Trying to Outsmart a Hungry Mole

These are my peas, this is not where I wanted them to grow. I had this pot of peas and a pot of bush beans over next to the fence, hoping one of them would grow up the trellises there. The trellises are where I had tried growing an evergreen clematis, until a mole tunneled his way through the roots on the scent of the suet feeder we had placed nearby. The peas and beans are in containers in my attempt to prevent them from ending up like the clematis.

These are the trellises that have been bare for over a year, except for last summer's beans. The pot of peas was actually sinking into the ground and I was trying to find a way to keep it from moving once the peas reached the trellis. This wire mesh was left over from the trellis on the upstairs deck. It was keeping the pot from sinking, but I could see new holes. I finally decided to move the pot and used the stakes I started the plants with as a teepee.

Why is the mole tunneling here? Because I moved the bird feeder out to the fence away from the porch because it was too messy. We've moved the bird feeder again to the end of the yard away from the trellis and I'm hoping that the mole will follow it. I have a plant ready for this spot and don't want to sacrifice another plant to a hungry mole.

Mystery Succulent

I recently planted my ceramic wall planters with a mystery succulent that was given to me by a friend of my mom's. Back in March, I posted some photos I liked from Pinterest, including a small hanging planter with 2 succulents. I mentioned in that post that my planters have been empty for years. They are clay and they are small so they dry out fast and I knew if I planted something in them it should be able to stay dry and be visible. The only thing I've seen that comes close is an indoor plant called 'string of pearls'.

Photo found on Pinterest, no source listed

While I was visiting my mom's friend I noticed her hanging planter with a succulent spilling out of the container. She offered me some since the plant had left starts in the moss on the ground below.

Succulent starts

I brought it home and put in a container on the back deck these are just starts rooted in moss.

Doubt these have the green patina in Mexico

The planters are from a Mexican shop in Portland, mom and I found these pots years ago and bought 5 different shapes and sizes. She has one that hangs on her fence. These have followed me around from place to place. 

These are my 'before' pictures and I hope to have more fully formed plants by the end of summer. These pots are on the wall of our lower deck. They will get some direct sun in summer, but are covered. There's still one pot hanging on our fence, still unplanted. It gets full sun and this plant may actually do better there.

Sprouts

We had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Visited with my sisters, then had my parents over for lunch yesterday. Warm, sunny weather is returning to the northwest after 2 consecutive thunderstorms that delivered record rainfall amounts. My newly planted container bed got turned into a water trough and I had just planted more seeds at the community garden when the storms just battered us with rain. But, all my plants here and at the garden look no worse for wear and I will not need to do much watering this week.

Today Chris and I added compost and planted tomatoes, marigolds, and sunflower starts at the community garden plot. He also staked peppers and tomatoes. This is the last of the planned vegetable garden, I have a small square left and have not decided on what to plant there. 

Because we had some "free" seeds at the garden I've added a couple rows of radish, lettuce and yes, beets. People in my family seem to like beets, so I figured it couldn't hurt to try. The first of the seeds planted have sprouted, while the packet of marigold seed that I tried never came up (expired seeds?). So I went back and found one of 4 marigold seed packets that were left and tried another.

Here's my half of the garden planted and ready for sun. Everything looks good except for the squash plants which look washed out or burned on the edges. I've seen the squash in other gardens and they look the same. Can only guess it's the cool weather and too much wet. Both the carrots and onions grown from starts seem like they are too shallow, will have to look them up.

Starting From Seed

My new planter on the upstairs deck has mesh along the back for something to climb. The gate we made into a trellis still awaits a vine of some sort. Last year I had Morning Glory seeds planted by now. I keep thinking they may be right for the gate trellis. 

Last year's Morning Glory vine

I really loved the Black-Eyed Susan vine I bought last year, but didn't have a place for it to climb, now I do. So I went to the store and got seeds for both, and since they had a 'buy two get one free' sale, I got seeds for mini pumpkins too. The Morning Glory seeds are soaking.

Last years Black-Eyed Susan vine

I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm willing to try the seeds first, then buy something from the nursery if "have to".  Down on the lower deck I've got 3 packs of nasturtiums I started from seed and a bunch of sunflower seeds I started.  The sunflower were supposed to go to the garden in with the corn I didn't plant. Not sure where these will end up.

