2018 Gardening, Landscaping, and Plants

Well, Sean, my mailman drove in the laneway on Friday. Generally I pick up at the superbox a few kilometers along the road to town. He handed me a box from the West coast - stuffed with corms and bee balm plugs. Then he said, "Happy planting!"

DSCF9716 BOTANUS BOX 27 CORMS PLUGS BUCK 650 MED.jpg

Yup, spring is sort of here. Yesterday ... and I may be nuts ... but I am sure I spotted an Osprey. I was about 15' away when he started from a fence post overlooking the river ... and he was slow to rise with a huge fish in his talons. Today a warbler. Spring.

Back to the nitty gritty here ... certainly not my orderly, managed gardens of last year.

With the manager's permission, I scrounged 6 skids and some boards from behind Canadian Tire to build some cold composts for rough garden waste. Leftover materials can be used as a base for the woodpile for next winter.

DSCF9695 PALLETS 650 MED.jpg

Mud slingin' and fun ... like being a kid again, in rainboots, slopping home from school via the ditches ... you know what I mean :D

Years of snowploughs overshooting the lane and pushing boulders and aggregate into the natural drainage ditches and lack of maintenance have caused surface water to accumulate around the well - not good. No icy soakers so far

DSCF9698 TRENCHING WELL OVERFLOW 650 MED.jpg

The forecast tells me that the geraniums can go outside during the day tomorrow, so I will work on a shelter overtop the trailer to protect them from windchill and overnight frost.

For scale ... the thunbergia trellis height is 4'8" from floor. Picture it totally covered in foliage and blooms until frost next fall.
The twig trellis came alive in the warmth inside. The twigs' leaves and blossoms tell me they are from a pin cherry.

DSCF9700 THUNBERGIA TRELLIS BEST 650 MED.jpg

Fresh hoof prints in the laneway this morning ... looked to me like large with small following close.

DSCF9732 HOOF PRINTS 650 MED.jpg

Note to pups ... wake me earlier in the morning and remind me to look outside first, then get my coffee :rolleyes:
 
MnUKM7t.jpg

Time to add flowers. Maybe begonias. Looks like one bush didn’t handle the winter so well. Center- knockout rose bush is filling in nicely. Produces pink roses. Maybe going to add two hostas.
 
I asked a "plant expert" whether wind chill affects plants. He said it does.... Taldesta mentioned it above. Wind chill by definition is a condition felt by humans. For example, wind chill generally does not freeze ice. I don't think it means anything relative to plants and it's pretty much air temperature.

Here it is April 30th, and I still haven't planted my tomato plants. We have had some late frosts and I have been dragging my feet on planting. Normally I would have had the tomatoes planted several weeks ago. We have had quite a few nights with temp drops into the mid to upper 30's. Admittedly, that isn't freezing, but warm season plants certainly don't like it.
 
Re: wind chill ... definition aside, I learned the hard way to guard against the effect. You recall that I always set the geraniums outside in the spring sunshine in a trailer that I could roll into the shop for overnight frosts ...

When I first began this routine years ago, I lost a fair amount of healthy foliage off the plants on seemingly warm sunny days with temps way above freezing ... but with those gusty winds. Perhaps a combination of foliage vs wind temps and evaporation. Maybe in plant language it has another name :D

Temp gauge right at 0C (32F) overnight here ... so perhaps we've all seen the "last" haha of the frost for a bit? Hope you are able to get those tomatoes in soon.
 
Does anyone have any tricks or know of any cylindrical-style bird feeders that deer can't access? I'm getting a little tired of filling it EVERY NIGHT. (for those questioning if I'm perhaps putting blame on the wrong critter, I'm basing this off the hoof tracks evident at/around the feeder)

Unfortunately, raising the bird feeder isn't really an option.
 
I have been carrying inside my many potted Amaryliss. I just can't wait to get them out of the house as they take up huge amounts of space. I keep them in the low plastic tubs that you can get at home centers for mixing concrete in. They are strong and I can carry in maybe a dozen per trip in and out of the house. I just moved them to what I think will be the summer spot and I'm not bringing them inside any more unless a frost is predicted.

