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We call the woodchuck- "Harry Houdini", as he has a magical way of just appearing and disappearing all day long all over the lawn..no little ones in tow anywhere -just the 3rd year for a single lonely woodchuck. We're all standing in front of the large window-watching him eat the dandelions-right near the rock garden. He starts moving towards the arbor- and I say- he's not going to do what I think he's gonna do- is he? Heading straight for my little patch of cukes-yup! I shreik..run out there,,clapping my hands & swearing like a banshee,Landon & Jim laughing at me I'm sure,,this crazy lady chasing after a hairy animal.He skit-daddled pretty quick-and had taken a large chunk off the cuke leaf.Up till now he hasn't bothered anything,but the lawn.I came back in- telling Jim to buy me a Bee-Bee gun,,and I'll scare him off if he bothers the garden any. Jim says,,"u know how to shoot"?, hell- no I say, but I can learn. You gonna stay up all nite? no- I suppose not..then whats the solution.? Netting the plants -fencing-?and that smelly stuff for critters. thats the only other thing I can think of...I still think I should have a Bee-Bee gun just in case..but I can always get one of those kid pump guns that spit out a ball,,,
Well-I feel like theres nothing to do in the 2 gardens-other than watching them grow right now-kinda like watching paint dry... The rock garden got maybe 15 min of weeding.I went & loaded up on groceries for company coming--the bigger freezer being too full,as I froze my strawberries.No room for the blueberries we're going to pick thursday morning,,so I'll go to my daughters,and put them in her bigger freezer till I have some room,when some of the meat is gone out of mine.I make up batches of soup & use up leftovers for the rainny days-then I have many containers of soup.I should see if she wants any..I can see this finishing of the staining of the fence project is going to stretch out awhile till its done,as my brother stopped in today- when he was suppose to be at home-his plans got a bit screwed up.Jims sister is stopping in today for a visit../I did get the mowing done late afternoon yesterday-it started to rain shower again- but I refused to get off the mower this time.I didnt cut it as short this time because of the heat.Every afternoon they're saying rain showers all week,,so that will make things interesting for the guys building this tractor shed.ok- the inside of trailor all set-whats the next step-?moving the 32 ft. trailor outta the way..and finding a spot for it. Where it was once desperately needed-it no longer is. It may take awhile to sell it.I hope someone out there needs a storage trailor as badly as we did once upon a time.I've got a couple big green peppers,and bunches of little ones coming along nicely. I told Jim, what do I get this year for the 2 ladies in my life for xmas-birthdays? anything to do with gardening. They both need compost-all our birthdays are in the winter,,but they both have garages.Worm poop.Now thats a good gift...Garden gloves and all that stuff. Instead of the usual case of toilet paper- 92 rolls- I give to my daughter,,which I think is a hoot-maybe she'll get worm poop.I can just see her face...
Three yrs. ago I planted the 6 dwarf spruce. We had to take down the 50 footer because it was dying. At that time I thought a small fence would go good behind them,especially to string xmas lights,but got busy with hundreds of other things,and never did see one in my travels. We have a discount place in the city,and 2 weeks ago they had a stack, $10 ea. panel.so I kept my fingers crossed they were still there. The stack was still there- now $7.99 a panel. Their what we call seconds,have imperfections-just makes it more rustic looking. Jim put in the half posts,while I started on the staining process-including the bird pole,but still have the last 2 panels to do.. I like it better with the little fence, it'll be a bit more challenging to keep the grass down as I always used the mower alot in that area going between the roots of the old tree that stick up.I'll just have to use the wacker more thats all.Anyways I'm happy that we ended up there that day, and saw the fence. One of the spruces isn't doing too good,so may have to be replaced-next spring. The trailor is now all cleaned out from around it- he has to un-block it now,then its ready to move. We got a steady drizzle and moved the stuff in the rain as it had to be done,but at least it wasn't in the sun & heat. It rained steady the rest of the night,and still is this am,,so everything got a good drink of water. Landon's got some major blueberry picking to do this morning,when it stops,on the phone all he said was,"eat-eat". I gotta find a way to teach that boy to get some of them in the bowl & leave them there for his mommy,but there's so many this morning-it shouldn't be a problem.The cukes are latching on good & starting their climb.Saturday we picked up the living room doors,then headed to the stove place, and ended up buying the Napolean Pellet stove. By our calculations,it should decrease our oil bill by quite a bit,we barely were able to keep up over last winter-and we were able to finally get the oil tank in the cellar last September,, I can't imagine what it would have been if we had kept it outside,as that fuel is even more exspensive.We thought about wood-but don't want the mess. Here in New England,our elderly population is large.Our government better do something more for this year,and fast,,as it doesnt look good for those people on fixed incomes.Maine people have always been a bit more resourceful,so when the prices started climbing-people started buying more pellet stoves. 3 area mills have started making pellets in addition to the regular stuff they make- thereby creating more jobs.An energy crisis has a funny way of making people smarten up a bit. Alot of properties have gotton cleaned up from the metal-and junk cars hanging about,as the prices went thru the roof.So it hasn't been all bad.And much more people have started veggie gardens, that they stopped gardening years ago.Up here- more people are canning this year-the stores are flooded with canning jars more than usual.Mom hasn't made pickles in about 5 yrs.,but she is this year. She didn't plant any Dill-but I did, and I'm not making pickles-so she can have mine.My first endeavor is learning to make jam,as I prefer to freeze.I'm ready to go blueberry picking at the local nursery on Thursday to offset my own-as mine are still young. I look forward to the day when I no longer have to.Our next order for 10 more bushes comes in early September,so thats exciting too.I absolutely have to work on the 4x8 strawberry bed this week, as the plants are huge-with runners all over the place. I laid a good grass mulch in the big bed,the worst thing is, it produces dandelion weeds mostly. The good thing is-they are bigger & easy to pull,unlike the smaller plentiful weeds.My daughters 1st garden looks very nice and growing rapidly. As she didn't have any netting for the cabbage moths,she's trying double hair nets..lol. They are gorgeous cabbage.Her tomato plants are lush and filling out nicely,I forgot to tell her she's going to have to stake them,but maybe she'll figure that out.Mine are looking like I never gave them a cutting last week again.Today is grocery shopping,and right now it looks like it may rain a good part of the day. Time for more coffee now, and start the day.