When It Rains It Pours

After planting my new planter today, I took a photo, to show the plants before they really grow. I planted a red pear tomato, a cucumber plant that was mostly eaten by Kabrina, and a few nasturtiums I'd started from seed.  As an after thought I planted some marigold seed, just to see what they'd do. I'd really like a black-eyed susan vine to climb up the mesh, and something trailing that will spill over the front, maybe some more Big Blue lobelia, which I just discovered this year.

Little did I know that another thunderstorm was on it's way. We'd had a big one last night and I thought that was over, since we don't get those too often around here. The storm hit with torrential rain, then hail, then more rain with thunder and lightning for effect. Turns out the gutter 2 stories above the planter couldn't handle that much water and whirligig debris, so it just shot off the roof straight into my newly planted planter.

We quickly covered the spot that was starting to look like a pond. The tomato seems to be ok, but it will be interesting to see how long it takes to drain and if any seed will emerge after I'd so carefully planted it 1/4" beneath the surface.

A Planter and Trellis for the Upper Deck

I've made a couple of posts about finding a planter/trellis/screen for our upper deck - both ends. The north end is by the sliding door and gets lots of sun, the south end divides our deck from our neighbors and gets lots of shade. 

• On January 30th I was just starting to find images of planter ideas (created a board on Pinterest called 'Trellis')
• On January 31st I was already rethinking what would fit in the limit space.
• On March 10th my post was about a design that Chris pointed out would work for our deck.

Since then we've both been busy and every so often Chris would go work in the garage "on the trellis". What he did was build a screen with trellis attached for the south end, then built a planter and trellis for the north end.The screen side is still unfinished, but this evening we plan to fill the planter and start planting.

Here's the before picture of the planter, I'll follow up later with it when it's planted and the screen when it's stained.

Planter and trellis at the north end of our deck.

This planter has the same materials used for the screen and trellis on the opposite end of the deck. The size of the mesh determined the size of the trellis frame. The top portion turned out to be the perfect spot for the floral metal work that I bought last fall. 

Quote of the Day

I wasn't sure if I should post this quote or not. I decided to because it's a great quote, one I don't recall seeing before. I subscribe to Teri Martin's quote of the day (http://www.terimartin.com/Form.html). My sister shared the quote list with me years ago, and I have been getting one every day since then.


I initially liked this quote because it refers to harvesting - daily. It doesn't represent me at all (which is why I hesitated to post it), but it's a perspective I'd like to acquire.

The true harvest of your daily life is something

as intangible and indescribable as the tints of morning or evening. 

It's a little stardust caught, a segment of the rainbow which 

you couldn't clutch in your every day life.

Just commit that you will have a daily harvest 

of the greatness of being alive every single day




Thoreau

Calla Lily

Calla Lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica)

Even though it's overcast my calla lilies still look awesome. I've got 5 blooms and the stems are straight and sturdy. They also require nothing from me in order to look this good. I brought this plant with me when I moved  a year and a half ago. It used to be planted on the north facing wall of my house in the woods. The soil there was almost pure clay and the compaction from construction really ruined any chance I had of growing plants there easily. This calla lily plant could hardly grow from having it's roots soaked and the slugs just loved it.

Seeing it now looking so tall and healthy makes me happy that I thought to bring it with me. While I've struggled with the soil here (moles and construction debris) this plant seems to love it here. This is the type of gardening I'm after, where once settled in the plants can thrive without my constant attention. 


This flower is popular in both weddings and funerals, I wouldn't recommend it to my friend who just announced her engagement.  I think she should have flowers that are vividly colored and tropical for her wedding vows. I'll have to ask her what she has in mind.

Congratulations M!

Tea Time

Last night I ordered some "moo-poo tea" for my veggie garden. It's really called Natural Brew Premium Soil Conditioner from Authentic Haven Brand. Yes, it is compost in a tea bag, I first saw this product in the book, Garden Up, Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces, by Susan Morrison & Rebecca Sweet. Last spring I was reading their book on vertical gardening ideas. They suggest the compost  'tea bags' as an organic alternative fertilizer (page 86). 

