May garden 2016

So it has been a while since I have posted. But that's okay I've been totally busy doing other things and recovering from an injury. Blogging is just not high on my to-do list. It takes a lot of time!

Here we are May 2016. One of my favorite times of year because everything just really starts getting going in the garden and in the forest.
This is when all of the hard work really starts to show. It makes me so happy.
In this post I'll give a pictorial tour of what's been going on outside.

I moved the blueberries from Blueberry Hill into pots & they love it. The hills past life as a gravel storage area made the soil too Rocky and alkaline for blueberries. I transplanted them into pots filled with compost and peat moss... nice and acidic. Now, I just have to keep them watered regularly.

I also moved the raspberries from their ground beds to raised beds. The ground beds were too shallow and we're allowing The Raspberries to spread beyond their borders. They handled the transplant well.

As you can see, the strawberry barrel didn't work out very well. For now, it is being repurposed into a flower planter until I can move it to a different location and decide what to do with it. The new strawberry planters seems to be working well for now. Time will tell. I have a pink flowering variety that I found as well as a variety called flavor fest. The pink is so pretty!

Potatos this year! I've tried bags and straw in the past with no success. Hopefully raised beds will help. Purple, red and yellow varieties.

Carrots seem to be doing well so far. Hopefully they won't get eaten from the inside out like they did last year. Lettuce is doing fabulous!  We'll see how my second harvest of heirloom garlic does this year. Hope it's as great as last year. I tried to plant peas but the birds ate all the seeds before they could germinate.

From top left clockwise. I have one yellow squash and one zucchini and that's all I need. Tomatoes...  I have 8 different tomato plants and one bed looks like my compost was still a little too hot. I bought a rhubarb start this year and it started growing just fine then all the sudden that happened now it's a corpse rhubarb. My asparagus is in its second year so I still have to wait before I can get a good harvest of that.

Now you get to see my mess. The top photo is of the Blueberry Hill. A tree fell on the fence and busted the posts but the deer fence mesh still stands. I have made two spots in the garden for two rain barrels and have a lovely arrangement from our high school FFA on the top of one. A few small hanging baskets are on some posts around the garden to attract the hummingbirds and make it more pretty. And the bottom is a panorama of the garden right now. Please excuse the mess it is still a work in progress and I am still trying to get some more seeds into some of these beds and finish up the pathway. Moles are still a constant battle.

The herb garden surrounds the vegetable garden. There are a little more than herbs in the herb garden. I have a buried clay pot with beautiful spring bulbs. This is also where I have put the baby Douglas fir trees until they grow big enough to not be bothered by the deer and Elk. I love herb!

Lots of flowers!

Now onto the forest...

I tried to propagate cutting last year of the blue raspberry without success. This year I am trying tip rooting. So far so good.

Salmonberry, huckleberry, salal berry, columbine (non native), native Blackberry, Oregon grape, hazelnut, wild strawberry. Didn't have a lot of nettle this year.

The orchard is a mix of good and bad. From top left and down...

The mystery tree that we transplanted from the forest is fruitng. Maybe we will see what it becomes (I think cherry).

Old Apple fruiting well.  Fig transplanted again but is handing it well now that it is safe from the deer. My cherry trees I planted 4 years ago are crap, and the apricot died (I do not recommend rain tree nursery!). 

I bought and planted a comice pear for my daughter... So far so good... Even has fruit this year.

The back 40 forest mystery peachy cherry has fruit too.

Happy gardening!

Ah-guest 2013: Part 2 - A Whale of a tale.

mom n pop

The 2nd part of August hails in my folks from Texas. It is always good to see my parents and the older we all get, the more I soak in the moments (the good and the frustrating).  After a busy week with my brother-in-law, we still had a busy week but it was slightly more laid back.

This visit was flipped from the last guest, with my hubby going to work and me hanging out with my folks for the most part.

We started the week off with a visit to the Space Needle. (Sorry all my future guests... Your visits to downtown Seattle will be on-your-own. Rent a car, take a cab, or transit there 'cause this train is done with the typical Seattle tourist hits).

playing with forced perspective - how fun!

Seattle Space Needle  - my untested tip: Plan ahead...well ahead and make reservations for dining to visit the needle. No lines, no waiting and although there is a minimum per-guest charge, the view is free, the visit to the deck is included and you get chow. Plan a few weeks in advance because reservations are a few days to weeks out in the tourist season. Our family has been a total of 3 times (one regular admission, 2 VIP) and still wish we would have done dinner or lunch.

singing flowers

The next few days were filled with quality time with the parents and they with the grand-daughter.

