Catching up.

Today, is a catch up day following a very busy week. I spent the morning doing laundry, weeding out my closet for today's clothing swap at Holly's (!!), taking work calls from the photography crew in California (it's raining there, boo) and making a big breakfast for myself with the last veggies I was able to pick from my pots. The wind and rain from the storm that passed through on Friday took it's toll on my tomato and basil plants and knocked my mums right off the steps! With the gardening season coming to a close, I salvaged what I could and put the pots away for the winter. This year was a solid first attempt!

Here we go!

Veggies? Maybe...

This year, I decided to work on a potted vegetable garden. I started from seed back in early April, which I'm now learning was a brave decision. While many are already enjoying veggies produced from their "starter" plants, I'm still in the early phases of growth. A few months ago I planted seeds to grow basil, lavender, rosemary, hot peppers, sweet peppers, green beans and cherry tomatoes. The lavender never sprouted, (I hear it's really hard to get going) and I'm pretty sure that I burned the green beans with the hot afternoon sun on a few different occasions. Sad. I've finally found a good spot for the pots to sit and I'm leaving them be to do their thing. The hot peppers and sweet peppers are finally on their way and the basil is looking solid! I have one really strong looking cherry tomato plant and 2 others that have some potential. I've got my fingers crossed that I'll get a handful of tomatoes. I did buy two new herbs yesterday to add to the mix: chives and more rosemary. We'll see how the summer goes and grows. I'm hopeful that I'll actually get some food out of this experience.

Fiddleheads!

One of Allison Bannister's hobbies is foraging for food. She and her fiance Max are really good at it! They seem to find all of the right spots at just the right time of year that yield the most food. Allison and I had a quick visit on my way home from work yesterday. She was in the midst of cutting up a bunch of ramps, (which I learned are a type of wild leek) that she planned to pickle. She had a giant paper bag filled with fiddleheads as well. She will pickle some and share/eat the rest immediately. I left with my own paper bag filled with fiddleheads. When I got home, I rinsed them twice and prepped them to be cooked. After 6 or 7 minutes on the stove they were ready to be eaten. I added a bit of butter, salt and pepper and served them with some fish. It was such a yummy spring meal! Who doesn't love free food straight from the ground. Cool. Thanks AB.

In other news, my potted green beans are well on their way! I can see the tippy top of the basil and the slightest hint of growth from my cherry tomato seeds. The rest of the pots are still sleeping. I'm patient though. It will be warmer soon. I trust I'll have lots of food to share this summer.

The Operation.

This year, I'm going to grow some food! I kicked off the operation on Saturday with seeds purchased from Lowe's, (Jayne-at the S. Burlington store-was SUPER helpful). I've got basil, lavender, rosemary, hot peppers, sweet peppers, green beans and cherry tomatoes in the mix. I'll keep you posted.

Your days are numbered, squirrel.

I love most creatures but, these guys are aggressive and just plain a nuisance at the cabin. They are digging up our geraniums and burying their nuts in the soft, fresh soil. We've lost 3 of the 20 already! Yesterday, as I raked the path, I saw two large squirrels in a tree. I stopped raking and started talking to them (I know, crazy). "Are you guys doing this?"  They started chattering. It was almost as if they were mocking me. "When you leave Kim, we're heading back up there to dig up your plants." This experience has taught me to empathize with my Mom and her squirrel battles. So frustrating!

Hmm...a few interesting ideas here. 

QUESTION: How can I keep squirrels from digging in my outdoor potted plants?

 

ANSWER: Commercial repellants (sprays, etc.) are usually only marginally effective for controlling squirrels. Your best line of defense is to physically separate them from wherever you don't want them to be. Here are some things to try:

• You might try fitting screen or wire mesh around your potted plants, or covering the dirt around plants with sticky tape or stones. Squirrels seem most attracted to digging in loose, newly turned dirt so follow up with a top layer of mulch.

• Lure them away from potted plants and bulbs by feeding them corn or sunflower seeds in a feeder located in another part of the yard. This can ultimately result in an increase in the population of squirrels in your yard, but the distraction of the constant food supply is also a good distraction.

• Try laying human, dog or cat hair around the base of your potted plants. Blood meal may also work in some cases. To be effective, these will need to be reapplied weekly and after it rains.

• Spray a foul-tasting product, like cayenne pepper spray on and around your plants as they are growing and after each rain.

• Plant bulbs that squirrels don't like to eat, like narcissus, alliums (ornamental onions) and hyacinths.

• If all else fails you can live-trap them and relocate them. You'll need permission from authorities to do this, however, and it will not reduce the density of squirrels in your area over time. As old squirrels are transported out, new squirrels simply move into the newly emptied habitat.

Since the squirrel population is likely to outlive your potted plants, your best bet is to deploy a number of these methods, alone or in combination with one another until you find something that works. Plan on having a few victories and probably a few defeats.

Squirrel-4, Kim-0

The Duke of Knollwood.

My mother is engaged in a rather large project that will always be classified as a work-in-progress, her backyard garden. It has been evolving over the last ten years or so.

It all started when she and her husband decided to construct a substancial slate wall, which creates a division between the upper and lower areas of the yard. They built steps into the middle section of the wall so one can easily pop down to the lower section to visit with the coy fish in the pond that now exists. I remember the morning the pieces of slate were delivered to my mom’s house. I wasn’t given any warning that a truck was coming to dump tons (literally) of building material into a pile. The earth shook! I remember crawling out of bed and looking out the window of the upstairs bathroom to see the pile. The truck was gone almost immediately. I’m sure I placed a call to my mom posthaste.

Since then, many flowers have been planted and shrubs repositioned to cover up the ugly fence that lines the perimeter of the yard. When I was down in MA over the weekend, my mom and I sat and had a cup of coffee next to the pond and looked around. Every year the garden is fuller, the clematis climbs a little higher and things look as if they’ve always been that way. The signs that this garden was built over time are becoming harder to spot and the plants and wildlife are establishing themselves (enter, "Duke of Knollwood").

Many creatures are happy to call my mom’s backyard their home-frogs are at the top of the list of occupants. Occasionally, we’ll hear a splash and see one of these guys swimming away from us. Over the weekend, I was checking things out in the pond when I realized that hundreds of tadpoles were looking back at me. I summoned my mother over to take a look. “Oh my god! Look at all of them.”  I don’t know where they came from or why they haven’t been a problem in the past but, they are here now. I’m not sure how this story will end but, I’ll be standing by for an update from my mom. In the meantime, we think this guy is the culprit.

“The Duke of Knollwood”