kerryh's Blog

A friend of mine has a  dear friend that has lost everything in the flood in Ceder Rapids.

   She and so many more across the States and in other country's have had such terrible saddness, with the tornado's and flooding and now the hurricane season is begining. We never know how each day will end. . If everyone that reads this could say a small prayer... it would create a prayer chain  that would surround  the world.

Hope tomorrow finds you safe and well, Kerryh

I don't spend a lot of time inside in the summer except to do my "wifely " duties. I tell anyone that comes for a visit if you want to see  my house in order come in the winter time LOL.

I think every thing has started to grow ...finally. Had to move a few plants. That last freaky  snow storm we had a few weeks ago, broke of some major branches, plants that were in the shade are now in full sun. My begonia's were drying out so I moved them to the back yard, the next morning after a night in the cool wet soil  there leaves were plump and the flower heads were looking up again. I am going to miss that one branch on the pear tree, it shaded my living room. Oh well, to every thing there is a season. 

With the gas prices the way they are, we are not planing any trips this summer so I went a little nuts at the nursery this spring. Any old excuse will do !!!

  June 29/08     I have the west  side of the house to paint and then I am going to the plant the area between the  house and the neighbors. We have used that area to park Bubba the  camping bus and the hunting rigs. It is horrible dirt so I have been adding compost and working the soil since April. It is going to be my little mountain meadow, It will be years before it completely fills in because my favorite thing about gardening is watching the plants grow , so I buy little plants. The  two Quaking Aspen I bought were only 3ft tall. They were so cute. LOL.

  I'm  going to put a dry creek bed in, with a lot of evergreens and wildflowers. I put in 3 Bitter Sweet, and one honey suckle vine to climb on the chain link fence . I don't  know anything about Bittersweet. I'm not too sure if they even  will grow in MT. But will see. If they don't make it thur the winter  I will replace them with Englemens Ivy ,that is a awesome vine.

   I got  two little Ponderosa Pine and snow on the mountain over the weekend. I think I am done planting till fall it is so hot between the houses, I thought I would stoke out placing rocks today.     I am getting up at 5 and paint . I can't place any more rocks till I do that.

The front of the house is filling in nice, Jim put up the arbor for me yesterday. He said, "Are you done yet"? LOL Never is a gardener done LOL

When we built the garage I lost my little veggie spot as well as the berry garden, so I dumped a wheel barrel full of almost cooked compost on the  lawn!!! I planted squash, I swear compost will grow anything. LOL

  I think because the compost was not completly cooked it was warm enough that when we got that last snow storm the plants never got set back. How cool was that ?

Happy Planting Kerryh

so it's set back and watch things grow time. This is my favorite time, It still amases me after all these years a little seed can  become a hugh tree. The white ash tree I planted from seed is over ten feet tall now.

I am trying some thing new this spring. I planted alfalfa in my new rasberry bed.

 I planted the type of rasberry you mow down in the fall, so I figured I could mow both and put them in the compost pile.Alfala is a wonderful fertilizer and cover crop.

I have a  awesome cousin who  is completly organic,recyles everything. Paul is truly a Granola. He lives on a lava rock near Pahoo Hawaii.  Raises organic goats.   Anyway I was talking to him one day about getting a few bunnys , my compost pile was not heating up. He said  "Why go to all the trouble of bunnys when I could just go buy the feed, and put it in the compost pile or better yet, just toss the pellete in my beds. I have been doing this for 3 years now. I did not  have to use a any jump starter such as Miracle Grow this spring.  My plants are a couple of inches taller than my neighbors this spring. And the soil in my beds  is wonderful.

I was checking out another garden site and came across a site where the members were talking about useing rabbit feed as a fertilzer,  It really does work. And whats really cool about it. A fifty pound sack cost me ten dollars and lasted me 2 seasons so far. I am going to buy a bunch this fall and toss it on my lawn. It sure won't hurt and maybe it will jumpstart the grass be fore the weeds.

I apply it pretty thick in the fall and lightly in the spring. It breaks down fast and the worms love it. It smells good too. Anytime I  can use somthing other than a chemical ...Awesome. Now if I could find an ant killer, that I could put on the lawn and in the  beds that  would 'nt kill everything else.  Any ideas?

 I would think maybe useing rabbit feed  like I do would not be a good idea if you lived in the country and had wild critters around. You might wake up and find a herd of deer lounging  under your bedroom window.LOL

Happy Planting Kerryh

today, so I will catch up on my garden site. It has been raining for days and the only thing that is growing is the weeds. I planted grass seed this spring and I swear there must have been millions of dandylion seeds it the package. OMG I have dandie's blooming everywhere. If I spray for them I will kill my clover. What a mess. I did not have very good grass to begin with now it's really ugly.