Yum! goulash!

We had a campfire, visited the lake and gardens, completed school-shopping etc...

Then we took a 3-day weekend to "Beautiful British Columbia". We packed up like clowns into the VW Golf and took the Coho over to Victoria. Stayed in a nice little apartment near the Fishermans'Warf. Visited the Butchart, Craigdarroch, Parliament, and with all the walking we did... you would think I should have lost weight instead of gained.

Here is our experience...

Papaw and kiddo

Coho ferry   my rate = 4/5 stars
departs Port Angeles on the upper OP, across the Strait of San Juan de Fuca into Victoria Harbour. Wear appropriate clothing to stand out on the bow of the ship and look out for sea life. We sighted Humpback whales on the way and back. If you have kids or are a kid at heart... get up to the bow right away and watch them cast off.

Craigdarroch Castle   my rate = 5/5 stars
More of a mansion with a tower but, very cool anyways. The history of the building makes it interesting and how it is still in process of being restored after all the many faces it has worn. The docents are extremely knowledgeable and my hubby couldn't even stump them with his inquiries.

Parliament Building  my rate = 4/5 stars
How fun is this. A bit of politics, a lot of detail and astounding beauty in this building. Makes ya wanna run for office just so you can work here. The great thing - free! The guides were lacking and we were on the weekend so, the group was huge and wish we could have taken more time as we could have during the week. The guides seemed like they were scripted and did not know much beyond the speech with the exception of the surprise period speaker (not sure if there is a different one each time).

Waterfront  my rate = 5/5 stars
There is no lack of water-front on Vancouver Island. Walk the harbours, visit the parks. Fantastic! You can go at your own pace. Relax. Exercise. Eat. Watch the wildlife (people too).

Butchart Gardens   my rate = 3/5 stars
My 1st visit was (clears throat) about 20 years ago.Yikes. Seems about the same except the time of year.
It took us about 2 -2.5 hours to go through. We took our time and read signs and such. It is nice and the sunken garden is really nice. I was quite disappointed in the rose garden (they were labeled) because they planted carpet phlox along the pathway and it really really masked the scent of the roses. Carpet phlox is kinda stinky! If you are a garden person then I would suggest it otherwise... you can get your garden fill just walking around the city. It is a private garden not a botanical so, the plants are not labeled.

B.C's licence plates slogan is well-fitting and is not just a slogan - it is truly Beautiful! I would love to visit again and hopefully see some of the upper-lands.

Ah-guest 2013 part1

My daughter said that this year August is Ah-guest.
Rightfully so... the first part we were blessed with a visit from my brother-in-law all the way from the east side of the USA.

Most of the activities were done by my hubby and I chose to stay home for most of it. A whirlwind visit to Mt Rainier, visits to Pikes Place, downtown Seattle landmarks and tours etc... I am just not a high activity person and "once is enough" when it comes to city things. It also saves us a bit of cash for our next guests in 3 days arrival, and allowed Hubby and his brother some brotherly bonding time without having a wife to drag along. I know I appreciate sister time when I can get it.

I did join in in some things that I had been wanting to do or would do again (nature stuff of course). A first time visit to Mt St Helen's, a trip to the coast (been several times but who doesn't enjoy the coast?), and another visit to Northwest Trek (which turned out even better than the 1st time). And on his last nite here, we got to finally have the 1st campfire cook-out of the summer! I know, a bit late but, we've been kinda busy this summer. It was so nice to have him visit and hope he can come again another summer.

Time for a travel review...

Mt St Helens National Monument, Washington, USA

If you only have a day and it is your 1st time... Go to the Johnston Ridge Observatory.
This is only 5 miles from the crater and right smack dab in the blast zone. From here you can visit the center, watch films, read survivor stories, hear Ranger talks and go on Ranger guided hikes. This is THE premiere vantage point and learning opportunity for a day trip. Oh, and you can hike to Mt Adams from here (more than a day trip by the way).

