Miscellaneous Stuff From The Sticks

Not sure if I've mentioned the difficulty in growing nasturtiums around here. It looks like the secret is doing the exact opposite of what I've heard on internet message boards. The opposite would be partial shade instead of full sun, great soil rather than average to poor...and moist.

Here are some Milkmaid type that are supposed to climb. Leaves are about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, bettering any I've had by 50%. Seeds were started April 5. I'll have to get around to fixing that bird feeder again as it was whacked by another large nighttime visitor.

Cat up a tree? Nope. Working on getting more sun to the moonflowers that are planted just below. Some overhanging branches needed pruning while watching the sun at the same time. It looks like  I'll have to go another ten feet to get an extra hour or so of full sun. The trees will be wrapped with loose laid chicken wire for a moonie playground.

Hmmm. This is strange... Another idea in the working stage.

It needs some modifications. It also got extremely repetitious and boring making close to 200 kerf cuts on the plywood, with two passes as the same time.

I never did mention anything about the creek pump. The whole irrigation idea also needs some improvements in that in can only run two sprinklers and a garden hose nozzle at the same time. The idea was presented to me by a guy at Ace. Problem is it has oodles of potential to pump a large amount of water through a two inch line. However, it goes from a two inch hose (blue) to a 3/4 inch diameter garden hose (red) that runs off several Y-connectors along the driveway.

By running all two inch pipe from creek and along the drive, it can probably run ten sprinklers at once. That's next years project as it satisfies me for now.

Creek view...

Driveway...

Haha. Got You Squirrels This Time

Since I moved here local squirrels would feast when no one was round to chase them away from the bird feeder. It didn't really bother me until this month. I tried grease on the pole, that didn't work. Then I looked into wrapping barbed wire around it, but didn't want to spend  $60.00 for a spool...and borrowing ten feet from somebody's fence didn't sound neighborly.  Aluminum flashing used on roofs seemed like an idea. Easy to staple into and now they don't have a chance...but it's only been one day.

I wonder how well paint sticks to Aluminum? There must be something that works. Too flashy for now. It need some brown. Guess what? Yep, that's snow on the fence; small sprinkling this morning after a few delightful days in the high 60's. Daffodils are flowering here and there, but you won't see pics until the complete show is on.

Seedlings started popping through the soil in the hoops late last week. Surprises me as there weren't  any good days for warming the soil. Looks like anything grows around here, except the Paper whites. They came up too soon back in December. I think they're fried.

Oh, the lawn. Let's see if hay keeps the seeds from washing away this time. I'm not spending much time on that danged thing this spring. I put about six hours into it last week. It will probably look great in May and June, but that's it. Then comes hot, humid weather and lawn diseases. No good air circulation around here to dry it out.

Flagstone path finally done across the back of the cabin. Need bush/shrubbery ideas between stones and house where wheel barrel sits. About 24 inches space.

Spring Is On The Way?

Yea, we've seen this thing enough times. It tells me winter!

On the other hand these buggers say..."screw that groundhog, I'm telling ya spring is comin' right up.!" Daffodils poking through the soil...all over the place.

And these guys. I thought they would have been decimated by the cold since I was in Florida. Not so...

I suppose I didn't leave out enough munchies for the rodents...It's an empty dCon bait tray..several.

and this thing again...time to get cracking on that...around mid March

Spring Planting

Oh my. What's on the schedule here?

Wonderful weather...finally! And the plant expert has arrived for a month or so.

Bushes lined up for planting above the retaining wall.

And the other small wall is almost complete.

Grass looks great from a distance and lot's of greenery from the tree foliage. Oaks are yet to show.

Spring Green In The Mountains

Even my lawn is green....







What else would you expect after the massive rainfall the last three months? Off to Florida until April 28.

Forget The RotoTiller

I have what I need, time on my hands. Preparing the area in front of the stone walls for grass would have been a nightmare last summer because of the lack of rain. Now the soil is soft but sticky, so the only real work is breaking up the clay chunks. The area shown took about three hours to turn over by shovel.

More known about the nasty storm Friday evening. Could be some of the seed for the main part of the lawn was washed away but it's difficult to tell. One thing is clear; if the weather doesn't get some kind of consistency this lawn won't do well in the summer heat. I understand the best growing times are when daytime temps are between 60 and 80. Yesterday it didn't go over 56. And the new seed needs a certain soil temperature to germinate.

Big difference from last spring eh?