Every ten years I rip out the front yard and redo it.  This time I brought the beds out away from the 100 year old foundation. Replaced the  flowers in the  beds with gravel and big rocks and used sand stone to bring out the front of the beds and to double for a  sandstone sidewalk.I started last fall and  finished planting last week. There are so many ground covers to choose from. I   think I am going to  have to redo the lawn with sod, the soil is so old and the weeds sprout before the grass does. "I hate grass"

   My neighbor was kind enough to build a beautiful "stone wall!' on our property line that made my new flower bed look awesome,and I still have one side of the  house to paint and stain. One of these days I am going to sit and enjoy my yard... LOL

  Over the holiday my daughter and I took the train from Shelby Mt to Spokane WA. What a awesome trip.  What a wonderful way to travel. We sat  in lounge chairs in the observation car through Glacier Park,  what a hoot. Spokane is truly a beautiful city.

   Holly and I have never rode a public transit system before. Once we figured out the  scheduals, we went all over the city on a $2.50 pass for the day. The Spokane  River was at it's highest that has ever been recorded and we took a gondola ride over the falls. Wow...that was awesome. We visited the Manito Park and Riverfont Park. The  pink Horse Chesnut trees were in bloom.  And all the spring flowers were beautiful.

the Japanese Gardens were beautiful.What a wonderful trip ,I would love to see the gardens in July too, will have to do another trip in a few years. Happy Planting Kerryh

been to nice to be indoors. Been catching up on a few must do projects. The roofers came yesterday and started on the house, They are almost done with the house and will start on the gargage. That hall storm, we got last summer really  did a number on everyones roof. I got two sides on the old garden shed  wire brushed and ready for paint . The can said 50 degrees... I have 3 days off next week I must have a talk with the mother nature and see if she can help out, just this one time.LOL I have ordered vines to go up the  two sides. 

The flower beds are all ready for plants, I think the bleeding hearts I planted a month ago when it was so nice  died.They have not come up as of yet. I do that every year. I go into stores like Walmart and see these boxed plants, bring them home and kill em, because the ground is still to cold to plant anything.Oh well if they were in the store they would have dried up by now. Why do those store get plants so early?Because planting nuts like me buy them!!!!

 When I ordered plants from the catalog, I told them not to send it before the 10th of may or I would not except it.Good grief it was in the teens just a few days ago.

  It amazes me anything is alive this spring. The buds on my plum tree is black and crispy as are the lilics, How sad another spring without that wonderful smell in our gardens. What is really cool is how sturdy daffodil's and tulips are. They were under 16 inches of snow and they never even layed down.

WE GOT A LITTLE SNOW YESTERDAY.... WOW SET TWO RECORDS ...COLDEST PLACE IN THE COUNTRY AND MOST SNOW FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR . GOOD GRIEF   I HOPE IT IS OVER

Ya right... At 6:30  this morning the temperture was -1 and the wind chill  -12.

I am almost certain I won't be getting many apples or pears this fall! We here in MT have a saying... if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes it will change. I would really like to see that happen now!

The only good thing about this day is being able to catch up on everyones blogs. This site is awesome.

The weather guy said we are in for the worst storm we  have had this year. I was hoping he was just talking fertilizer.

I looked out my window and there was a robin all covered with snow. Poor little feller. The one good thing is we really need the moisture, I would have rather had a gentle rain. As long as the snows cover the branches  I don't usually have any damage.

Have a good  day and happy planting Kerry

It has been too nice outside to be at my pc. It was 70 in my back yard yesterday ,today there are snow flakes flying around.

I was not going to add any beds or plants around Jim's Garage. I was going to downsize...  ya right. I could not stand all that bare ground and open spaces LOL. My neighbor had a pile of rocks, laying  by his back gate, So I made two beds, their each about 3ft  around. The soil is awful, I dig down about 12 inches and I come to this coal looking really nasty stuff. So I dug down about 2ft. I dumped  that nasty stuff in the alley. I put a weeks worth of kitchen scaps in the hole added my compost and then added a sack of cow poo. When the end of May comes around, those two beds will be ready to plant. The worms will have mixed my scrapes and compost ,and all I will have to do is take the pichfork and fold it together. I have had to do that with most of my yard.

Soon after we moved here, 30 years ago. I decided to plant a vegetable garden between my neighbors and my  house. This was before I found out about the wonders of compost. The beans and peas did okay, but my radish just keep getting taller, and nothing underneth. I asked my neighbor, "what the samhill is wrong with this radishes, I never seen 3 ft radishes before"? he laughed  and said , In th early 1900's his house used to have a still  on the 3rd floor and they thur out all the spent corn and such out the window. The soil  was just nasty,we started useing the area to park our camper and boat.

About 5 years ago I started a big compost area there, I kepted moving it around and now the soil looks good, I am still going to make a raised bed, I want to plant a few veggies, It will be fun to see how they turn out. 