"moo-poo tea" from Authentic Haven Brand

It's a different, yet clever idea, and I liked the packaging and use of an old rake to display the bags. This image caught my eye again when I saw it on Pinterest - I have pins on my "just had to pin this" and "Products I Love" boards, just click on the red Pinterest button at the bottom right of this page. 


Turns out, Annie Haven has a Pinterest page and is one of the people who regularly shares her favorite blogs. I've been interested in the tea (especially as an alternative to adding bags of manure to the garden) and I've looked at her website. They have cow, horse and alfalfa teas and the price is low enough that it's worth ordering a pack of 3 bags just to try it.


Last night I was on Facebook and saw a video about the tea. It is so simple, steep a bag in a bucket of water for a day, reuse the bag (my dad will like that) until the manure dissolves, then recycle/compost the bag. You then pour the 'tea' around the plants, rather than fertilizing the whole garden.


I did use some granular fertilizer when I planted veggies, I'll probably do the same when I plant the tomatoes. But, rather than adding more, I'll try the tea on the veggies and use the granular at home.


If your interested in the "moo-poo tea" go to
www.manuretea.com or see Annie's page on Pinterest: Authentic Haven Natural Brew.

100 Blog Posts and Counting

Today's post is the 100th of All-Purpose Flower. To celebrate I'll share something I found on Pinterest...

Image from Despair.com

This image is on my Pinterest board "Weblog" where I've started to save tidbits on blogging along with links to some really cool blogs.  There are some great blogs being listed on people's Pinterest pages, it makes it really easy to find good ones, and really easy to lose track of time.

If you have some blogs that you love to follow please share them either in the comments section or on my Facebook page.

Progress Report

We planted the peppers and carrots in the community garden on Friday. I decided to direct sow some lettuce and radish seed, since the seed was available and I had room for early plants next to my squash. That leaves more compost, three tomatoes and marigolds which we plan to do this week. Although rain is in the forcast so they might wait.


It appears that the leaky water faucet at the corner of the plot has been repaired, so I'm trying to decide what I'll put there. I don't have room for the pumpkin I'd planned on, not sure I want it in that space right next to the faucet. Something to think about later.


I was watering my hanging baskets out back and thought I'd include a couple of current photos. In my April 2nd post I showed a photo of my newly planted lettuce basket. 6 weeks later it's doing fine after more rain than it needed initially. I've been making salads with it since I planted it.

Lettuce and strawberry baskets on lower deck

In my May 8th post I showed my railing planters with flower and veggies mixed. Less than 2 weeks later they are looking filled in and I've been using the lettuce and spinach in salads.

Railing planter with lobellia, lettuce, spinach and ivy geranium

I've got a couple of plants to either pot or get in the ground, once the tomatoes are planted I won't have any nursery trays scattered on the back deck and then it will be all about watering. We've had a stretch of warm weather to remind me that I might want even/odd days between watering the garden and here at home.

First Veggies Planted

Our first veggies planted at Plot #40

In the cool morning air (40's) we* drove to the community garden and planted our first vegetables. Of course we brought 3 more bags of compost (I'm losing count) and worked that in first. Then built the teepee for the beans, got them planted along with 3 squash, 12 onions, and some marigold seeds.


Some changes have been made to my original plan. I had 2 teepees for beans, but only had 6 plants, so we'll start with one. I had planned on 4 squash plants (1 pumpkin) in the center planter, but it just looked too tight. The Hubbard squash got planted in the side planter, we'll see if he can stay contained in that spot. But that leaves some area in the center for carrots and maybe some seed starts.


Last night we attended the beginning gardener class and we were told that there were some seeds available in the the shed. I planted some marigold this morning and brought home some packets to start here. I just can't fathom tossing seeds in this soil and having flowers or vegetables sprout, but I'm willing to experiment.


Tomorrow morning we'll go back and plant peppers and carrots, and maybe radish seeds.


*When I say "we" I am referring to Chris (aka my partner, guy, assistant, Easter Bunny, etc.) he's always willing to help with my projects. I thank him by continually coming up with more.