And a nice one at that.I watered my gardens and sprayed my oven racks outside-that was about the extent of my work day. My old friend from high school lives about 4 towns away,a nice drive,and alots changed since I went to that area.The last 10 years we got too busy with our lives and kids growing up,would bump into each other in a store and say lets have a coffee get together--but you know how that goes.So we re-connected this week- ,and low and behold she has taken up gardening.All those years she never did the gardening part-just the cooking, as she was working full time,and exhausted.Now her life has changed a bit-she works part-time, and has taken a shine to the World of the Weeds.I brought her a jar of my strawberry jam, we caught up on the family stuff, then turned our attention to the house & gardening part. I wanted to go to her house first-as I've been car-less and needed to get away.Their tearing apart & remodeling their house also.A walk around back,and my eyes must have been popping outta my head,as she told me thats her garden."Are you sure your feeling ok,"? as I was freaking out,that was a good laugh.Yup- she's been getting in the groove of it.Will wonders ever cease..
A decent size garden,not to big-not to small,and plenty of weeds.On the topic of weeds,she asked me how I handled it,and I said I didn't garden this way- we do the compost & raised beds,since my 1st one I was hooked.I was determined to have low maintenence weeding-so the time could be spent on other chores.Her interest peaked of course,I described to her how we built our beds & the cost-that she needed to come to our place next tea time- to get an idea of how she wanted to have hers built.I'm pretty sure a raised bed will be sitting in her yard, as her man loves building & working with wood.Then to the next small area-major excitement for me- where blueberry bushes had been planted when the girls were real little-now 20-something yrs. later,and loaded with berries.What a nice patch,but completely engulfed in tall grass & weeds,encircled with a rope,and a 20 min chat on the care of them. She's excited about doing more for them-and clearing away the weeds- and I walked away with lifetime access to all the pine needles I need for mine, as her property has plenty, and I am in heaven.She also has some perennials which we didn't even get to,so thats another cup of teatime.Its almost like we both crawled out of our caves,so absorbed in our own little worlds.Her property is about the same size- only she has wonderful shade & sun-where I have basically only sun-my hosta's are the only small shade area.Oh- I could imagine the wonderful Hosta growing there- and not a one! She's got good imagination- and like me became addicted to "HGTV".I think another tea day is coming up soon-and I also have a friend to shop the antique-garage sales with, should we get bored with a garden day.I didn't get home till just before dark & some fresh ideas to crank on...
The 2 tables are finally painted. The rock garden is wacked-mowed around it again & the Honeysuckle. The Comfrey bed is wacked & mowed again. The raspberries, I weeded-and mowed around- and I can finally see that I actually have real raspberry -blackberry plants,whatever you call them. Their not moved yet.The one line in front of the new bamboo fence-that the slugs ate,produced one healthy cuke. Never mind- that is a use-to-be, as something severed it right off yesterday and now its gonzo..whatever...
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em>The yard is all mowed for another 5 days. I've decided to remove all the perennials away from the blueberry fence line,as thats
a fruitless battle.Theres no way I can even begin to keep up with the
tall grass & weeds on the inside of the fence never mind on the
outside between the plants.Which is why I built the rock garden to
begin with,for some of the perennials.But because I have so
many,another long bed will have to be built.I've come to the
conclusion,that I just simply create alot of work for myself.I know
I'll like it once its done though,and will be glad I did it,I just have
to adjust to my own crazy mentality,of why the hell did I do that in
the first place...? I'm eye-ing the 14 ft. hemlocks sitting over
there,that are suppose to be for the raspberry bed trough.I think I'll
use them and something else for the raspberries. Now to find a long
spot in the sun. I also have another bed as soon as the produce is
finished in the fall-if need be.The 7-8 medium-large shrubs will also
be moved as soon as they can,as they've outgrown their spots too. What
I planted as seeds is Knipholia-?Red hot poker. I have 2 plants from
the whole package of seeds that I planted. They are gorgeous. I hear
they multiply like crazy once they get going. I really sprayed good-the
garlic spray on the pussy willow and others,I'm being slaughtered by
the Japs now, and about to go check to see if it made a difference last
night.A dump run today,Home Depot for 2- 4x4's to have poles for the
bird feeders-hanging flowers-that wont lean or fall over,as they always
do no matter how deep we plant them. The poles are just too flimsy
here. As usually the case here-its go big & rugged.The stainless
steel washtub is now painted black & ready for soil, and decide
where its going.I could plant some annuals for this year.A treat of
Lobster tonite-long overdue,then tomorrow we tackle moving all the
stuff away from the storage trailor to be moved. Stacking on
pallets,picking another spot somewhere out of the way.I'll be so glad
when the trashcans finally have a home,and this gets built.I've got a
kiddie pool that has a hole in the bottom of it.I was going to trash
it-but have thought to use it as a another raised bed,since its about 8
inches deep,make a few more holes for drainage.Time to snap some pics
,and get the day going...
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