Bogieblog

Shade Garden Blooms

A few more things are blooming:

Forget-me-Nots were blooming on Mother's Day and I sent Cop Car the virtual flowers. I really like the way there are several different colors of flwoers

Yesterday the Flowering Almonds were looking nice (these were in the original garden section of the shade garden when I moved here).

Since last Sunday, Solomon's Seals have popped up over the Forget-me-Nots and are set to bloom

Now it is time to complain about the weather. It was a cool and gloomy spring. I ran the main floor pellet stove as late as this past Tuesday morning (with the mornings being high 20's to around freezing)). It has been long-sleeve weather with the highs being in the 40's and 50's. Wednesday and Thursday afternoon it got into the 60's so that was 2 days of short-sleeve weather.

Then Friday it was up to 88 and yesterday was 94 - straight to tank top weather and the AC on. And the mornings didn't cool off too much being in the high 60's, so opening the windows and putting in the fans don't cool the house down much from the 74* that the AC is set at. I think I got it down to 71 yesterday morning and After 1.5 hours, this morning I have gotten it down to 73* (still have a couple of hours to go before the sun rises).

It is supposed to be cooler today and I need to do the first mowing of both yards so I'm hoping the humidity level is low.

 

Roadside Garden Explosion

The daffodils and narcissus have taken the cool, cloudy, rainy weather to heart and really come into their own in the roadside garden. As peop;e drive down the street, their attention is probably drawn by the bright colors.

The creeping phlox by the driveway have made a surprise blush. Usually they are a bit later

And the daffs in the backyard, at the treeline are putting on their own sporadic show. For some reason they bloom by ones and twos instead of all at once. I can't complain since I didn't plant any of them. The white ones are a simpler form but they are amazing spreaders. They started as one clump a couple of years ago, and now there are 5 distinct clumps, in a line stretching 25 feet.

I'm thinking that squirrels or chipmunks transplanted some bulbs. They aren't supposed to bother daffodils, but I can tell you a couple of years ago they removed every dang bulb from the new raised garden by where the willow used to be. I planted them around the Rose of Sharons. I could tell they had been dug up when it happened, and not a single bulb remained. That is the only garden without any bulbs despite my best efforts. I'll have to try planting again next fall.

Great Spring Day

Yesterday afternoon was the first day of short-sleeve weather. It was 62*, sunny with few clouds, and the wind wasn't at 40 mph. Sure, we had a fairly stiff breeze, but wasn't too bad so after a bunch of running around, I got out in the yard and did some cleaning up late afternoon. First I took a bunch of winter fall limbs to the dump. They have recently instituted a policy of nothing over 3", so I had to hold a couple back, but I was able to get rid of most of them.

I cleaned up all the perennial stalks and dead day lily leaves out of the driveway garden. No pics for that - just take my word that it looks much better. Then I started cleaning out the roadside garden.

I couldn't clean that end as well as I would have liked as it has baby lupines growing as well as the daffodils and hyacinths that I didn't want to tear up with the leaf rake. But I did get all the stalks out from the peonies. Dang, those stalks are so stringy and tough that I'll bet the strands could be used to weave baskets.

The far end cleaned up better since there were no bulbs coming up. I don't know whether those daffodils got eaten by chipmunks/squirrels, they died, or are just late.

I bagged up all the leaves and all the stalks are in the 4-wheel cart, so are ready to take to the dump next weekend. Here are hyacinths and daffodils from the shrub garden.

I haven't cleaned up that area yet and still need to clean up the raised bed at the other side of the house as well as the shade garden. But my first priorities for today will be to get rid of some invasive roses that have jumped the drainage ditch from the former swamp. The only good thing about them is they green up before most other stuff, so are easier to find and deal with in the spring. I also need to cut up what I can of the large limb that came down in the neighbor's back yard. Need to get that done before mowing season begins.

Today is supposed to be a bit warmer than yesterday with just a light breeze, so should be lovely to be out in the yard.

Spring Cleaning Redux - at the Neighbor's

Friday was a fine day to be outside so I took advantage and cleaned up roses from the neighbor's yard:

What it looked like to start. Well, that isn't true, I had already cut and removed four canes that had grown up in the center of the lilacs at the corner and were 10-15' long (I was by no means done cutting around those lilacs when I thought to take pictures). Those suckers throw out lots of side branches/vines and pulling them out of trees is an exercise in patience, cutting in just the right spots, and pulling them out at the right angle.