And more of that lovely rain is on the way Monday!

Hail To Spring

Let's see what kind of screwy weather is left?

Tornadoes

Hurricanes

I was in town for a mere 90 minutes and on the way back saw all this white stuff piled on the banks near the local church up the road. At first I thought it was soap suds, but then thought where could it come from?

Freaking hail! Now I know my newly reseeded lawn would be a disaster I thought. A few smaller trees down in the area. Could be a darned tornado skimmed some tree tops? Parts of the upper driveway has massive ruts from the rainwater runoff, but it appears the lawn escaped damage.

Considering I put in a good eight hours on that bugger I didn't want to see a total loss. From sifting dirt into a wheelbarrow and mixing with peat moss to the actual hand planting. Over the last week the better parts have really become green.

More on the lawn and new projects this weekend.

Back To Reality? Pleasant Weather

Horse farm along 52 east about two miles from home.

Great weather day yesterday. Low 70's at 4PM. Finally a chance to get some local spring photos without cloudy and rainy backgrounds. By the way the bugs are returning. Those carpenter bees that love to drill holes on the outside of the cabin are out in small force. I think I plugged a half a dozen last year. Wasps and signs of small yellow jackets noticed today. Birds are happy, squirrels here and there. No sign of the local dogs...quiet too. A neighbor kid says they have "girlfriends." Spring is in the air.

The local mom and pop grocery another two miles from home. The place is almost 80 years old. I may go in for smokes now and then or a newspaper. I have been intigued by those posted gas prices though. $1.64? It hasn't changed in almost two months. Maybe they don't sell gas anymore. Other local prices are up near $ 1.95.

Trees have been budding for the last few weeks.

April Snowers Bring May ??

Snow in April? Considering how strange this winter has been why not? Strange? Okay it's my first winter but all the signs of strange are there being outside of the norm. Massive rain, unusually low temps (5 degrees back in late January).

Life In Seattle

Here I was about to say it rains as much here as in Seattle, but their yearly rainfall total isn't that high really; about 38 inches. Must be lot's of drizzle and small rainfall amounts. So what's exciting and new here in rain country? It's almost too depressing to talk about, but I did get some photos from the top of the hill looking east while waiting for the local power company.

Some green here and there and trees budding. I've seen browns and orange tints. If the freakin sun ever appears again maybe I'll get some better shots of that. So what's up with the power? Dunno. Fixed. And those guys are quick to respond. Probably 30 minutes and they actually found me!

A few days ago I had a window of opportunity to work outdoors. Time to get that wall area ready for whatever. I dunno. Moving quite a bit of dirt around. I was going to get a local guy in here to move it with some equipment but thought, I have all sorts of time, I'll take care of it myself. I think I found some great dirt too and not that real sticky compacted clay around here. I'll have to see what the expert thinks.

And the area in front of the wall (below). Cleared all the crap out and I actually think the laying water problem is an exaggeration. At one time I thought the walkway to the creek had an erosion problem with the rain water runoff. But looking on the other side of the property (second pic below) it probably gets more runoff and the grass in between the flagstones is intact. No sign of major problems and the slope is actually steeper.

I'm tired of looking at this bare spot. Time to plant more grass.

The area going to the creek. New grass in between the stones just needs time to get some rooting the way I look at it. I never gave it a chance last year because I was running a wheelbarrow over it. The grass never took root.

And finally a stairway area near the walls. I've been moving quite a bit of dirt here as well. By allowing the rain to settle it over the next month or so I plan to build a flagstone landing area with pressure treated 6 x 6's. as steps...I think.

The Birds Are Singing

When the weather is nice. I'll be glad when this "rainy season" is over, but it's not really that season. Since January 1 about 40 inches of rain has fallen in the area. Isn't that enough? Can't I get those days back from last spring and summer? During that period it didn't seem like the weather channel was needed. Sunshine and more sunshine!

Okay today has been beautiful! About 70 degrees now with the same expected for Wednesday. Doors and windows open to get that musty cabin smell out.

How About Spring?

I'll take my camera along this evening when I head to town for dinner. In the meantime some pics of low laying greenery discovered this morning and buds appearing on some trees around the property. I wish blogger had an auto pic resizing function. This is one reason why I sometimes don't feel like doing updates. It takes time.

Weeds? Dunno, but it was marked last fall.

Can't be a weed.
How about this thing?

Tree buds...
More. Spiders are busy too

Looking for a handout...that's it!