Outside

My Problem Child

I have a perennial bed that has me completely flummoxed. This scraggly mess is located in prime real estate - right next to the deck and the screened porch. But yet, it looks so bad I've only included it in one picture of the lower garden over the past two years.

This was the first flower bed I planted when the garden was new, and I had such high hopes. The bed faces directly west, but because of the overhanging arborvitae, the front of the bed doesn't get sun until about 2:00 or 3:00 pm, and then the surrounding trees provide dappled shade in the mid-evening (as seen above). The very back of the bed doesn't get any direct sun, although it is very close, so it's bright.

Given this information, I decided to plant partial shade plants in the front, and shade plants in the back. The first summer it looked great. However, the second summer about half the plants didn't come back. Last year there were even fewer. This year all that grows here are some flowerless Siberian irises, a few daylilies, three stunted veronicas (speedwell - I don't remember the exact name), one very unhappy Ligularia "The Rocket," a few wandering Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'  (golden creeping Jenny), and one inexplicably happy peony that was there when we moved into the house (not seen in the photo, but on the far right).

At this point, I am completely ignoring this bed, as I'm not quite sure what to do with it. Since even daylillies - daylillies! - aren't thriving here, what will? I've added compost over the years, and there are worms, so the soil would seem to be okay. The front part of the bed is in shade until 2:30, direct sun from about 2:30 pm until 6:30 pm, then dappled shade thereafter. The very back of the bed gets no sun, but it's very bright.

So, does anyone have any wonderful ideas for how to make my problem child shine?

We're Certified Now!

A few weeks ago, Pam at Digging posted about how Austin, Texas is trying to become certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a Community Wildlife Habitat. I remembered having plans to one day do this myself (just for my yard, not the whole community!), and decided to get myself moving and do something about it.

It turns out, though, that I didn't really need to "get myself moving" - I just needed to fill out an online questionnaire and give them my Visa number.

Yesterday, my shiny new sign came in the mail. I'm not yet sure where I'm going to put it, but I will definitely make sure that it's visible to my neighbors. Maybe it will inspire a few more of them to put away the fertilizers and pesticides.

Garden, Here I Come!

The sun is shining and the temperature is supposed to reach 60 degrees by Sunday. Even if it's still too wet to rake, there are lots of things I want to get done in the garden this weekend.

I am going to start my seeds if it kills me - no more procrastinating. We need to fix the deer fence, clean up the beds, unmulch what needs unmulching, apply compost everywhere, set up the trellis and hoops for snap peas, and maybe even plant a few things outside (depending on the soil temperature). Spouse's plans include cigar smoking and grilling.

It's going to be a good weekend!

2007 Gardening Resolutions

Each year my gardening repertoire expands, and 2006 was no exception. Generally, I was happy with the way things went last year, and hope to be as successful this year. Even so, I still have resolutions for things that could go better and that I'd like to accomplish in 2007.

1. Continue vegetable gardening after July 1st: Every year when it gets hot and I get tired of spending a lot of time in the garden, I just stop. In 2006, I made a very lame attempt to sow some fall greens. But, since I did it in mid-August and then didn't water them, nothing happened. In 2007 I'd like to make a conscious effort to plan for and nurture fall vegetables, including greens, snap peas, and even a second crop of potatoes.

2. Get a cold frame: In my quest to extend the season, I'd really like to get a cold frame and try it out. I actually found one in a catalog that will fit my beds, so there's no reason I couldn't have a longer fall season or an earlier spring season.

3. Find a way to keep out the four-legged pests: Deer and rabbits are my greatest garden foes, and I need to keep three steps ahead of them. The deer figured out how to squeeze around the deer fence. Next spring we'll need to construct a gate that connects to the house so that there are no gaps whatsoever. I managed to keep out rabbits with my window-screen fences, but they were really ugly. I need a different solution that looks good but doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

4. Keep experimenting: Ever since I started vegetable gardening, I've looked at it as a grand experiment. Since I don't need the food to survive, I can keep it fun by trying new plants and new methods. If I don't experiment, then it just becomes another chore.

5. Plan and plant the new garden between the fence and the road: This will be the third year without a garden in this area. Just do it!