Chris watering the pole beans

Apple & Carrot Cake (GF)

Apple & Carrot GF Breakfast Cake with coconut whipped topping 
from Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free

Look good? I got the recipe for this Apple Carrot cake from the website Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free. The website and cookbook are authored by Amy Green. I've had her cookbook on my Amazon.com wish list for a year and just ordered it. I've spent the last year trying to nail down gluten free* eating, just wasn't ready to tackle sugar until recently. I finally took a look at her website and discovered that she offers a lot of info and recipes on her site as well. Here's a link to this recipe on her website: Apple & Carrot Gluten Free Breakfast Cake: Vitamixed.


I asked my better half to make this cake, since he actually enjoys cooking and I'm better at clean up. We had to buy some 'alternative' baking products to make it, plus we didn't have a food processor, but our version of this cake was delicious. We decided to try the coconut whipped topping from the cookbook. Both cake and whipped topping are gluten free and use no refined sugar.


Check out her website: Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free and look around, she has a variety of recipes and I was inspired by her own story which she shares about giving up gluten and sugar.


* I eat a gluten free diet due to wheat sensitivity/allergy, I'm not recommending this to anyone who eats a gluten free diet for a medical condition such as Celiac sprue.  If you'd like more info on gluten free foods from a Registered Dietician who has Celiac, see my sister's site Balanced Body Nutrition.

Middle of May

This morning was the first time this year that I went downstairs and watered the backyard.  It's been warm here for the last few days and while I've been watering container plants, I decided the shrubs and perennials could use a drink. Today is the middle of May. Just a few months ago the only thing I could do was plan, read and make lists for the garden. From this point until the end of August time will fly by.

The trellis behind a grouping of evergreen and flowering shrubs and trees.

I've spent most of my time thinking about the community garden and my container plants on both decks. While watering this morning I had to admit that there's not a lot of room to add anything to our dinky back yard. I am pleased with the mix of evergreen trees and shrubs with flowering shrubs and perennials. In the photo above is the Mexican Orange we got last year. 


The only way to go is up. My plans for the trellis planting have changed.  Originally, I wanted clematis there, but I was running out of time to get one planted and have it bloom this year. While at the store about a week ago I found a small container with climbing hydrangea. I've been looking at this plant since last summer and thought this would look great on the trellis. But when I got it home I started to reconsider it's size and  how big the plant would become.


So the trellis stands empty, maybe just morning glory seeds for now.  I have 2 spots to consider for the hydrangea, one either against the white vinyl fence or up and across the railing of the lower deck. Either spot will fill in some vertical planting space.

The middle of May also means that today is my sister's birthday, 

so I have to wish her a "Happy 50th!"

Office Gardening

My sister works for a health insurance company in Eugene, OR. Saturday I got to see their office garden, they had a 2 hour work session to get the garden planted.  Now my community garden plot is a humble piece of ground on a former Poor Farm, so I was pleasantly surprised to see this when we first drove up. It is near the office building and parking area so easy to get to whether to weed or water.

Not only is the garden fenced, all planting areas are raised beds with bark pathways. Inside the fence there's a shed (with plan of the garden) and a compost area. 

When we arrived the tasks were to weed, turn the soil, fertilize, work in the fertilizer and plant. As you see the fertilizer and plants were neatly laid out next to each bed.

This is one bed my sister and I worked on from start to finish, we planted 4 types of pepper plants. After that we split up, I helped plant tomatoes in one bed, while she started weeding yet another bed that we planted with onion seeds. 

I talked to the woman who coordinates the garden. She said that when she first asked to do it, their company offered twice this space. The only condition was that a portion of the food be donated to the local food bank. In the last two years they've donated about a ton of food each year. The veggies are available to employees if they spend some time helping out. (My sister owes me a meal).

We were there for over two hours and the group who helped got all of these beds prepped and planted. The weather was perfect for gardening, sunny, with a cool breeze although it got pretty warm around noon. 

Most of the vegetables came from a local nursery, one that sells plants grown from Territorial Seed. Since it was Mother's Day weekend, we opted not to go to any nurseries. But, I will check it out when I go back to visit. 

Big Blue

My post on Tuesday had photos of my deck railing baskets. Unlike the community garden plot, I didn't  spend a lot of time thinking about what I'd plant in them. I knew I wanted more lettuce, then later realized I wanted some spinach too, but hadn't thought too much about the flowers.