The wind will certainly dry out a plant more quickly and that will impact it substantially. That is true of the fleshy type flowers like perhaps Geraniums.

Does anyone have any tricks or know of any cylindrical-style bird feeders that deer can't access? I'm getting a little tired of filling it EVERY NIGHT. (for those questioning if I'm perhaps putting blame on the wrong critter, I'm basing this off the hoof tracks evident at/around the feeder)

Unfortunately, raising the bird feeder isn't really an option.
Raising is the best option, but deer can reach pretty high. Move it closer to the house perhaps? Hang it in a more public place that deer are less likely to feel comfortable visiting the feeder? Deer are big critters.

I make tomato cages from the concrete wire. They are pretty strong and the birds perch on them well above predator reach. Maybe something like this staked down beneath the feeder will stop the deer from getting to the feeder. Make the diameter large enough that they can't reach in with their tongues or nose to bump the feeder around.

Raccoons and bear also hit them and concrete wire won't stop them. I have this problem with raccoons hitting my steel magnum from Cherry Valley. I started bringing the feeder indoors at night as I just got tired of finding it empty in the morning. I know it isn't squirrels and they take longer to clean out the feeder.
 
Last edited:
I have been carrying inside my many potted Amaryliss. I just can't wait to get them out of the house as they take up huge amounts of space. I keep them in the low plastic tubs that you can get at home centers for mixing concrete in. They are strong and I can carry in maybe a dozen per trip in and out of the house. I just moved them to what I think will be the summer spot and I'm not bringing them inside any more unless a frost is predicted.

The wind will certainly dry out a plant more quickly and that will impact it substantially. That is true of the fleshy type flowers like perhaps Geraniums.


Raising is the best option, but deer can reach pretty high. Move it closer to the house perhaps? Hang it in a more public place that deer are less likely to feel comfortable visiting the feeder? Deer are big critters.

I make tomato cages from the concrete wire. They are pretty strong and the birds perch on them well above predator reach. Maybe something like this staked down beneath the feeder will stop the deer from getting to the feeder. Make the diameter large enough that they can't reach in with their tongues or nose to bump the feeder around.

Raccoons and bear also hit them and concrete wire won't stop them. I have this problem with raccoons hitting my steel magnum from Cherry Valley. I started bringing the feeder indoors at night as I just got tired of finding it empty in the morning. I know it isn't squirrels and they take longer to clean out the feeder.

Thanks for the reply! I'm fairly confident raccoons aren't an issue. Bear are definitely out of the question in this area. I was hoping there was some magical bird feeder designed by a retired engineer with too much time on his hands that had a similar issue :p:p

Still complicated, but just can't move it or raise it. The woman I live with's son put in a post to which he added the bird feeder, and she's very proud of that. My only real option is getting a different feeder, tweaking the current one, or figuring out some sort of deterrent.

On a side note, some of the bulbs I planted last fall are starting to bloom. The deer did a number on those, too.. (pictures quickly taken on my camera phone, and thusly aren't expected to be of good quality)

YrlzOAS.jpg

0dXFsLE.jpg

oz4OyqL.jpg

AQqCBv7.jpg

YzqzY0y.jpg

CoiyS3L.jpg
 
Thanks for the reply! I'm fairly confident raccoons aren't an issue. Bear are definitely out of the question in this area. I was hoping there was some magical bird feeder designed by a retired engineer with too much time on his hands that had a similar issue :p:p

Still complicated, but just can't move it or raise it. The woman I live with's son put in a post to which he added the bird feeder, and she's very proud of that. My only real option is getting a different feeder, tweaking the current one, or figuring out some sort of deterrent.
There are these metal feeders that work well with sun flower or mixed birdseed. Basically two designs with a feed trough on one or two sides. They generally look like a little house with the feed reservoir inside the "house". They have a spring on on the area where the feed is accessed by birds. Basically a large bird or squirrel tries to get the food and the little flap closes. It's a weight thing. Here's a link to an example. https://www.hayneedle.com/product/p...ystylebirdfeeder.cfm?ltype=child&tid=OIN165-1 This design might work with deer. I was envisioning a free hanging wire feeder or on a thin pole.

No aware of any engineered designs other than this. I have one of these feeders with food to two sides.
 