Happy Planting Kerryh

every gardener's  favorite month...here in Montana it is my least favorite.

The paper said we have record snow in the mountains, thats cool , maybe we won't be burning up in June. The fires were terrible last summer. We didn't go camping once because of the fire danger.

In April  the nights are freezing and the days could be any temperture. The home and garden show was yesterday and it was snowing at times so hard you could not see the cars in the parking lot. I did not buy any plants! Today it's 50 in my back yard!!! I don't dare even start to clean out the beds and disturb the mulch, even though I can see green and the top branches of  my apple tree has started to open up.

Tomorrow I am going to the nursery and check out the rasberry plants,and I want to finish my barberry hedge. I did get the fertilizer on the grass, I am sure I looked a little crazy walking around in a circle speading fertilizer in a snow storm. But that really is a good time to do it. It really melts in fast.

My squirrel is loving his gourmet food LOL. Happy Planting... kerryh

so I am going to spend time catching up with everyones blogs. 

The weather can't seem to make up it's mind... spring or winter. It 25 at night and 50 in the afternoon.That is really hard my plants, and me also.I love my dog until spring and I see all those yellow spots in my grass. It really is a mess. I did'nt turn on the sprinkler this winter like I have in the past. And we didn't get much snow either. Some one said lime ??? .has anyone used that remedy.?

 I went to the local ranch store yesterday and got some gourmet sqirrel food LOL. I have a squirrel that likes my back yard and he doesn't seem to get intimadated by those damn sparrows, so I thought I would invite him to stay by feeding him this pricy food LOL. Corn, sunflower seeds and peanuts. Hope the sparrow don't like it...barey got the food in a dish and set on the picnic table and he was down the Mountain Ash and waving his tail. I'm sure I am going to be sorry for using my picnic table for a squirrel feeder...I have a squirrel house in th front yard, Got babies last year . They were so cute.  We had a black one in the neighborhood untill someone  smucked him on the street.

Someone in the neighborhood really likes squirrels because I dig walnuts ,pecan and hazelnuts in my flower bed.and those trees don't grow around here.Do those litttle guys really remember where they plant all those nuts. Oh Bill that pepper idea really did work. No more holes in the front bed.

Well I must do my wifely duties, Dishes vacumming etc. Happy Planting  Kerryh 

I am so happy...  So many of you are having the snowest  winter  in years,but here the dirt is blowing into the crackes on the window sills of our old porch. Some say if you buy land  in Montana, you also will be buying land in North Dakota, cause thats where your top soil ends up. LOl.

We have always gotten one of those 3ft deep wet snows at Easter that turn the lawns green and make the daffs grow, but not this year. We are truly in a drought. A few years ago, I started to change the types of plants I had in front yard. Last year I finished it. I took out all the beds next to the house and layed down fabric and put gravel and driftwood down. Laid sandstone in front of the beds. This summer I am going to plant, Ajuga between the sandstones. Everyhing out there is going to be Xerisaping plants. If I could get rid of the lawn I would." I hate grass"!

 One of my clients has not one blade of grass in her yard . It is awesome, she uses pea gravel where you would have grass, large flag stones make winding paths between her beds... hugh bolders for seperations,and she uses alot of raised beds , trellises and trailing plants.  It is  awesome.

 It just would not work on the street I live on. She said her water bill is a 1/4 of what it was.   The big trees love it, they are not competeing with the grass for water.

Since its snowing, looks like I might have to stay indoors and do house work LOL

Happy Planting KerryH

 Cleaned the pond yesterday, I have 16  new baby fish, Way to many for my pond, I will have to find homes for them in a couple of seasons. Planted 6 bleeding hearts and  nine mixed hollyhock plants.The package said there were yellow ones!!!

Put a new canvus top on my swing, It looks like a piece of canvus on the top of my swing!!! If anybody has an idea as to  how to color canvus , I don't want to take it off.I wiped stiched it around every one inch, good grief what a job!!! It needs some glamor. LOL

It looks good , I only went up two cinder block and caped it off. The corner was a little tricky, but it's level and straight. I am finally happy with that area. This summer when it is all grown up will take a picture.

When we tear down the tin shed later this summer I will go up two more block and turn the next corner. Made a new bed for  some shade plants, I really missed my bleeding hearts last summer. They were really getting pretty.

Put bacteria in the pond, and set some of my yard art out , Got my fake snake out sunning himself on the rocks, he has caused a some hearts to flutter a few timed !!! LOL. Put my Malard in the pond, I wish ducks flying over would land and take up residence. Jim said I would really have a mess then...If I could raise baby ducks it would be worth all the duck poo. That would make my compost happy too.!

 Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter. and Happy Panting Kerryh