeds, but they didn't grow.  That might be due to those bugs that love to eat roots and seeds.  We shall see.

I also put the Thuricide on my Peppers and they are doing so much better now.  We had lots of rain all day yesterday and I think that helped everything too.

I have squash on my Yellow Straight Neck Squash plant!  I also have lots more flowers on it so that will produce even more.  I think that I may cut the small squash off and add it to my Ham and Rice dish.  I have my ham bone in the crock pot today and will make the rice and the vegetables later today.  That's dinner!

My Purple Green Beans are coming around nicely.  I grew these last year but I waited to long until Pi harvested them that they weren't very tasty.  I also read on the packet that they turn a bright green when you cook them.  I will be picking these for daily meals or so and might have enough to freeze for later eating. We shall see how that goes though.





Well that is about all for now.

Until next time......

All My Vegetables Today June 10 2015

My Vegetable Garden Blog For June 10, 2015

 

Frederick

I have been on the Injured Reserve List, as my husband has aptly named my condition.  I was doing a lot of copying and pasting of articles and using my wrist a whole lot and got some tendinitis there and that was preventing me from doing anything on the computer for a while.  Then my outdoor stray cat that we named Frederick decided that I was some prey and he bit me really hard and broke the skin.  Well it was not totally his fault.  I put some catnip down for him to roll in and I put my hand under his chin...viola!  I was stupid and I got what I deserved.  

It has taken a good 4 days of healing that up and last night I had to open up the scab on my thumb and drain the puss that was forming there.  So that is healing up nicely right now and I am finally getting back to my blogs and writing and such on the computer and Internet.

Here is a picture of my hand from Monday.

I am sorry that the picture is blurry but it was the best that I could do using my left hand.

While on the Injured Reserve list I was unable to weed or water anything, but it seems like things are going pretty good anyway.

Tomatoes 6 10 2015

My tomatoes have started producing small tomatoes during the last few days while I was unable to tend to them.  They are so full and all the different varieties that I have in that raised garden has tomatoes growing on them.  The Roma's are doing really well with at least three per stem.  The Yellow Tomatoes have lots of new tomatoes on them and so do the Beef Steak Tomatoes.  All are doing excellent.

Lettuce and Spinach 6 10 2015

We have been harvesting our Lettuce and Spinach for a couple of weeks now.  I even plucked some Spinach and gave it to my neighbor across the street so that the plants would not go to seed.  I love being able to go out to my gardens and harvest fresh produce that I have grown myself.  It is a plus to know exactly what kinds of bug fighting things I put on them and that they are all natural and no chemicals being used at all.  It is also great to know that my plants will not get that dreaded Salmonella.  

Peppers 6 10 2015

I find it hard to understand why my Pepper plants are not as lush and healthy looking as my Tomatoes, Lettuce and Spinach have been already.  It has been kind of cool and we have had lots of rain, but this week should get them growing better because it is supposed to be in the upper 80's and low 90's and really warm at night in the 60's.  We shall see by the time that I wrote my next post in my Gardening Blog here.

Purple Bush Beans 6 10 2015

I found these seeds from my last years garden and decided to plant them as well.  They are Purple Green Beans.  They are a bush type and I figured that I had this raised garden that my husband was using as a compost bin for now.  I made a compost bin out of an old plastic trash can and so it freed up this raised garden.  On the seed packet it is written that when you cook these purple bush beans that they turn a bright and vivid green.  So I am guessing they are still "Green" beans.  They are growing great in this raised bed and the seeds sprouted much earlier than I had expected.  Usually things take about 7 to 10 days to sprout or pop out of the ground but these babies only took 5 days.  We shall see how long it takes for them to take until they are able to be harvested.

Straight Neck Yellow Squash 6 10 2015

I found out how to keep that incessant squash bug away from my squash.  I had been trying for years to grow the yellow squash but each time I would grow it there would grow a flower on it and the next day it would be flat, like someone or something sat on it overnight.  I asked the local farm store about it and they told me what it was and how to kill it before it can even have a chance to kill my plant.  This is my squash plant today and is doing really well and looks really healthy and there are squash that are forming right on my plant this year.  I am so happy!

Zucchini 6 10 2015

The Zucchini is for my neighbor as he asked me to grow it because he can no longer do gardening of any kind.  I also like Zucchini in my soups and stews and I will freeze some of this if I get enough.  This year was just an experimental year for this and the squash.  If it turns out well enough and plentiful I will grow it again next year.

 

Cucumbers 6 10 2015

I am kind of disappointed in my Cucumbers this year as they would have been all over that trellis that I made on my deck for them to grow onto. I am not sure what is going on with them either.  First I thought that it was the lesser amount of sun that they were getting, but I moved them into a spot that got more sun.  That did not help them and I found, by observation, that they do get more sun on my deck than the other spot in the front yard with all the raised gardens.  We shall see and they are making a little bit of progress too...just not as fast as I would like them to be taking.  I remember last year that I got most of the cucumbers in August, so we shall see and this is only the beginning of June.

Until Next Time......