Planted my tomatoes and green peppers today. Finally, right? I have had the plants for a month growing both indoors on cold nights and outdoors on warm days. The pepper plants look great but the tomatoes are starting to look like "old plants". I hope they do okay. I have two tomatoes planted in large pots on my deck too like I did last year. I was pleased last year with their performance.... varieties Bush Goliath and Better Bush. The Goliath is a large plant I and the Better Bush is more normal sized. Both determinant varieties. The garden tomatoes are indeterminant (Celebrity, Big Boy and Better Boy) and will get very tall in my cages (like 5 feet) and still be flopping down the sides of the cages by the end of the growing season.

My broccoli is just starting to set their initial heads now. They are about silver dollar sized at the moment. Onions look great.

I didn't "double dig" for the tomatoes this year. The other stuff that was already growing was in the way and I didn't want to yank it out.

Started planting a lot of my flowers over the last couple of days (mostly annuals). Still a lot more to do in that department.
 
Nice 22-rimfire - getting those tomatoes in and other plants. Some satisfaction in a dodgy spring. I did a little digging and planted 40 or so bulbs - Liatris and Crocosmia right by the house. If I do the digging before the grass gets muscular it is easier.

Today in the cold rain, I will be pitching a screen tent!. This is to cover the geraniums against frost over the next few overnights. The tent has flaps on all four sides and although I am hoping this will store the heat to protect them after sundown and from winds as needed, I am prepared to lose them rather than give this tiny house back over to them. They are too many and huge and now wet and dripping ... and enough

DSCF9757 GERANIUMS OUTSIDE 650 MED.jpg

The tender begonias ... I will bring them back in ... along with the live bee balm, caragana and thunbergia trellis.

DSCF9745 CARAGANA TRAY 650 MED.jpg

The most civilized grass on this property has sprung from the birdseed under the maple tree. Some sunflowers are sprouting too. I have two hummingbird feeders ready on the tree for early arrivals. One thing that scares me more than operating a chainsaw (which I won't do) ... is riding a mower on steep slopes (which I will have to do). Must plan mowing on this property carefully.

DSCF9752 GRASS GROWS HUMMINGBIRD FEEDER 650 MED.jpg

Yesterday, a rainy day also, I drove to my old digs and hauled my kayak all the way up from the riverbank where I had secured it last fall, tied it to the roof racks and brought it home. So lets see some warm sunshine :thumbsup: for plants and people to enjoy ...
 
Things are looking real good Taldesta. Those geraniums have really gotten big. Won't be long before the hummingbirds show up. Their northward migration is pretty fast, actually incredibly fast considering the distances.

Part, and I will say only part of the reason I delayed planting the vegies is my little tiller was on the blink. I got frustrated messing with it that day. Couldn't get it started a while back and finally decided I will do what has to be done to move forward. It started. I had over filled the thing with oil beyond not starting. It's a little deceptive on how much oil is supposed to be inside it and it's orientation is critical to filling correctly. I dumped out the excess oil, but it was in the carburetor and so forth. Thought the little guy was going to catch fire burning off the remaining excess oil.

Decided to head for Cades Cove yesterday (May 4th) hoping to see black bears (Smoky Mt National Park). Deer are few and far between this time of the year and the bucks are only starting to grow their antlers. They are still looking kind of scruffy with their change from a winter coat to summer.

Well... have to say it was a banner day at Cades Cove. I saw, if you can believe this, 26 black bears during the visit. There were quite a few momma bears with there two cubs from last year. A couple of the bears had four cubs last year and I don't know if I'm seeing the same bears and the cubs died from predators or starvation, but the yearling bears were in ones and twos with the mother bear. On the way out with dusk approaching, you drive what is called the Laurel Creek Road and saw cars stopped. This is a two lane road. So I stopped near a trail head and joined the party. This was icing on the cake for the day as there was a Mother bear with three tiny cubs (this years). The cubs were climbing trees and scampering around. They always bring a smile to your face kind of like puppies. They were about 75 yards away in the woods. So, no close up shots and it was pretty dark for picture taking. I still tried. The wonders of digital photography... no film to have developed and you can just delete delete delete the junk.