Lately, I've been posting about the local nurseries I've been to. I've bought plants when I found the perfect ones for the railing, hanging baskets or the veggies for the garden. This is extremely controlled compared to my previous shopping sprees, by the way.  While at Chapman's Greenhouse, I saw really healthy trailing lobelia plants, with no flowers.  So I looked at the plant tag, saw the name "Big Blue" and grabbed two for the railing baskets. Just the name alone sounded cool to me.

Big Blue Lobelia

After seeing it bloom I've decided I might use this one in containers from now on. The flowers are very large and an intense cobalt color.

I remember seeing lobelia for the first time when I was about 8 years old.  A friend of my mom's had a beautiful yard, in the back along the perfectly edged lawn was a ring of blue lobelia. It was so simple, yet so striking that it made an impression on me. Lobelia continues to be one of my favorite annuals.

I'll be out of town for a few days and won't be able to post again until next week. Hope everyone enjoys Mother's Day weekend, and locally some warm sunny weather.

Postcard for a Friend

Here's a photo for my friend who moved to Florida last March. It seemed like our winter/spring was extra gray and extra dreary. At one point, I even took a photo from the back deck to send her. To compensate here's a photo that might make her a little wistful of the northwest in late spring on nearly perfect days.

I posted a photo of this tree on March 5th with some of my snow photos. Since moving here, that tree (our neighbor's) is the real clock for me. It took a long time to finally spot leaves budding, but when they did the whole tree seemed to leaf out overnight. One of the best parts of summer will be watching the late afternoon sun light it up like a lantern.

Flower & Veggie Railing Planters

I've finished my railing planters today, although I may add nasturtium starts when they are ready.  I've had them mostly planted for a week or so, but still had room for an annual flower in each. This year I spent more time thinking about the coconut husk liner than I did the planting. Because I've been to three great local nurseries I've picked up plants as I saw them with these planters in mind.

Both planters contain lobellia, lettuce, spinach, and ivy geranium

3 lettuce and 3 spinach plants are in the center

I have a lettuce basket downstairs, but wanted another variety and spinach for salads. These planters are just outside the kitchen. Since I first tried using lettuce in planters, I've found that I like how clean they are versus grown in a regular garden bed. These are also easy to reach.

My assistant, Asha, decided to sunbathe

Here's a view from inside, bright flowers with veggies

I haven't decided yet what I'll replace the lettuce and spinach plants with when it gets warmer.  I have seen some pretty impressive petunias and calibrachoas at the nurseries. They would be easy to swap out and would like the sunny location.

I also didn't try the water bottle irrigation system in these planters, as they are made to retain water I can see if I notice an improvement over last year.

Soil Amendments

Today was the first day that we went to the community garden plot to do actual gardening. We've been there for the orientation in late March, and met my partner there to assess the rototilled plot last week. We did stake out the planting areas then. Today we took tools, compost and a bag of lime and left feeling like we'd accomplished something. If anything these photos make great before shots.

Plot # 40 after tilling was done April 29th

Our wagon full of compost and lime

The planting beds after weeding and working in the lime.

I finally decided to hire a guy who also has a garden plot there to do the tilling. It turned out to be the best decision. Not only did he save us the time of  borrowing a truck and tiller, he also took a look a the condition of the soil and made some suggestions for adding lime, compost and a granular fertilizer.

I've gardened here for years and have never added lime to the soil. I know that our soil is naturally acidic, which is why the rhododendrons like it here. But never really thought about balancing the ph. I'm following his advice as closely as I can (just can't do the 2-3 yards of compost in one day). So, we applied the lime and worked it in a bit, worked in 2 bags of organic compost, then sprinkled the plant areas.

Weed removal

My plot seems to be in the exact middle of 3 weed/compost piles. On our way back to the car we used the wagon to deposit our weeds in one of them. Next trip includes adding more compost. I've got plants here ready to go to the garden, but I'm going out of town this weekend, so I'll wait until next week to plant - on the off chance that we have more warm, sunny weather and they need watering.

