Wax on - Wax off

After last year's health issues, continuing deer devastation and then the loss of so many plant varieties due to the polar winter, the beds are in major transition status.

Some have been revamped (such as the crabapple bed (earlier entry) changing from a colorful flower bed to a shade bed full of greens and textures).

(CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE)

The ring bed is on it's own.  So much died.  So much eaten.  All I'm doing is mowing around the shape of the ring to preserve it for some future decision.

Stump bed is simple enough to maintain.  Once I cut back the daffodil greens, the Shasta daisies, liatris, bearded iris, Russian sage, catmint and that sorry excuse for a crabapple - the Prairie Fire - can take care of themselves for this year. (The daffs also need thinning!  Daffs multiply like crazy here!)

The beds under the sweet gum trees were a total bust.  Nothing ever grew there (azaleas, ground cover, etc.) and keeping it mulched was a pain. So  I've pulled out all the dead bodies and sown grass seed.  With the frequent rain, the grass is coming in nicely.

The bed that sported that (alas, winter killed) Black Knight butterfly bush is now graced with a  little Sargent crabapple and this year is densely planted with dwarf French marigold for color (the deer don't seem to like them).

The arbor bed - well, it's become just a deer buffet.  And a mess.  (Thankfully, the dense foliage on the trees in the crabapple bed now screen this rampant chaos from the deck.) The phlox and daylily haven't a chance.  I'm not fond of the peonies at all.  And the whole thing has become choked with Dutch iris, daylily and daffodils.  I'm going to (over the year) tear out everything, saving only the flowering plum, Montauk Daisy, some coneflower, a dwarf lilac and maybe the false indigo (baptesia) and white hardy hybiscus.  These listed will most likely be rehomed. (Note ring bed behind arbor bed.)

What will happen to the arbor bed?  I'm going to make it a fenced in (and I mean TALL fenced) vegetable garden.  I'm tired of growing veg against the privacy fence.  Not enough morning light (this pic and arbor pic showing light at same time of day) and the afternoon light becomes too hot due to being reflected back onto the plants from the fence itself.

No, making a veg bed out of the arbor bed only makes logical sense.  Best light, easy enough to fence, etc.   It'll be some work.  Hardest part will be THROWING PLANTS AWAY.  Ouch.

Meanwhile, back at the swing bed, that, too, is being revamped.  Even ENLARGED.   I want the swing to have a better setting.  So I'm extending the bed back about 5 feet.  This will allow for a small decorative fence half-way into the new extension, then flanked with some nice shrubs and bordered with some of the fine hostas I've grown from seed (forefront of pic).

So there will be a dance of sorts between enlarging the swing bed and unloading the arbor bed.  I'm hoping for more help on this.  Yeah, riiiiight.  Like I can count on THAT.

Bottom line, this year it's not about the plants (food).  It's about the beds (place setting).  I'm tired of feeding deer.  If I make the beds more hardscape than soft, at least the eye will enjoy the symmetry  and flow of the beds themselves.  And I'll have less heartache when dealing with deer.

As for current veg/flower status -- check the sidebar blogs.  I've posted updates there.

Keeping my chin up

Thanks to the consistent rain in the past 2 months, the 2 double-file viburnums are putting on quite the show!  What a spirit lifter!

Two other viburnums (Chicago Lustre & Autumn Jazz) succumbed to deer and polar winter.  I've also lost all 11 (ELEVEN!! - Honeycomb, Pink Delight, Black Knight, White Profusion and all the common/purpura) butterfly bushes.  None of the agastaches made it (Anise, Golden Jubilee, Blue Fortune, White Knight, Cotton Candy).  I think only 2 of the 12 mums survived the deer devastation of late Fall.  And the lavenders.  Oh my lovelies!  All 16 English and 4 dwarf Munstead bit the dust.  And bye-bye to my gorgeous spray of blue flax.  Then, just this morning as I was consoling myself with a nice cup of tea, a d^mn deer appeared out of nowhere and started eating the phlox that managed to make it through to Spring.

