Growing Habitat

The first time I saw a male cardinal perched in the peach tree I had planted in the back yard, I couldn't help feeling a little light-hearted. I was actually so excited that for a moment I contemplated interrupting Joe at work to tell him there was a bird in my tree. What made me most excited was seeing that this tree, which I had planted to commemorate a baby lost to miscarriage, was no longer my tree. It had been adopted as part of the growing habitat in our back yard.

 Everything we do to the land  on which we live shapes, alters and transforms habitats. When we took down nineteen pines over a year ago, we changed the landscape. We mainly saw crows perched in those trees, but as the smaller hardwoods gained more access to sunlight, they filled out. With the feeders, a couple fruit trees and cedars and breeding boxes we added, more birds have been attracted to our yard. I may regret this later in the summer when I see wedged pecks in each two-days-till-ripe tomato.

Just yesterday, I was walking past a tall hibiscus hedge, when I saw a mother robin feeding her fledgling. As I poked my head up through the branches, she took off as the little one hopped to a higher limb fluttering its slightly unstable yet completely capable wings. I've seen this same family of robins nesting on the neighbor's downspout and standing on the garden fence with worms dangling from their beaks. They have become used to seeing me too.

As the habitat becomes more enhanced, I find that I spend more time outside listening and observing. I learn to recognize the difference between the chirps of an angry titmouse and a nervous house wren. I learn to respect the bees as they go about their work on the flowers I planted just so they'd come and make my garden more fruitful. I teach my boys to make sure they don't hold worms too long before letting them wriggle back into the garden soil. Together we inspect mysterious holes in the ground and ponder what type of critters live in them. We also learn about life and tragedy such as when we discovered the nest full of baby newly-hatched chickadees had been vacated.

For me, living in the middle of a city, I consider it a joy to spend time tending to the land, hearing noises of the interstate mingle with noisy chirps of the finch family descending on the deck feeder. I also see it as my duty to teach my sons how to care for it as well. At first, the boys see a pile and dirt and shovels and envision mass destruction and pushing around their dump trucks. But after awhile, they begin searching for worms, planting seeds, watering plants, helping me fill the feeders, and climbing trees. I love hearing my four year old explain how the plant roots drink water and how weeds take away all the water. He's growing observant eyes and a better understanding of the connectedness of the land.

Upcycled String Trellis

Even after I've planted my veggies beds to full capacity, there's always one more packet of seeds I'm drying to make room for. Yesterday it was the handful of French Climbing Beans I saved from my vines last year. They didn't grow well because the Purple Hyacinth Beans and Turkey Craw Beans choked them out. So instead of eating the few beans that grew, I let them dry on the vines to save for this season. Because these can be trained up a trellis, I decided to plant them at the fence behind the potatoes and corn, where the beds are too deep to reach.

I mounted a rooster weather vane on a fascia header board that partially rotted on our roof. I was happy to be able to employ my no scrap wood left behind policy. Joe does not share this policy with me, so sometimes I am forced to rescue pieces from the "headed to the dump" pile. Last year I purchased about 20 tomato stakes from Logans. I've found that with my heirloom tomatoes, stakes just don't offer enough support. I'm better off planting them against a fence and tying up the branches. So I've been left with a bunch of stakes to create trellises from. I took two of these stakes - one which was badly warped - and nailed them to the fascia header board and fence to create a frame for a string trellis.

Once I tied up twine every 3 - 4", I found that it would quickly tangle if there wasn't something to weight it down. I gathered up small rocks from the "quarry" and tied them to the end. Now if there is a breeze, they just sway a little.

There are several benefits of the location of this trellis. First, it runs east to west, which means that the beans won't cast a huge shadow on the garden as they grow. It is on the south side, so there will be some shadow. (Northern hemisphere means shadows are cast from the south; Southern means they are cast from the north); however, corn is to be adjacent to it, which is tall. Because it is located on the fence, I will be able to easily access it for picking, and it will provide a screen for deer who might crane their necks over to steal the corn (in theory).

How to create your own string trellis:

1. Gather materials to make a frame. You can use pipes, stakes, lumber or tree branches.
2. The height should be to the expected height of the vines you are growing. French climbing beans grow to 6 ft high, and my trellis is just under that. Because my stakes were only 5', I mounted the lateral on the fence.
3. After nailing or screwing your frame together (or using pipe connectors), set it into the ground, or mount it to your fence and test to see if it is sturdy. While bean vines may not get very heavy, the structure should be sturdy enough to stand up to wind. If you are using a fence for support, twist ties are a quick and easy way to secure the trellis.
4. If you have kids, make sure they either know not to climb or hang from your trellis or childproof it.
5. Tie twine spaced to meet the needs of your crop's required spacing. You can do this as your seeds sprout.
6. Because twine is easily blown around, either stake the ends into the ground, or weight them with rocks as I did.

