Tag Archives: garden blog

Cat TV: Not Just for Cats

Leave a reply

I used to be afraid of birds. Honestly, when I was a kid, I was afraid of most things, but birds were definitely on the list, towards the top. I’m not even sure why, now that I’m thinking about it. Maybe I watched Hitchcock at too early an age? There was also the time I was totally attacked by a maniacal flamingo at SeaWorld… I was minding my own business, relaxing on a park bench, when the fiend reached through the fence and bit me on the arm.

I’m still mostly convinced that flamingos are pink, devious monsters (admittedly, with great balance), but my wariness of birds as a whole has morphed into an interest.

  • I’m not the only bird-watcher in town

When we moved to our house, I set up a few feeders just outside the windows in our living room so the cats could watch the birds. We have quite a bit of land on the other side of our property, filled with trees and a shallow creek. There’s always oodles of birds around, from big Coopers Hawks to small, non-descript brown birds that hop and chirp and make a mess at the bird feeders. I really didn’t expect to get such enjoyment watching them all.

When the pandemic hit, I started working from home, and being home all day has given me a new look into the aviary that is the back yard. I’ve enjoyed watching the seasons change, and with them, different birdy wildlife.

This winter, we’ve seen a lot of the usual suspects. There’s been hawks, blue jays, cardinals, nuthatches, junkos, doves, wrens, sparrows, warblers, robins, red-winged black birds, woodpeckers, finches, starlings, and my favorite, the grackles. I spoke about the flocks of grackles in a past post, but they are completely ridiculous and I love them. We have common grackles here, with large black feathers, and iridescent indigo blue heads. They travel in large packs, yelling about everything under the sun, and making even more noise when they startle, flapping away all at once, in a whoosh of wings. Flocks of them descend down onto the feeders, where they devour everything in sight.

  • Grackle-Palooza

This past month has been extremely snowy, and watching the grackles hop around like little kangaroos from snowdrift to snowdrift on the deck has taken up more of my time than I probably ought to admit.

While watching the birds in our yard has become an amusing pastime, I know that bird populations are drastically shrinking. In North America alone, we’ve lost more than 1 in 4 birds in the past 50 years. There are many reasons why this decline is happening, but the largest (in most areas) is due to habitat loss, from development, agriculture, and forestry practices.

While working to combat this takes large-scale conservation advocacy, there’s plenty we each can do to help out birds in our own gardens, regardless of their size. The Audubon Society has some great articles and resources for ways to help make your space more bird-friendly.

Even if, like me, your yard is packed with snow right now, there’s ways to provide for birds year-round, and to attract even more to your space.

The #1 way to attract more birds to your yard is to grow native plants and trees. Sorry if I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but seriously, as many native species as you can pop into the ground or planters on a porch will pay you back better than GameStop stocks for that one week or so last month. Native species are already adapted for your local climate and will require very little watering and maintenance. They attract more pollinators and bugs, which will lure in more hungry birds. Each year, I see more and more and more wildlife appearing in our yard, and I know it’s because I’ve added so many native plants.

In the fall, after these native perennials have finished blooming, leave the dead stalks and flowerheads. Bugs will overwinter in them, and birds will go wild enjoying the seeds from the spent flowers. Birds use the plant material when they begin building nests in the spring. Plus, the spent flowers and plants just look pretty in the winter. They add a nice backdrop to the yard and help to give birds more hidey holes when larger species swoop in and start making a ruckus (aka, grackles).

  • Flight of the Grackle

In addition to feeders, which I keep stocked year-round, it’s important to have a water source for birds. They need clean water to drink, and bathe in, year round. I don’t have a heated bird bath at this point since the creek is so close by, but I do put up a few little bird baths and bug watering holes in the warmer months.

Finally, again, I’m going to recommend going organic with your pest-control, and stopping the spraying of pesticides. Most sprays are so indiscriminate, that even if you’re just trying to eradicate, say, the Japanese beetles that won’t leave your roses alone, the chemicals are also going to take out the lady bugs and other critters that are doing a lot of good in your garden. And, when these bugs die off, there’s less for birds to eat and feed to their young.

So, in these last few weeks of winter (if you’re having winter), consider setting out some nuts and seeds for the birds. Or, think about planting a native berry bush or some something with nectar that the wildlife will enjoy this spring. Head to your local park for a nice walk in the woods, and take note of the trees you like, that you could add to your own landscape. Build a birdhouse to attach to the fence. And then, sit back with your cats, and quietly enjoy watching all the birds in your garden as they hop about and chat at your feeders.

Happy Gardening!

Nostalgia and Too Much Winter

Leave a reply

Usually, at this point in the year, I can be found traipsing around the backyard, looking for signs of spring. (As of February 15, springtime is 33 days away!) However, this year, we’ve spent the month of February buried under snow.

I grew up in northwest Ohio, and as a kid, I remember winters being very snowy affairs. Snow days were a given. Level three snow emergencies (where everyone is to keep off the roads) took place annually. The neighborhood pond was turned into a skating rink, and sledding hills were so well-used that they’d turn into sheets of ice. (You basically needed crampons to ascend the hills at Fort Meigs by mid-winter). My brothers and I built large forts into the giant snow piles made from shoveling the driveway, complete with multiple rooms and stockpiles of snowballs.

