Sunday, October 16
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Today was certainly a gift .. .a day just like yesterday. A little chilly in the morning and then lovely warm sun in the afternoon.
Looked out the kitchen window .. saw a Spotted Towhee hopping around the yard .. wow . I love this bird. Grabbed the camera and headed outside .. knowing all to well that the chances of him even being there when I arrives were slim .. to none. But I just had to try.
Darn .. he’d scooted off. Well, he’ll be in the neighbourhood till next spring so I know that I will see him again.
A few days ago I’d put a high energy suet block in the suet holder .. and this was a very popular site for all the birds who visit our yard. This morning there was a sliver of suet left and shortly thereafter .. all gone!
I don’t like putting out the suet blocks until winter .. when the weather is frosty ..but I’d had some suet from the butcher’s and they all liked that. It had been outside for many weeks and was starting to look a bit grungy .. so I replaced it with the block.
Ok .. I decided to fetch the balance of the suet from the butcher’s. Once I’d scrubbed out the suet holder, I then crammed the balance of the suet in the block and hung it from the tree branch.
It wasn’t readily acknowledged .. but a few hours later, the Juncos’, the sparrows, the Bushtits ..were all happily munching from the container. I noticed the Chickadee’s would peck away at the suet and then dash away to a tree branch to finish eating their treasures.
Also noted that the Chickadees would fly to the sunflower seed heads, pick a seed and then fly away to a nearby tree to crack the casing and eat the tender part of the seed.
The hornets are getting quite vicious now .. I watch them at the hummingbird feeder, trying in vain to reach the sweet nectar. They can smell the mixture, but are baffled .. they are unable to reach the mix as the little yellow baskets of the flower stop them. The Anna’s definitely do not like them. There are altercations as the Anna’s try to feed and then the hornets fly up … the Anna’s leave .. sometimes they try to wave the hornets away, but they give up and fly away. To return shortly afterwards .. to feed again.
The 3:1 mix is quite a hit with the Anna’s… I’d filled the containers last week and they are both halfway finished. That’s ok .. I have prepared more and it’s waiting in the fridge!
In the morning I went to my leaf source (from last year) and stuffed my little car with 8 bags of this wonderful material. Several of the bags felt quite heavy .. be still my heart .. for these are aged leaves, perfect for using in the garden right now.
A bit of running around, mail letters, pick up a few groceries. Back home … out to the garden!
I’m working on the veggie garden. This garden has quite a history .. and perhaps on some rainy day when I feel like playing around .. I’ll prepare a slide show. Showing the yard as it used to look .. with the raised beds and gravel pathways. A long time ago!
And I’ve been working for a few years on this area, sifting the gravel, moving the old boards, digging out the comfrey, blackberries, Sweet Cicely .. all of these wonderful plants have the most amazing benefits. .. and they share the same drawbacks! They reproduce like crazy. So now I’ve reached the stage where I can quickly spot new plants emerging and simply dig them out.
The soil now is just rich and beautiful. Full of composted oak leaves/hay/manure. This year I have two sources of oak leaves and I’m gathering all that I can. Not sure if I’ll search for hay and manure this year. Might take a break. But .. you just never know!
Spent hours playing around with design of the veggie garden. Straight paths … tried that ..doesn’t work for me. Tried bracing up wood to use for edging .. but I decided that gently curving paths suit this garden best. Funny .. I’d worked hard for a few days, setting up frameworks for raised beds and pathways behind one area .. but it just did not feel right.
So today I just took all the framework away and, using my rake, gently brushed the ground with the rake, tracing out slight curving paths ..and all of a sudden everything felt right.
Then I decided to add a selection of raspberries and blueberries to the back section (raised soil) … once this was done .. the veggie garden felt even better. In the summer there is sun and partial shade and I know from experience that the berries do well in both.
Next .. it was time to look at the layout of the future garlic bed. I shovelled a little path (gentle curve) from the first path (which leads from the entrance to the garden … all along the berry section) .. to the garlic area. Good. And continued this path to the beginning of the garden. A loop. Now I had created a little island between the berry section and the garlic section. Yes, this feels different and suits the garden. I can enter the garden, follow the path, stop midway, and follow the path back to the entrance.
Finally .. drum roll .. time to plant some garlic. I scooped out a small trench (one of many to be dug!) … placed some aged composted on the bottom .. carefully placed garlic cloves 6 inches apart. Topped with lovely, lovely … aged oak leaves and then a light sprinkle of compost.
This year I’m planting the garlic in a sunny area, with lots of composted leaves, and the garlic bed is actually quite high .. to catch all the rays that the sun can send.
I look forward to harvesting large healthy cloves next summer. Hardnecks, softnecks and some elephant garlic. And .. next summer, I’ll be cutting down the greens (yum yum) so that the energy will go into the creation of larger cloves! How exciting is this.
I just love this .. creating new garden spaces, changing the flow. Moving plants. Trying things out.
The broad leaf bamboo seems to like the rich soil. At the front of the house, the soil is heavy clay. I’d planted a clump of this bamboo over 20 years ago, and it behaved quite nicely, it did not spread. however, different story in the new soil. It is very eager to grow. Well, grow away .. I can quite easily clip any new roots that grow out. Elsewhere in the garden, I had planted a different bamboo .. and because they are surface rooters, I’d simply encircled the plants with very heavy landscaping plastic, so the roots would be contained.
I could have done that in the berry garden .. well, it’s never too late.
Spent some time birdwatching .. always so relaxing .. they are so sweet.
It’s been a great day .. and I look forward to going outside tomorrow … to play in the garden again.
🙂
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