Digital Dissection of an Iris

 

 

Anarchy

Our garden is a mess. I've ignored all convention when it comes to crop rotation, companion planting, and spacing - not intentionally. You know me, I have all the answers thanks to research, but I'm just a little shoddy on my application of it. Every nook and cranny is being stuffed with leftover tomato seedlings and various types of legumes. There are sunflowers popping up wherever the birds have pooped, which essentially is every 12" on center. This morning I pulled out a clump of corn. There were about seven seedlings all tangled up together, so I loosened the clod and spaced them out among the radishes I forgot to thin and will likely pull up too late.

Strawberries, carrots and soy beans, hibiscus and marigolds. Yeah, that's all.

When I peruse Pinterest for garden designs and inspiration, I've come to the point of snickering whenever I see a picture of a perfectly laid out garden with quaint grids of lettuce heads and onions. WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? I've certainly done diagrams and planting plans, but when it comes time to stick my shovel into the dirt and start the fun work of seeding and transplanting, I just get ridiculously giddy and over-ambitious. How could I possibly toss out the extra tomatoes? Why when the radishes are so small (and I'll probably not eat them) should I not go ahead and interplant them with corn and squash? Why not stick some veggies in the designated flower corner? Why not put mom's day lilies in the designated herb bed? All discipline gets tossed aside.

For someone who can be meticulously detailed (just watch me fuss over a bowl on the pottery wheel), I am quite prone to anarchy in the garden. There are still rules I follow (such as weeding), but forcing myself to keep the tomatoes 18" apart is just about as painful as combing the mystery dreadlocks that have been forming at the nape of my neck. It's not that I don't start with even spacing and zones for various crops, and to the untrained eye, my garden might look somewhat orderly.

I'm not sure exactly how I will dig up the potatoes when there is corn growing on top of them. I could be in for massive trouble this summer!

In Bloom: Wasabi Arugula

This is a seriously spicy arugula with the most adorable papery white flowers with maroon veins. I picked up the seeds from Renee's Garden. I'm letting this go to seed, but not sure if they will cross pollinate with the one or two other breeds that are also in bloom.

CORRECTION: This picture if of just straight Arugula. It still has a lot of bite! I'll plant Wasabi soon and get back to you!

Share your Wordless Wednesday post, and if you are feeling generous, link back to mine!

In Honor of Earth Day

In all honesty, I wasn't aware that yesterday was Earth Day until after I'd taken the boys out to shop for plants (specifically irises), but I must have been getting good earthy vibes since we finally got rain after a two week dry spell. In fact, we've received nearly two inches of rain since Saturday. The sprinkler never quite generates the same growth in the veggie garden as a good rainstorm does.

We visited the plant sale at J.C. Raulston Arboretum, but they were pretty much out of bearded irises. We found some about to bloom at the Farmer's Market, where I also found lovely puckered hostas. I don't know what variety they are, and I'm probably going to mix in a couple other shades of green in the future. We also got two more varieties of irises at Lowes and some deeply discounted columbines. There is a shady area under a Chinese Privet that needs the love of hostas, shade flowers and mulch.


My husband also "reclaimed" a chair that someone had set on the curb for our neighborhood dump day or something like that. We were told to put our junk on the curb and the city would clean it up. That was Saturday, and now on Monday, the curbs are still very junky - junky and wet.

How did you celebrate Earth Day?

Birds on the Deck

These are two birds that don't usually come up onto the deck. I've never been able to get a picture of a blue jay this close. They tend to stay far from the house. Just in the past couple weeks, a pair has started visiting the feeders - but only if they don't see any movement behind our windows. For being such bossy birds, they sure are skittish around people!

Volunteer Tomatoes in the Asparagus Bed

The asparagus in our garden hasn't been able to catch a break. Just before what would have been its third year in our yard, and the glorious spring in which we'd finally be able to harvest it, I dug it all up and moved it to a new bed. Its original location was terribly overgrown with weeds, and my husband insisted on mowing it over whenever I wasn't looking. So, in it's third year, I moved it just outside the garden fence into a more controlled area, and heaped on what was left of our compost pile. This past month as I watched tiny asparagus spears push through the mulch, I could tell they had suffered from the move as they were thinner than usual and not as abundant. I decided to delay yet again on harvesting them to give the roots a growing season to better establish themselves.

Now, I see that there are no less than thirteen volunteer tomatoes growing in that bed. This brings me to a dilemma. Do I let those tomatoes grow, or do I pull them out? Because I have no idea what variety of tomatoes will grow there - I've planted over ten varieties over the years - it makes volunteers a fun surprise. Being outside the fence, they might serve as a nice deterrent from critters coming in and wreaking havoc on the rest of the veggies. The downside is that those poor asparagus that have been battered and uprooted will have to share their bed! However, I think with proper fertilization, water, and thinning out of the tomatoes, there might not be too much competition.

What do you say? When you see a volunteer tomato, do you weed it out or do you consider it a welcome inhabitant? Do you dig it up and plant it somewhere else?

In Bloom: Bearded Iris 'War Chief'

 

Are you comfortable with me just posting a picture of pretty plants and flowers in the garden without much if any narrative? Oh, good! Then here is my first post of my new Wordless Wednesday series: In Bloom. 

Do you want to join me in an "In Bloom" link up? Link back to this post in your post and submit a link to your post here. 