  • There’s a veggie bed under here someplace

Eventually, I grew up (well, aged, at least), and moved south. I only made it two and a half hours south, to central Ohio, but the weather here is surprisingly different from my first home. It gets warmer way earlier in the year, and we definitely don’t have as much snowfall. It’s not weird to call home and hear from my parents that they are having a cold, rainy day in the 40s when it’s sunny and in the 70s here. It took some getting used to, and made my garden-loving heart happy, to have even a few more weeks of a growing season.

This year, though, the weather needs to, as my grandma says, “get with the program.” We’ve had snow on the ground every day so far this month, and there’s been quite a few stretches with daily snowfall. I go out to fill the bird feeders, and step down into snowdrifts that I didn’t expect to be quite so deep. Snow fill the tops of my boots, cascading down my socks onto undeserving ankles. It’s rather cold. I am made crabby.

Today, more snow is falling. By tomorrow morning when this latest storm wraps up, we’re expecting another 8″ or so of snow.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be hiding upstairs with my lemon tree, listening to ocean sounds on YouTube and looking at pictures from Hawaii.

Come on, springtime.

  • Lemon trees, good for Vitamin C and daydreaming

Growing from Seeds

Leave a reply

Well, I’ve poured through the seed catalogs. I ordered more seeds than I can possibly use. I bought dirt. I dug through the piles of old seed-starting supplies in the garage. I put together my nifty little spreadsheet about when to begin sowing everything. And, I riffled through last years notes on what went well, and what… didn’t. There’s really nothing left to do but start planting.

A lot of my seeds don’t need to be planted until next month, but a few (the tomatoes, micro greens, and peppers), are ready for sowing now. So, today I gathered up everything and hopped to it.

There’s something really special about growing your own food. Being able to walk outside, pick a tomato, and then cook with it brings me a lot of joy. And starting the process from seed feels even better. There’s a magic to it. When my seeds germinate, I feel like I did something amazing, even though, I was really just a bystander that fretted about watering the seedlings too much. When you are growing from seeds, you have control over the entire process. You know what, exactly, has been put on your crops (and what has not), and you are able to utilize a much wider selection of plant varieties than typically found at the garden center.

  • Last May in one of the raised beds: marigolds, tomatoes, lettuce, rocket, green beans, and garlic. Yum!

The process for seed-starting is pretty basic. There are a few supplies you shouldn’t skimp on, but also quite a lot that you can re-use, including the pots themselves. You can grow your seeds in egg cartons, old yogurt containers, paper towel tubes, etc., and there’s lots of seed-starting kits available as well. Whatever you choose, make sure your container has plenty of drainage holes at the bottom of it.

Next, let’s talk dirt. I used to use whatever dirt I could find around the house, which was usually potting soil from some indoor plant experiment gone wrong. Potting soil is fine, but if you can find a seed-starting mix, that’s going to be your best bet for planting up your seeds. Seed-starting soils are sterile, meaning that there’s no molds, fungus, or bugs in them that could take out the wee seedlings you’re about to spend so much time fawning over. You can even make up your own if you’re feeling adventurous. Moisten your dirt before potting things up.

Finally, you’ll need your seeds, and it helps to have a container to house your growing trays in. Your seeds will also really benefit if you are able to use grow lights. Your seeds need quite a lot of light, and even the sunniest window sills may not provide enough for healthy plants to grow. Seedlings will be “leggy” without enough light, meaning they grow very thin, with tiny, pale leaves. They aren’t strong enough to support themselves, and won’t grow into healthy plants.

Once you have all your supplies, it’s time to get planting. Soak your seeds in water for a few minutes before planting to help with germination. Then, follow the instructions on your seed packet for planting depth. I usually sprinkle two seeds onto each little space in the containers. That way, if one doesn’t germinate, I’m not out any time.

I label what I planted by writing the name on a popsicle stick and sticking one into each row. I used to just tape the sides of the containers and label them that way, but the marker on the tape would bleed after two months of watering, and then I couldn’t tell what was what.

I set the containers into a tray, and then fill the tray with water to keep from disturbing the seedlings too much. The trays soak up water from the bottom and I don’t end up with dirt shooting all over the house from over-zealous spray-bottle action.

Place your seeds under a grow light, which you will want to keep on for a good 12-16 hours per day. I use 75W LED lights for my seedlings, suspended about 4″ above the plants. For my pepper plants, I also use a heat mat underneath. Peppers are fussy and require lots of heat to germinate.

Something I hadn’t tried in years past, but that I am doing this year, is covering my seed trays in plastic. The humidity will help the seeds germinate, so a clear plastic cover (or in my case, some plastic wrap, propped up by the plant label popsicle sticks) is beneficial. Once your seeds sprout, you can remove the covers since they won’t need so much humidity any more.