&$#@!!!

Now, where was I?  Oh yeah.  Those double-files.  Aren't they just grand?

My kinda snow

The Snowdrift crabapple has never looked as glorious as it is this year!

 


Almost makes the long cold winter worthwhile.

Almost... :-/

Afternoon update:  Cloudy.  Then lots and lots of lightning and thunder.

Then the heavens opened and we got 1/2" in about 6 minutes.

Hear how hard it was hitting the sunroom roof?  You couldn't even make out all the thunder in this vid.

The vid was cut short, though, because I had to edit out the swearing.  The roof started leaking!   Aaaaarg!  (Upstairs gutter overflowed.  Torrent washed up and into gaps in the window flashing.  I'll have to fix that!  I'm getting too old to stand on a roof and clean a gutter during a pouring thunderstorm.  At least there was no wind, but I'm soaked like a drowned cat.)


Next morning - update:

Now I'm sooooo thankful for yesterday's quick downpour showing me that the upstairs gutter was blocked.  Because had I not cleaned it out then, the next heavy thunderstorm (again, no wind thankfully) in the middle of the night that dumped a whole INCH more rain within 20 minutes would have totally flooded the sunroom while I slept.  Talk about your silver lining!

The radar show LOTs more potential storms/showers for the next couple of days.  I already have 5 barrels of water but no need to use it on anything at this point, that's for sure.   Why, I can actually see the broad beans back in one of the golf course bins grow by the hour.    Yay.  So is the lawn.  *sigh*  At least the sunroom is dry. :-D

Oh, how much rain are we "enjoying"?   Ask the ducks.  Even they are looking for high ground and are perching on the roof!

May Day

Finally the rain has stopped.  It started raining noon on Monday and was still going a couple of hours before dawn today.

Rain gauge - 2.5" total.  April total was 6".  At least it wasn't SNOW!

The sprouts have been in and out of the sunroom lately and today is an OUT day.

I've put the tomato sprouts into individual cups yesterday and today I will transplant the Red Robin pot tomatoes from cups to final pots.  They are covered in blooms and a couple have set tomatoes.

None of my saved marigold seeds sprouted this year, so a couple weeks ago I sprang for a fresh pack of dwarf French marigolds.  There were about 100 seeds.  Within 5 days I'd say ALL of them sprouted!  Gonna have to thin those when they get some true leaves.

After sowing 4 whole packs (about 14-15 seeds/pk), I now have 48 Zahara zins.  I really baby those things.  They are pricey little guys due to few seeds and only 80-85% germination rate.

While we are consistently 'enjoying' temps lower than average, at least the nights are mostly out of the 30s.  Traditionally our last frost date is May 18.  We'll see how that goes.  I'll probably planting out late this year, just to give the soil extra time to warm up.  Planting out in cool soil just sets everything back.  I've learned the hard way on that.

Finally, a real surprise.  I saw a rose-breasted grossbeak at the feeder.  The pic is through a smeared window, but it's still a nice shot.

1st mow - and chasing g'hog

First mowing on Saturday.  It's going to rain all week, so it was high time to cut.

As for the REAL ADVENTURE - head over to the vegetable page.  You have no idea what kind of morning I've had!  Need access?  Click subject ACCESS on the side bar FILE BOX.

Brush done - and I'm bushed

It's been a couple of days outside this week and I had to have help with all the fallen branches, but it's finally done.  The Spring Cleanup.  All broken branches (tons), all dead stalks, all grasses, all, well, you name it. If it was dead, it was dragged.  This pile is huge.  You can barely see the 5' tall dwarf Alberta spruce behind it.

But it was worth it.  The gardens look tidy - at least for now.  I made myself some new help this year and I'll post about it on the Garden blog soon.

Click to enlarge to really see all the daffs.