Haven't really looked at my pictures other than a cursory look to delete the ones that were totally crap. I had a lot of really boring pictures of black bears in the distance (like 100+ yds) in fields. I call them "there it is" shots just to record that you saw them. I generally delete those down to one shot unless there is something redeeming about the picture. Two bears turned out to be photographic opportunities. I took about 100 shots.

I need to look back a week or so and see if I summarized my trip to the Smoky Mt NP on April 27th. I didn't see any black bears on that trip. But the wildflowers were spectacular in one area.
 
Last edited:
A week ago (April 27th) I made the trip to Cades Cove hoping to see bears. Didn't see a single bear and left in the early afternoon in search of wildflowers. This was about an hour's drive from where I was in the Cove. Went to a place I hadn't been to in about 10 years (maybe longer) and was rewarded to see a broad assortment in bloom including Pink Lady's Slipper, Yellow Lady's Slipper, Dwarf Crested Iris (so pretty!), some Trilliums (yellow and white), and Showy Orchis. Photographed all of these and some of the pictures turned out nicely. The Trilliums were on the serious decline as their blooming cycle was about over.

The mountain streams were absolutely beautiful with the recent rains. No muddy water.... all flowing clear with high rates of flow. There were kayakers out in some of the larger water. I'm sure they were enjoying some of the white water areas.

I wanted to explore a little the area where the forest fires of October 2016 hit. The wildflower area was part in and part outside a burnt area and this would be the second spring since those fires. Nature is rebounding.

Yesterday, about mid-afternoon, I was thinking about leaving Cades Cove and head back to where I saw the Lady's Slippers (orchids), decided that since I was seeing black bears and that was the primary purpose for the one-day visit, that I will stay with the bear program for the day even though I suspect I won't have another opportunity to take pictures of the Orchids that I saw last week until next year. Wildflowers are often a fleeting thing and many simply don't bloom for a very long period of time.
 
Looks good Legion12. How many bags of the store bought soil did it take? What is the soil consistency as compared to Miracle Grow's regular potting soil? Guess the little strip of grass along the fence is weed eater stuff.
 
Things are looking real good Taldesta. Those geraniums have really gotten big. Won't be long before the hummingbirds show up. Their northward migration is pretty fast, actually incredibly fast considering the distances.

Part, and I will say only part of the reason I delayed planting the vegies is my little tiller was on the blink. I got frustrated messing with it that day. Couldn't get it started a while back and finally decided I will do what has to be done to move forward. It started. I had over filled the thing with oil beyond not starting. It's a little deceptive on how much oil is supposed to be inside it and it's orientation is critical to filling correctly. I dumped out the excess oil, but it was in the carburetor and so forth. Thought the little guy was going to catch fire burning off the remaining excess oil.

Decided to head for Cades Cove yesterday (May 4th) hoping to see black bears (Smoky Mt National Park). Deer are few and far between this time of the year and the bucks are only starting to grow their antlers. They are still looking kind of scruffy with their change from a winter coat to summer.

Well... have to say it was a banner day at Cades Cove. I saw, if you can believe this, 26 black bears during the visit. There were quite a few momma bears with there two cubs from last year. A couple of the bears had four cubs last year and I don't know if I'm seeing the same bears and the cubs died from predators or starvation, but the yearling bears were in ones and twos with the mother bear. On the way out with dusk approaching, you drive what is called the Laurel Creek Road and saw cars stopped. This is a two lane road. So I stopped near a trail head and joined the party. This was icing on the cake for the day as there was a Mother bear with three tiny cubs (this years). The cubs were climbing trees and scampering around. They always bring a smile to your face kind of like puppies. They were about 75 yards away in the woods. So, no close up shots and it was pretty dark for picture taking. I still tried. The wonders of digital photography... no film to have developed and you can just delete delete delete the junk.

Haven't really looked at my pictures other than a cursory look to delete the ones that were totally crap. I had a lot of really boring pictures of black bears in the distance (like 100+ yds) in fields. I call them "there it is" shots just to record that you saw them. I generally delete those down to one shot unless there is something redeeming about the picture. Two bears turned out to be photographic opportunities. I took about 100 shots.