What a week!

It has been one crazy week here with battling sickness - all three boys have had their ups and downs - planting the garden and preparing for a women's conference at our church. By this Saturday, my garden helper Daniel was all better and incredibly excited to help me plant tomatoes and seed corn and beans. How do I know he was excited? Today when I picked him up, his teachers knew all about his hard work. I gave him his own packet of pole beans and a poking stick, and although he may have put 15 beans in one hole on purpose for the sake of seeing "lots of beans come up together!", he was excellent with dirt moving, tomato pot carrying and dropping corn into the holes. He even requested his own tomato plant to go in his garden house next to - the FIFTEEN beans he planted - and although "they" say beans and tomatoes shouldn't be grown together, I know his will be the best in the garden because he is four, and magic happens for four-year-olds.

Today, Matthew and I found this gem who is now our garden mascot. I couldn't resist a faux-artsy shot with my iPhone.

This great find happened after we had a sweet date at cafe where he downed a blueberry muffin (not sharing even one bite) and I sipped on an iced mocha, which he referred to as "ouch" and "ew". Honestly, I had the same response before I gave it an extra squirt of Hershey's when I got home. I could tell it was a really good drink, but my tastes just weren't refined enough to pleasure in it without extra sugar. One day coffee will grow on me!

How Can I Help?

So, by the number of questions I've been getting from friends over the past couple weeks, I get the idea that you guys trust me and my gardening advice. I really am flattered by it and absolutely love seeing more people start to grow their own food and get their hands a little dirty. It has become quite a passion of mine.

I also think that maybe there are some friends out there that really do want to start a garden but just don't have a clue where to begin and are overwhelmed by all the decisions - where, with what materials, raised bed or in-ground? Here's what I propose:

Hire me.

Whether you want a schematic and planting calendar or whether you want me to come out to your house and help you pick a spot and build a bed for you, I'd love to do it. I've got a service package list worked up if you are interested. Just send me an email and we will get started!

These are the three packages I'm working on:


Package 1: Planting Schematic & Calendar
Package 2: Package 1 + Plant Selection & Planting Assistance
Package 3: Installing a Raised Bed

Of course, all of you DIY types should keep asking me questions! I'm happy to look things up that I don't know the answer to.

Chickadees!

For about a week, I thought a family of blue birds would move into one of our two next boxes, but a sweet pair of chickadees fought hard for the one in the back and quickly built a nest from the straw I'd stuffed behind their box and fresh grass clippings. I've been opening the door to watch the progress, but never saw any birds inside - until this weekend when I got hissed at by a mama bird incubating her eggs. Today I peeked in and she wasn't there, but saw what looked like one whole egg, broken shells and something pink with a really long featherless neck wiggling. BABIES! When I came back a little later, mama was back and ready to hiss at me.

Garden Walk

After being gone all week, I was excited to get out into the garden and see what had changed. Here are several snapshots I took with my phone. In order: blackberry blossoms (2), the garden path, knockout rose bush, muscadine vine (2), romaine, tangerine crossvine, and Texas tarragon.

Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum

The boys and I have spent the week in Tennessee visiting family. Today we went to the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum. I loved all the details on the old engines, from the peeling paint of the retired ones to the shiny wheels and lights of the restored ones. The boys were pretty cranky, but that didn't slow down my picture-taking fun. Daniel loves trains, so he was pretty quick to correct our terminology and point out which ones were like the various characters from Thomas and Friends. We rode on a train, saw the engine take a trip on the turn table and toured the train shop where they were restoring old engines.

White Deer Park Rainwater Cisterns

After several posts on my home water cistern, I thought it would be fun to share what White Deer Park in Gardner is doing with rainwater. White Deer Park was built on land with its roots in agriculture, so they chose to have their cisterns resemble silos and built structures with lean-to roofs. Their picnic shelters all have cisterns to capture runoff. I'm not sure what most of them are used for, but one of these feeds into a hand pump in the natural playground and squirts out into a small constructed concrete stream that runs through the play area and under a foot bridge. The pump requires some priming, and when I finally got it running, the rusty color of the water told me that I was the first in a while to use it. If you decide to visit, take a bottle of water!

Downspout with leaf filter and "non-potable water" label on the cistern in the playground

Picnic shelter with lean-to roof

I was given a tour of the facilities by Stephanie in the office. The LEED Nature Center building has two large cisterns that are used for the toilets. These two cisterns are connected underground so that they are always at the same level. The rainwater is filtered and colored with a food grade dye to make it obvious to patrons that the water is non-potable. So as to avoid any potential crossing of potable and non-potable water lines, the cisterns are refilled with potable water when levels get too low rather than having a potable line feed directly into the toilets. So long as the filter is regularly maintained, the system is always operational.

Nature Center rainwater cisterns that are used for the toilets

Toilet with rainwater and dye

Filters for the rainwater to prevent pollen, dirt and debris in the pipes

I love that their are plenty of educational signs around the park for the public. The more accessible these practices are, the more I think we'll see them adopted for home use and incorporated into new designs.