For now, it's time to sit back and enjoy the flush of daffs. I love when they all fill in like this.

A taxing day

As predicted Monday night's rain turned to sleet by Tuesday dawn and within an hour it started to snow.

Temps went from 75 on Sunday to 28 Tues a.m.  (on it's way down to mid-teens overnight).

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Spring in Ohio is NOT for wimps!

I just hope that I won't lose all the magnolia buds/blooms like last year.  *sigh*

I also hope Mr. Toad is well tucked under the broad bean bin bed. 

Pepped and prepped

Tuesday a.m. was cool and very rainy.  That's what they predicted, so I wasn't bummed.

Then, around 11:00, the clouds broke, the sun shone and the breeze dried things out.

Well yowzah!

After lunch I decided it was warm and dry enough to do some spring maintenance.

Loading up the wheelbarrow with gas, a full tank of compressed air, the battery from the basement, wrenches, etc. I headed back to the shed to see if I could revive the Snapper.

Back there I inflated the tires, filled the tank, checked the oil and installed the battery.

Fingers crossed, I jumped on and turned the key.

Nada.  Again.  Nada.  Third time?  Nada.  Just a whirring sound.

The battery was dead.  Now you'd think that would irritate me.  But no.  After all, the thing went through 2011, 2012 and 2013.  For a mower battery that is akin to Methuselah.   (I float-charge every year over winter.)

Besides, I had backup.  The Snapper has a manual starter too.  So, hoping my arm would hold out, I tried a couple of pulls.  Nada.  Still, it seemed to be trying to catch.

Probably the gas hadn't gotten to the carburetor.  I rested the arm for a couple of minutes, then tried again.

VROOOOOM.  Happy happy joy joy.

So I drove the Snapper up to the garage and pulled out the snow blower.  Okay, I'm probably taking a chance, but I went and drained the gasoline and folded up the handles.  It's now tucked away for the summer.  Hopefully I won't have to get it out again this season.

Last I did was inflated all the other tires: wagon, wheelbarrow and yard cart.  That done, I went and got a new mower battery (they were on sale that day!  woohoo!).  Installed it, tried the key and VROOOOM.  What a lovely sound.

I was so happy that I took 30 minutes to run the mower around and under the 2 sweet gum trees to corral those spiky gum balls off the grass.  They are trecherous to walk on, like ball bearing, to my weak ankles.

There.  Not a bad use of a gift of a nice day.  Maybe we WILL get some Spring after all?

A wonderful gift!

Tuesday was our warmest day in the last 6 months!

Temps soared to mid 60s.

The humidity was only 30%.

The wind, while fierce (40mph), it was warm and dry.

I took advantage of both the warmth and dry air to turn off the heat, open all the windows and let the winter air blow out of the house.

Within an hour inside temps rose from 65 to 70 and the humidity dropped from 48% to 33%.

The house smelled fresh again.

And, to my surprise, I found 2 little clumps of crocus in bloom.  I've planted hundreds of crocus over the years, yet these 2 clumps under the front bay window are all that survive.  What a treat to find them!   

With the lovely weather, I was also able to put out a delivery of rooted shrub cuttings I got on eBay last week:

10 Japanese boxwood and a baker's dozen of bridal wreath spirea.

All are in good health, well rooted and only need some hardening off (they came from Florida) and consistent warm temps before I put them in a nursery bed.

Temps will fall the rest of the week - into 40s and rain at least 3 days.

But I'm thinking Winter is BROKEN.

I know I should have done a TON of outside cleanup yesterday, but I spent the morning running errands, then in the afternoon I just vegetated like a plant.

I sat in the sun.  I sipped tea.  I gazed at blue sky and busy birds.  I basically just soaked up the day, enjoying every spring-scented breath.

Sometimes you shouldn't use up a day like that with busy stuff.  You should just immerse yourself in it - especially since we'll not see one like that in the near future.

A day like that - it was a much needed gift to the spirit.  Yard work will wait.