I need to look back a week or so and see if I summarized my trip to the Smoky Mt NP on April 27th. I didn't see any black bears on that trip. But the wildflowers were spectacular in one area.

Bears. Amazing to see them. What a fine day.

The last one I saw up close was a mother bear with two cubs. They were strolling an abandoned roadway that ran beside where I was living just off the West gate of Algonquin park ... a few hours drive North from here. They were on the far side of the woodpile.

Honestly I had to laugh because the cubs were laying on their backs to get at the underside of the brambles where the berries were 'low hanging fruit'. I knew if I ran for my camera I would lose the opportunity to just watch them at leisure so I kept hidden - yes a lot too close, but a memorable sighting for sure. In that location, moose would actually stroll by fairly often as well.

Good hunting with the wildflowers ... such a feast for the camera this time of the year.
 
Best laid plans of last Friday, to put up the screen tent to protect the annuals from frost, went awry. The weather forecast changed abruptly to warn of gusting 100 km/h (62 mph) winds for the day so I tarped the living room floor and slogged all those darn plants back inside! Then I made a trip to town for a few supplies. The return trip was gusty indeed ... the kind where you feel the car has a mind of its own and wants to do some unplanned off-roading. On the twisty, windy way home all the "BUMP" signs were blown over ... and there was this, taken on my 'clever' flip phone ...

0504181739-00 TREE DOWN 650 MED.jpg

A few days earlier I had been pitching some small tents to sort and air them. On arriving home during the windstorm, I saw that only the fly remained, flapping in the rain and wind, of my sweet little Spalding dome. The fly had landed halfway up the slope toward the East. The tent was AWOL. It took 3/4 hour to spot it, suspended by the criss-crossed fiberglass shock-corded poles in the woods to the NE of the house. It was rough, wet and nasty going to retrieve it in what I hope is one piece. The pups struggled through the underbrush with me - what troopers. Wet tent and fly and poles ... all this I just threw into the back of the van. It wouldn't blow away.

Of course the power was out ... and just came on early last evening (Saturday)

While the power was out yesterday, I attempted to finally pitch the screen tent. The sunshine was intense, the wind still a little gusty, one of the uprights bent ... and I abandoned the project right where it half stood. I may try again this morning, after I slog all the plants back outside ... but if one pole bent already, the quality does not bode well for sustained enjoyment over a summer. Sorry for boring folks ... but it's been cathartic :D
 
This spring has been a little unusual and the in-climate weather just seems to be holding on. That weather has migrated northward now honestly (Canada and far Northern US), it is almost summer here now. I used to carry a saw with me for such things like that downed tree. The objective would be to move "just enough" of the tree to get by with an auto and let the highway department handle it from there. Unless I'm hitting the back roads (read "dirt and gravel") I generally don't do that much anymore. We're into the spring tornado season now. The weather forecasters seem to say just about every thunderstorm is going to produce hail or high winds now. Maybe it's an insurance thing? Yesterday, they were predicting high winds and heavy rain.... got 0.06" of rain. That's nothin', but it was a bit windy.

Hope the tents are in good condition. I have them and seldom camp any more. Yes, carrying in and out the plants from the house can be a real pain in the butt. I did it for about a month. I was really happy when the plants were all outside and I had a lot more table space indoors. This is why I use the heavy plastic tubs to reduce the number of trips.

That is the highest number of black bears in a single day that I have ever seen. As I said, if bears were your objective, it was a BANNER day to be sure. Normally, if I see a couple I consider it a great day there. As you probably know, my making trips to Cades Cove is a pretty common event for me. I have made 4 trips so far in 2018. I just enjoy it there a lot and the wildlife makes it ever changing and interesting. It is about a 2.5 hour drive from the house, so I have to leave like at 5:00 or 5:30 AM this time of the year to get there at a reasonable morning time for wildlife viewing. Always stop for breakfast on my way and drink lots of coffee. I'm usually really beat when I get back home between the day's activities and getting up a lot earlier than usual. My Sister (from PA) visits the park relatively often considering the distance and they stay a week typically. If I am going to meet them early, I have to leave especially early like at 4:00 AM to be there at dawn. That's painful for me.
 
Back
Top