Outside

A Dog's Day

On Sunday I finished reading the book, Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog. It was one of those heart-warming "life of a dog" books which ended just as I expected it would: Merle dies. And of course it made me want to do something special for my own dog.

I looked over at Brix and decided to bring him to the dog park - for the first time ever. Our old dog, Dexter, wasn't all that great at the dog park. He didn't really like other dogs and tended to pay no attention to the humans in his life. But Brix is a bit more focused on us, and according to the doggy day care people, he loves to play with other dogs.

So, off we went. When we got there, I parked a little bit away. I was nervous - I had no idea how Brix would be. I finally got up the courage, brought him in and let him off his leash. Brix was in doggie heaven. He had a wonderful time, played appropriately with other dogs, greeted humans appropriately, and even made good friends with a little blond-haired boy.

I had fun because Brix had fun.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

        ~ Robert Frost

Elm leaves in early morning sun.

Vegetable Garden

It's been three weeks since I first got out in the vegetable garden. Since then, it's been very cool and damp, so the greens and peas are not very big, yet. One thing I've done, though, is to put up rabbit fencing, as seen below.

I am not thrilled about how this looks or how it works, but after having rabbits decimate the garden over the past two years, I knew I needed to take some serious action. If I could only convince Spouse to do the fencing the way I want* I would be much happier, but Spouse is convinced it would be "too hard" and that "it won't work." Harumph.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to do the majority of the planting. We've had such a cool spring so far that it is hard to imagine it being warm enough to plant tomatoes, beans, basil, squash, etc. Even though our average last frost is May 15, I think I'll wait until at least until the weekend of the 24th to plant. I'm not so much worried about another frost as I am about the growth-stunting mid-50s to lower 60s weather we've been having. It's perfect for the peas and greens, but not for the warm-weather crops.

We'll see. I hope to have my garbage can potatoes planted sometime this week, and I'll have pictures.

*What I want is to attach hardware cloth or rabbit fencing to the bottom of the wood fencing around the edge of the garden rather than fencing in each individual bed. We would dig a trench around the perimeter and bury it about 6-12". However, a major portion of the wood fence (and deer fence beyond that) is in the woods, under our huge arborvitae trees that have lots of shallow roots. We also have a very irregularly shaped area that would be somewhat resistant to fencing, but I think it could be done. Yes, it would be difficult to do it, but it would not be too hard, as Spouse seems to think. And then I wouldn't have to have ugly fences around each individual bed.

Rainy Day

Brix thinks today is a perfect day for a nap. With steady rain and temperatures in the mid-50s, I think I agree with him.

With any luck, it will rain itself out tonight and tomorrow I can finish up my garden clean-up, complete with pictures.

The Snowy Egrets Are Back

I think the Snowy Egrets are my favorite pond bird. The first one showed up in the last week of April, and another came a few days later. I love to watch them fish - slowly stalking around the pond's perimeter, suddenly freezing with neck outstretched, then the lightning-quick SPLASH, and another minnow or tadpole is added to the dinner tally.

I feel a little bad choosing a favorite pond bird, though. The ducks are fun to watch. The males chase each other or one of the females, quacking and complaining the whole time. The green herons are still exciting to see, but they're so elusive that it takes some work to spot one. The kingfishers are neat, chattering and diving for their meal. Blue herons drop by a few times a week but they're just visitors, not permanent residents. Canada geese - no, I could do without them. They're loud, mean and aggressive, and they mess up the early-spring yard with their droppings. Thankfully, they leave when the brush and grass around the pond grows tall.

Yes, I think I like the egrets best, but don't tell our other fair-weather residents - they're all fascinating in their own way.

First Daffodils 2008

The first flowers have bloomed in my yard* - some daffodils planted in the ditch by the road. I wish I had a better picture, but I took it yesterday before leaving for work and I was trying not to get my nice clothes dirty.

My daffs bloom a little later than the neighbors' do. Our front yard is across a narrow road that's at the bottom of a north-facing hill, and these daffodils are planted in the ditch next to the road. The cool air sinks and anything planted here blooms a little later than other full-sun areas.