After All That Rain, I'm Watering

Suddenly it's spring, and unlike other parts of the country, we have not been having unusually hot, sunny weather.  On the contrary, here in the northwest it's been very rainy and (to me) very gray. So today we had beautiful, warm, sunny weather and I found myself watering, at least some vegetable starts.


In my February 6th post I mentioned the idea of using plastic water bottles as irrigation. Today I finally got to use a small bottle with two holes drilled into the bottom. I put it in a container with green bean starts and then tossed some extra nasturtium seeds around it. I watered the container then unscrewed the lid and filled the bottle. It will probably be a summer long experiment.  I've saved small and regular water bottles to use in containers at home. I've also got a couple of large juice bottles to try out at the garden. The community garden suggested using gallon milk jugs.

Last year's railing basket with coconut husk liner,
this year I got the right size and the aquasav lining.

In a place that rains so much, you'd think I would have thought of that when using aquasav coconut husk liners.  I've had to monitor placing my hanging baskets out, as they pretty much filled up with rain water.  My lettuce basket still looks good, but I've had to thin out some limp mushy plants. On the railing of the upper deck I have my new liners, there just isn't any place to move the baskets out of the rain, so we will see if they become too moist. 

Kabrina's Cucumber Snack

In my March 13th post I explained that my cat, Kabrina, has a penchant for cucumber leaves. It was then that I added her picture to the sidebar showing her munching away on them last year.


This year I had cucumber on my list of veggies to buy, so that she would have some again. Problem is that last fall she was diagnosed with feline diabetes.  Despite her special diet, she has been getting weaker in the last few months, particularly her hind legs. I wasn't really sure if she'd be able to make it downstairs, but I potted a cucumber plant (lemon) for her on the upper deck.


This morning she surprised me by coming downstairs, eating breakfast, hanging with us, and eventually going on the deck where she discovered her cucumber plant (really a seedling). She didn't hesitate, just marched over to it and started tearing the leaves off one by one.

What can I say?  She loves them and I was pleased that she was back outside on the deck again eating al fresco.

Port Townsend's Beach Access

I've shared photos of the rain gardens I saw in Port Townsend, WA last fall on March 29, 2012 & March 30, 2012.  I have some other photos to show, something else I found there. Two of my primary landscape interests are rain gardens and universal design. If you go to my Pinterest boards you'll see that I've created a board for each topic. I won't go into why I have an interest in these two design areas, other than to say they just make sense. 


I'm a logical person, I like putting things in order and filing them away in linear fashion. When you learn a little about rain gardens, you realize that it just makes sense to use plants to filter stormwater. When you learn a little about universal design concepts, it just make sense to design something in a practical way that suits all users.


So when I saw this beach access I was so impressed by the practical nature and simplicity of it that I took some photos.

Ramp and stairs Port Townsend, WA looking south

Last fall while roaming along the waterfront, I came across this accessible ramp leading to the beach. On either side are stairs with boulders tucked in. From here you can see that the ramp is level with a pier on the left.

Ramp in Port Townsend, WA looking north

As seen from this photo the ramp is level with a large courtyard to the left with stones and native plantings mixed in. The ramp is just scored concrete with a darker color to differentiate it from the steps. Concrete pavers are in the foreground.


This ramp is so simple, yet so well thought out. It can be used by anyone to reach the beach or sit on steps to watch the water.  I was impressed by the simple, varied use of materials and plantings. If you're from the area or know the name of the designer please leave a comment.

We Have a Plan

I've posted a couple of concept plans for the garden plot, the most recent on 4/22/12.
Today I met my friend who'll be sharing the plot with me. She had added her planting plan, but there is one problem.  A water bib at the southeast corner has started to leak and water is running into that corner of our plot.  Not sure how soon they'll fix that, so I revised the plan a little bit more with an x through that area.

We agreed that a path through the center wasn't necessary, but I did leave some space to store tools and hoses there. I left an 8'x6' space to the north for her so she could avoid the bog in the corner. I bumped some of my plantings to the south and marked 3 spots for stakes so the hose doesn't drag across the plants.

Still waiting on the beginner gardener class, but the next step is to start working in compost. Mother's Day is the usual last frost date around here so we're close to planting our first veggies.