I've been pretty lazy this summer when it comes to the moles. Or maybe you'd just call it "tolerant". In previous years I'd be out there catching moles as quickly as I'd see them, but this year...
I've had problems in my garden with several different large pests over the years. Rabbits were a problem early on as they nibbled my young plants. I've beaten them with quantity now: losing one plant when you only have ten is a huge loss; losing one when you have a hundred is usually not a big deal. Woodchucks have been staying away from my yard for the last few years, which is great because unlike rabbits who mostly nibble, woodchucks find a plant they like and they eat it. Much more destructive. Right now deer are a problem, as although they seem to be more nibblers like rabbits, their nibbles are much larger, so one bite can take out a whole plant.
My veggie garden area is pretty small -- the fenced area that is safe from herbivores is 13' x 13'. You may remember that I recently created some new raised beds in this area: 3 beds that are 4'x6', and one that is 4'x4' for a total of 88 square feet of planting area. That's not a lot of space, so to give me more options I plant veggies in containers but also use the area just outside the fence, planting things that rabbits, deer, and woodchucks don't eat.
I thought I'd finish off the year with a look at some of my favorite photos from 2010. Since I took a lot of photos this past year -- over 6000! -- I knew I'd need some rules when choosing or else I'd end up with 100 photos in this post. So I made two rules: 1) the photo must be related to the garden 2) I had to choose exactly two photos from each month.
One of the best late-season bloomers in my garden has always been Caryopteris, or "Blue Mist Spirea". I planted it five or six years ago, probably as an impulse buy during a trip to the nursery around this time of year.
As a Midwest gardener I need to keep up with the weather. Do I need to water today? Do I need to stake up some plants because they're likely to blow over shortly? Should I quickly take a bunch of photos before the hailstorm shreds all of the lovely large leaves?
Today I had to make a trip to a local material supply/nursery to pick up another load of compost, so I thought I'd make the rounds of the other two garden centers that are near it and see what sort of new coneflowers they have (talking about them the other day got me interested).
As you approach our house by car or on foot, this small bed is the first thing you really see. It's right next to the driveway, so it's important that it looks great and gives a good first impression. I think I've finally given it some impact:
This plant was growing near my bald cypress and Pleioblastus viridistriatus bamboo patch:
The cracks in my driveway apparently contain about the most fertile soil I have in my yard.
The next thing I did Saturday afternoon was dismantle my temporary greenhouse. I knew this was going to be somewhat of a difficult job, but I was getting tired of looking at it.
This is the first weekend in a while that it isn't raining, so time to get gardening! After days and days of weeding (about the only thing that you can do when it's raining all the time) I was itching to get out there and do something different. What did I choose to do first?
I'll have to admit that shrubs are not something that I've spent a lot of time thinking about. I really don't think "hey, what this bed needs is a nice shrub!". My buying strategy for shrubs is the same as for most of my other plants too: if it looks like a cool plant, get it! Decide what to do with it later.
We've finally had a few days in a row of decent, soaking rains (after three weeks or more of warm and dry) so that's great for the plants! The problem is it's Saturday and I'm eager to spend some time in the yard. What can do you when the ground is muddy and everything is wet?
It "rained" yesterday after a cold front came through. I think we got maybe 1/4" of rain, after two weeks of dry and above-normal temperatures. I was hoping for a lot more wet this morning, as there's no better time to pull weeds than after a rain. Here's the bed I need to tackle:
The last few mornings while checking on my Phyllostachys bissetii bamboo that's next to the driveway outside the garage and doing quite well:
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