I also see an elm tree seedling in the picture (it has serrated leaves and is below the flower). Contrary to popular belief, the American Elm was not completely wiped out by Dutch Elm disease. We have lots of elms in our woods, and I'm constantly weeding them out of my vegetable garden. In doing research about the pre-colonial ecosystem in my neighborhood, it seems as if elms probably made up a large portion of the woods. So our elms are not street trees, but probably descendants of the elms that were here before the first white farmer. But as much as I like them, their seeds never seem to plant themselves where I'd actually want them to grow, so out they come.

*Okay, they're actually not the first. The first were the flowers of the creeping charlie, but since that's technically a weed, I'm not going to count those.

Sun in Spring Willows

I love the green-gold color that dusts the trees in early spring.

Just a Dusting

Here's what the world looked like in my neck of the woods at 8:00 on this blustery and cold Saturday morning. I hope things are better in your neck of the woods!

Seed Order 2008

Here's the list of everything I ordered this year. It's a long list because I had to start from scratch - somehow I managed to lose (or throw away) my seeds from past years.

Suppliers
Fedco Seeds
Johnny's Selected Seeds
Pinetree Garden Seeds
Seed Savers Exchange
Seeds of Change
Territorial Seed Company
Tomato Bob's Heirloom Tomatoes

Salad Greens & Stuff
Merlot loose leaf lettuce: Territorial
Black Seeded Simpson lettuce: Fedco
Space Spinach: Pinetree
Fordhook Giant Swiss Chard: Johnny's
Tendersweet green cabbage: Johnny's
Super Red 80 red cabbage: Johnny's
Cherry Belle radish: Pinetree
Purple Plum radish: Pinetree

Snap Peas
Sugar Ann: Johnny's
Sugar Snap: Johnny's

Potatoes
Rose Finn Apple fingerlings: Seed Savers
Carola main crop storage: Seed Savers

Tomatoes
Sungold orange cherry: Fedco
Sweet Chelsea red cherry: Fedco
Yellow Pear yellow cherry: Seed Savers
Principe Borghese red drying: Fedco
Green Zebra green salad: Seed Savers
Gregori Altai red main crop: Tomato Bob's
Mule Team red main crop: Tomato Bob's
Pruden's Purple purple main crop: Fedco

Beans
Bush Blue Lake: Pinetree
Kentucky Blue Pole: Pinetree
Pete's Romano Pole: Saved from 2007
Purple Podded Pole: Saved from 2007

Peppers
Hungarian Hot Wax: Fedco
Ancho/Poblano: Seeds of Change
Paprika Alma: Seeds of Change

Curcubit Family
Marketmore 97 Cucumber: Territorial
Raven Zucchini: Fedco
Sunburst Scallop: Pinetree
Sugar Baby Watermelon: Pinetree

Ground Cherry
Aunt Molly's: Territorial

 Asparagus
Jersey Supreme: Johnny's

Garlic
Chrysalis Purple: Seed Savers
Music: Seed Savers
Siberian: Seed Savers

First Planting 2008

I was finally able to get into the garden this weekend. On Sunday, Spouse spent some quality time with the leaf blower, while I got going with the vegetable garden. The weather was beautiful - mid-70's and sunny.

Here's the upper bed after a few hours of work. I did some weeding, then spread compost over the two long beds and the triangular bed in the back. I strung the trellis with twine, so it's ready for climbing snap peas (I'm using bamboo teepees for pole beans this year.)

Once that was done, I planted Sugar Snap Peas under the trellis, Space Spinach* next to the trellised peas, Sugar Ann Snap Peas in half the far long bed, and radishes (Cherry Belle* and Purple Plum*) and lettuce (Merlot and Black Seeded Simpson) in the far triangular bed.

Meanwhile, in the lower garden, nothing much got done from a gardening perspective (although Spouse blew out all the leaves). However, some plants are starting to come up. Below you'll see the chives and the garden oregano. The season has begun!

* I got the seed for Space Spinach, Cherry Belle Radish and Purple Plum Radish from Pinetree Garden Seeds, on the web at www.superseeds.com. Right now I can't connect to their website so can't provide links.