The above picture doesn't show how much there truly is because I suck at giving perspectives. You couldn't see the vines that were growing on top of the roof. Here it is after I had cleared all the canes/branches/whips/vines out of the 20' to the center windows to the left of the door (I had cleared out to the door late last summer). It took about 3 hours. All that brown beside the evergreen is the part of that bush that has died back from being totally crushed ans shaded by the roses. That is the southeast corner of the house and it is in full sun until mid afternoon, so those bushes should never be light starved.

This looks like a stupid picture - but the vines were so thick here that I had no idea there was a hose reel and spigot here. Previous to the roses taking over, the evergreen bushes to either side had kept them covered. The rose vines got so thick they were killing all the branches to those evergreens too - they should come back now that they can get some light.

The mound of stuff I cleared out of there..

Oh, and in the back yard, a huge tree limb had come down over the winter. I was surprised I could actually drag it over to htat spot, but it was well and truly dead and pretty dry.

This is where the limb started from, in the darker green patch in the center of the picture. YOu can still see some of the smaller stuff that broke off on the periphery of that patch. I didn't think about pictures until after I had cleaned up.

One day I will have to go out and cut up that limb, but Friday was not the day. Oh, and joy, the town has just stopped taking any wood that is over 5" in diameter (or any pallets) so I'll have to just throw the leavings into the tree belt.

 

 

 

First Flower for Spring 2022

Friday this daffodil wasn't in existence. Yesterday it appeared.

And it has a companion that should open today.

Harbinger of spring!

Spring Cleaning - in the Yard

71* here yesterday. Opened up some windows while I cleared up debris in the yard. Spent a couple of hours clearing invasive rose canes and picking up winter branch breakage. I'm going to have to break out my electric chainsaw to shorten those pieces in front. They are 4-5" in diameter and about 10' long The 2nd one back was actually about 20' long when it fell, but happened to break in half when it landed (the other piece is between the one you can see and the pile behind).

Pile of rose canes/whips

The cleared area behind the fence. I should have taken a before pic, but that entire area was covered with roses and they were climbing the trees. About 15' to that fence post and 5-6' in width. The property line goes thru the left side of that rock and angles a bit. This picture is very deceiving as the fence is four 6' panels in length. The pin is 5-6' further than that (but not nearly to that fallen tree in the upper right hand quadrant)

My back is to the other pin at the road - this is the only time of year I could possibly do the sighting between the two. Pins were set over the winter and found it goes about 1.5' further than I believed at the back corner. Although I was confident the fence was inside my property line, I thought the corner was the metal fence post to the left of the the pin that is circled in red. The front of the property is longer than the back. I was unsure where the front corner was at, so couldn't really guess at the angle previously.

 

Huge Crop of Peppers

I jest, this is the sum total of peppers that my 3 plants produced. And even there I exaggerate, 2 of the pepper plants lived about 1/2 the season and just died for no apparent reason. That is 1/2 a sheet of paper, not a full sheet

These were picked after the first frost which was 10/24/21. Yes, that is a late frost, the 2nd latest ever that missed out at top spot by one day. My area will not have snow in October, which is hit or miss here. Some years we get 20"+, some years just a few flakes, and some years none at all.

The Nor'Easter was no problem in my neck of the woods. I had already recorded about 3/4" of rain from the periodic rain the two days before it hit. I saw light winds and another inch of precipitation dorm the Nor'Easter. It affected people mainly on the coast and south of NH from what I can tell.

And I will end this post with cute kitty pictures. Even following direction from Typepad for turning pictures, since apparently as a pay site it is too tough for them to figure out how to do it automatically, they still show up sideways :(. However, if you click on the sideways pics, the pop-up will show them correctly. Seriously, I expect better since they post just fine on a volunteer run, free, no-ad site.

Spot in the first two pics, Rainey in the next two, then Rita, and the two youngest in/near a rare sunbeam this past week.

Am I Trailer Trash Now?

Since getting down to having only 1 vehicle, I've been able to store pellets in the garage, so I can hold more than the 3 tons that I keep in the basement (I use 5-6 tons per year). I handle each of those tons twice just to get them home as I've loaded the bags into my vehicle, then unload/stack them in the house/garage. So, what could make my life easier?