6. Contact the "right" people about doing shoreline restoration along the pond: We should be able to recoup 50-75% of the cost of restoring our little bit of pond shoreline, so there's no reason not to go ahead and get it done. It will take a lot of phone calls and paperwork, but it can be done. Better that than letting the buckthorn and blackberries take over the portions we cleared last fall.

Merry Christmas!

The day has dawned bright and sunny. Chickadees and nuthatches call from the trees. It's Christmas day, and we are in the quiet morning of the day before dinner is made and family arrives. Although there are many days of cold and snow before us, the days are getting longer, bringing us closer to spring.

A New Zone?

Was I ever shocked when I decided to check out the new zone map at the National Arbor Day Foundation. The Twin cities are now on the edge of Zone 5! Until now, we've been zone 4a, the colder half of zone 4.

Here's the map of the new zones 4 and 5. The entire northern half of Minnesota - or even a bit more than half - used to be zone 3 (with some pockets of zone 2). Now, most of the state is zone 4, with southern MN and the Mississippi river basin to the Cities being zone 5. My own crude estimate is that zone 4 moved north about 150 miles. Maybe from St. Cloud - which I know for sure was on the edge of zones 3 and 4 - to Cass Lake.

If you head over to the Arbor Day website, you should also take a look at the animation of the changes between 1990 and 2006. The change in the middle of the country is particularly unsettling. I was already a believer in global warming, but the animation makes it very real.

I suppose the good news is that I can start experimenting with plants that are marginally hardy in zone 4 and hardy in the northern portion of zone 5, but I'm not sure that makes up for the fact that our climate seems to be going to hell in a hand basket.

 

Credit goes to Susan over at Garden Rant for blogging about this first (or at least, first for me).

What a change . . . .

There's been a huge change in the weather overnight. Right now it's 34 degrees with a few snow flurries. From what I understand, there are snow flurries all over the Midwest.

In anticipation of not only our first frost, but our first hard freeze, I left work early yesterday to clean up what remained in the vegetable garden and to plant garlic.

The bean trellis and bean tepee came down, I pulled out the drying beans by the roots to hang in the house, I dug up the remaining Purple Viking potatoes (the fingerlings are still out there), and started organizing the various planting implements for fall storage.

In an act that seems almost sacreligious, I dug out the asparagus crowns and planted garlic in that bed (the bed directly in front of the shed above). This was the second year in a row that something - probably deer - ate the asparagus fronds to the ground. Even before they were eaten this year I wasn't thrilled with their production. I had bought the "asparagus in a bag" at a garden center, and I think they were not of the best quality. So, this winter I will reevaluate the asparagus situation. And if I decide to plant again, I'll order crowns from somewhere reputable, like Johnny's.

But I'm very excited about the garlic! I planted 12 bulbs each of Music, Chrysalis Purple, German Extra Hardy and Siberian (all from Seed Savers). This will be my experimental crop. Once I've grown and tried them all I'll narrow it down to (probably) two varieties. From what I understand, the garlic gradually changes flavor as it adapts to a particular soil over the years.

As I was looking at the carrots, trying to decide whether I should pull them all or leave them until the weekend, I found this: Black Swallowtail caterpillers. Now I'm not sure if I should just leave the carrots alone or what. I've never had good luck with carrots before, and I already know that these are short, stubby little things. Maybe I'll just leave them for the swallowtails.

Goldenness

Fall continues its march toward the next season (which shall not yet be named). I was out of town most of last week for a conference, and came home Sunday to sun and 84 degrees. While I was gone, Spouse was under direct orders to make sure the remaining beans and tomatoes didn't succomb to frost. Luckily for all involved, there was no frost while I was gone.

In our neighborhood, fall is golden. Most of the trees turn yellow in autumn - green ash, basswood, elm, cottonwoods. As we progress further into the season, we'll see the native oaks - bur, red and pin - turn to burgundy and brown.

Fall Brilliance

As the season changes, so do the colors in the yard. The leaves of our native Virginia Creeper are brilliant gems in the wet garden.

Rainy Fall Day on the Pond