It is not as easy to drive around this mountain as it is Mt Rainier. Mt. St. Helen's , although a smaller park, has a huge protective zone! This means you have to drive back out and all the way around to get to each of the other areas of the park from Johnston Ridge. Making for a 3 hour drive to the next section from Johnston Ridge, not including scenic stops along the way. And, you will want to stop. Along the road there are several vantage points and historic information from both the park and commercial ventures (much of the mountain was logged in the 1980's). A few commercial stops along 504 are the Forest Learning Center at mile marker 33 and the edge of the blast zone viewpoint and bridge around milepost 29 - the Hoffstadt Creek bridge and lookout point.

This area of St Helen's is amazing. It is fairly windy and the views are great (for now) because of the lack of old growth forest that was here merely 30 years ago. What a great opportunity we have here in the USA to be able to witness such a vast geologic history! We have old growth forest and ancient canyons to new-birth and re-birth of Earth like St Helen's.

Ocean City State Park, Washington

Ocean City is OK. If you are camping, by all means get a pass and go to the park. But, if you are going for a day trip to the beach... go south of the park down 115 onto Ocean Shores Blvd. into the town of Ocean Shores, visit some shops maybe and just drive onto the beach from one of the 2 access drives (Please know how to drive on the beach people!! We saw way too many people sink their vehicles and get stuck. Geesh! - Use some level of common sense.)
Now, it is not a pristine beach by any means. That's what you get when vehicles are allowed. There was an oily sheen on the "sweet spot" of the beach and who knows what other vehicular fluids and pollutants. There was also the pre-composted product from the business end of the horses (which is way cleaner than what the vehicles leave behind but the gross factor is still there). Considering the volume of humans, the beach was fairly litter-free which was the biggest, and most pleasant surprise.
Anyways.. pack a picnic lunch (don't litter you slobs), kites, a change of clean clothes, SUNSCREEN, and whatever else like... beach toys a shade tent to sleep under, wet-suits for boarding (the water is cold all the time) and just have some beachy fun.

Northwest Trek, Pierce County, WA

The 1st time I went was in the late spring and it was good. Now it is late summer here and it was even better. I want to go again in the fall for the Elk Rut and in the winter when all the undergrowth is gone and get a new perspective of the wildlife.

A collage of the little guys...

from left to right and top to bottom...



Virginia Opossum - recent introduction to Washington in about the 1980's.

Beaver

Skunk

Badger

Porcupine

Fisher
















Carnivores... from left to right and top to bottom...

Grizzly bear - sleepy bear.   Grey Wolf.   Black Bear!!!!   Bob cat - here kitty kitty.   Coyote - mangy mutt.

Birds...  from left to right and top to bottom...

Golden Eagle, Barn Owl, Bald Eagle, Snowy Owl, Crow

Herbivores / the Big Game Boys... from left to right and top to bottom...

Moose (one year old), Bison (very old), Bighorn Sheep, Caribou, Roosevelt Elk

Garden update 2012

So busy - as the norm for here. Finally got the garden going. Here is an update for all my homesteading and gardening followers. Plus a "year in review" in photos to follow.

Had a great battle of the slugs and won (for the most part).
How?
1 - eliminated the grand majority of the rock condos
2 - eliminated the vegetation between rows and in adjacent areas
3 - used omri Slug bait in spring and a light application in late summer.
 

butternut volunteer

A few shot from the late summer (I got a late start last year).

Yeah, moles were an issue but got them under control. Never a shortage of moles in the area. Blueberry hill got 3 varieties. I ended up having to amend the soil. Normally, the soil here is ideal for blueberries except, this area was used as a storage area for gravel and made the soil way too alkaline and rocky leaving the bushes dried out and sad. I un-planted them, dug out the top 4 inches (the pile of gravel in the front). Then, I added a 1:1 ratio of peat-moss and compost and worked it in to the remaining top 3 inches deep and about 4 foot diameter. 2013 will show us how it does.






A year in review is a little late but here we are.

For your viewing pleasure... before and afters.

the befores are going to look even worse because of really bad photo shooting and lack of editing - sory.

garden

before

 

 after

 

 

 

 Wall

 

before

before

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

after

 

 

Coop

before

after

blackberries

before

after

corner garden

can't find a before right now but I pruned the rhododendron, added 5" of mulch and planted a shrub and flowers after repairing the rock wall.

after

basketball court

deck

  see deck post

 

  

foundation gardens

 

before

 

after

Japanese garden in front was started by some pruning and felling a ceder tree. That will be a post in it's own for 2013.

Thanks for stopping by for 2012 yard and garden update!