osprey94's Blog

Oh yeah...
Apr 7, 2011 | 1:05 PM PST

Forgot to add that since the previous post (the first post of the season), we put the mason bees out and already a few are chewing their way out of their plugs. 

The red currants and indian plums are in full bloom, too, and I could SWEAR I saw a swallow the other day, but none since. OH! And, we saw the first osprey of the season, too.

Crazy spring
Apr 7, 2011 | 1:02 PM PST
This post has been edited by an administrator

 This spring is, as usual, bipolar and schizophrenic. Yesterday, we had multiple hailstorms, rain, sun, snow and more rain. Today, the weather started out nice, always a sign that you’d better not get lulled into any smugness. Thoughts like “Oh! sun! I’ll get some work done in the yard! Maybe we can get the grass mowed before it grows taller than us!” are all signs that you’re about to get punished and surprised by weather that’s more like a joke than actual weather.  

In reality, though, I did get a lot done today before the clouds began to threaten and the rain started to fall AGAIN. I thinned and edited the stuff growing in the deck bed. The golden grass I planted a few years back had completely taken over, the viburnum never thrived and the hardy geranium and catmint had also crowded everything out. I pulled up a TON of the grass, the geranium and the catmint and potted a few bits of it in case I want to plant them somewhere else one day OR give them to friends.  I moved a viburnum to a new spot, hoping it’ll do better, threw away the other one (I suspect it’s beyond hope anyway) and moved a couple rhodies. We also removed an evergreen honeysuckle from another overcrowded bed.  

We’re enlarging the veggie garden to almost twice its original size. Since building a garage/enclosure for the boat next to the garden, the beds just aren’t getting as much sun. The new area we added skirts the enclosure and juts out into a part of the yard that gets more sun. We’re going to add a few new beds to the new area and leave most of the old beds where they are for crops that need a little shade. Tomatoes will go in the sunnier part next to the side of the metal enclosure. Hopefully the reflected heat/light will help the tomato harvest. 

It’s our spring break this week and tomorrow a friend from work is bringing her three daughters over to plant some seeds in my greenhouse. We’ll plant the seedlings in the garden in May and then the girls will come during the summer occasionally to tend and harvest their veggies. It’ll be a like a little community garden since they don’t have the space to garden where they live in Olympia.  

We have a pair of eagles just across the field from us, who are out enjoying the thermals and SQUAWKING their heads off most days. Right now, the pair should be incubating a clutch of eggs.  

 It seems like we only have 3 or 4 hummies at best. I wish I could encourage more to come to our feeders regularly. But every time one zips past me or I see the male performing for a female, I feel really lucky to have any at all.  

Only one quarter of school left!