A trailer would mean that I handle each ton once for transport. That would be great, plus I could use a trailer to transport full sheets of sheet rock or plywood (those are about 4" too wide for the Explorer to carry). Renting a trailer would not be practical or cost efficient. At the same time, buying a trailer new, is not cost efficient either - especially one that is rated for carrying a ton.

So, I have been keeping an eye on CL and FB Marketplace for used trailers. Tuesday night a home made trailer popped up that is made from the frame of a Chevy pickup. It would handle more than a ton and at 6x8, is small enough that I can park it in the yard. It also came with a couple of 8' boards with railing brackets installed for use as ramps. He even threw in what looks like a brand new strap to strap the ramps boards in as a safety measure. Total cost, $425, less than 1/4 of what a commercially available trailer that can handle a ton costs.

Wednesday night I went to look at it, and it followed me home, literally.

Yesterday, besides mowing leaves, I cleared out invasive roses and other brush from the ditch between my property and the former swamp. The load was small enough I could have fit it in the Explorer (just barely), but it was a wet, stinking mess and I decided to keep that crud outside of my truck. I wrapped the crud tightly in a plastic sheet so I wouldn't lose any of it on the road and irritate drivers behind me.

I really like that it has the stake sides so any of the sides can be removed for easy loading/unloading. That is unlike most of the commercial trailers they make nowadays as the side rails are welded on and the back is a 6-8' ramp. I also like the larger car tires instead of the 13-15" wheels on most commercial-made trailers. It travels well behind the truck. I never fully appreciated how wide the Explorer really is since I have to really crane my neck to see the sides of the trailer, which is 6..5' wide.

Now I just have to get my brain wrapped around backing up. I'm sure I was quite entertaining to the others at the dump's brush pile as I navigated, renavigated, re-renavigated :)

Fall Clean Up

We went straight from A/C season to heating season this fall. about 10 days ago the coldest morning was in the 50's, while most were in the high 60's. Since then we went to lows in the 40's and highs in the low 50's without any sun for solar gain. I used the minisplit to provide heating at night for a couple of days, but on Wednesday got the P43 unpacked from storage and it has been keeping the main floor warm. since then. Yesterday the high was 60, and there was some sun, so the pellet stove didn't run for 10-12 hours.

Sunday I picked up the last ton of pellets from the local store so I now have almost 3 tons in the basement and 2 tons in the garage

I also got the leaves mowed on Sunday. I mowed leaves again on Tuesday and Thursday, with plenty more left in the trees.

I mowed the neighbor's yard yesterday. The grass was still short enough that it really didn't need mowing, but since I wanted to mow his leaves in his back yard, I did the whole thing.I also started up the snowblower to make sure it was good after sitting since March. I added Seafoam to the gas before attempting to start it. I did have to prime it a couple of extra time before it would start, but it ran well and I let it run for several minutes to clean out any gunk in the lines.

I'll mow my yard today - although about 1/2 of that will just be for leaf pick up. My front yard doesn't collect leaves so I haven't shortened any grass there during my earlier leaf mowing.

Voluteers

Last weekend, while I wasw mowing, I saw some unfamiliar flowers along the drainage ditch on the south side of the house. Since I didn't have my reading glasses on, I couldn't see them well, so later went out to take a better look.

Much to my surprise, they were volunteer turtleheads. Now, I have turtleheads in the shade garden and in the new raised garden that both reside near there. But they are not that pale color, so they aren't wanderers from the domesticated plantings. Another curious thing is that they were blooming before the domesticated variety. Picture of where the shade garden turtleheads were in the shade garden

The plants in the raised bed only have buds but no blooms yet, so I don't have a picture of those. but I do know they are a hot pink

So, the volunteers appear to be a true wild flower, and this link shows them to be white with just a blush of pink. The white turtlehead is said to be the chief plant host for the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly larva. I do see those butterflies around my gardens, especially around the black eyed Suzies. However, those butterflies could just as easily be Harris' Checkerspots, which like flat top Asters, which there are an abundance of around here too. Heck, I could have both types of butterflies for all I know.

I'll have to remember next year not to mow / weed wack those volunteers down.