Finally, make a note someplace about when you started your seeds. I’ve found it really helpful to keep a gardening journal for this purpose. It’s fun to look back on your garden through a journal each year, and having a place to keep notes helps you remember what works well and what you’d like to improve.

I’ll keep everyone apprised of my seedling progress this winter and spring, but that’s all I have for now. Happy gardening!

Is It Monarch Time Yet?

2 Replies

So, we made it through January. It felt like the entire month was cloudy and gray, but I’m sure that’s just my winter ennui. I actually spent most of January babying my indoor plants, and acquiring more for the collection: a pineapple, some ginger, tulip and daffodil bulbs, a burgundy rubber plant, a calathea, and finally two different “living stone” plants, lithops and titanopsis calcarea. (It’s possible I may really like plants).

In a few weeks time, I’ll begin the indoor seed planting. I still need to dig through the garage to make sure all of my supplies are in place. I’m also hoping to work on building a potting bench this month to better organize everything, and to give me a nicer space to work in so I’m not dragging bags of dirt into the kitchen every time I want to repot something (a feat I have yet to accomplish without spilling at least 1/3 of the bag onto the floor- sorry, husband).

Really, though, I am most looking forward to the springtime, when the outdoor plants and trees wake up and start growing again.

I really miss my springtime garden.

And, of course, when things start to heat up again, the pollinators return. Some of my favorites that visit our garden are monarch butterflies, which usually make their first appearance in mid-summer.

A few years ago, I had our garden certified as a Monarch Waystation, which means that our yard provides the habitat necessary for monarchs to make it through their lifecycles to continue their migration habits. Once the butterflies show up, I start checking our milkweed plants for eggs, and I collect those and move them to an outdoor enclosure to watch the eggs hatch, and the caterpillars grow, form a chrysalis, and them emerge as butterflies. They are released into the garden to grow more butterflies. The final generation in our area will begin the trek south in the fall, as they migrate to Mexico for the winter.

We all know that monarch populations are on the decline, severely. While populations shift in size each year, there were over 1.2 million monarchs around two decades ago, as compared to 29,000 in 2017. Climate change caused temperature fluctuations and droughts play a big role in this, as do pesticides, and the dwindling number of milkweed plants.

Milkweed is the host plant to monarchs, which means the species requires it for survival. Monarchs lay their eggs on milkweed, and once the caterpillars emerge, they eat the leaves and bulk up before making a chrysalis and then morphing into butterflies.

There are a lot of things I can’t fix in the world, and I certainly can’t save monarch butterflies all on my own, but I can help. And, I’d like to share some things that you can do as well.

  • Monarch caterpillar

Monarchs do not need a ton of space to thrive, just the right setting. As I mentioned above, they need milkweed plants, which like to live in lots of sunlight. Milkweed is native throughout the US, and finding a variety that is native to your area is key to attracting butterflies. Milkweed plants are perennials, and once you get them growing, you really don’t have to do much of anything to them. They are fairly easy to grow from seed, and many local garden centers now supply the plants. You can also find them online. The flowers smell amazing when they are blooming, and they attract loads of pollinators. I’ve had success growing milkweed both in the ground, and in pots.

  • Swamp Milkweed

Astoundingly, to me, monarchs seem to operate in a Field of Dreams/”If You Build It, They Will Come” situation. I grew two swamp milkweed plants our second summer here, and the monarchs found them, and laid eggs. I don’t know how they manage to hone in on one plant in a sea of suburbia, but they show up every year on our plants now.

The next biggest thing I would recommend, is to stop using pesticides on your lawn and plants. I get it. The lush, green lawn is considered a bragging right in my family. But many of the weeds we spray (dandelions, henbit, clover) are really important food sources for the pollinators in our yards. Frankly, when you kill the plants bugs need to eat, you kill the bugs… and then the birds, who have no more bugs to eat… and then the larger mammals, who have no more birds to eat. Finally, many of our own crops and flowers need to be pollinated to produce veggies and fruit. That doesn’t happen without bugs. While one yard isn’t going to make or break the entire food chain, you will be making a huge difference to your local wildlife if you can find alternate methods to spraying chemicals all over your lawn and plants.

  • Monarch on New England Aster

Next, you’ll need to provide some flowers with nectar for the adult butterflies to eat. Where I live, monarchs are usually around from mid-summer to the fall. So, I have plenty of flowers around that bloom during that time, like aster, goldenrod, joe pye weed, blazing star, indian blanket, anise hyssop, coneflowers, cosmos, and bee balm.

Many varieties of these plants are native to my area, so they also help feed the local bees, moths, and other pollinators. Bonus.

Finally, having a little water source available will help your butterflies and other pollinators. Bugs need water just like we do. I fill the base of a small tray with some sand and rocks, and then water- just a half inch deep or so. The monarchs can have a drink and be on their merry way and the water evaporates quickly, so it doesn’t become a mosquito haven.

It may be snowing out right now, but hopefully, wherever you live, this helps you start thinking of some of the things you can do to start helping attract butterflies and other pollinators to your area in warmer months. Happy gardening!

Springtime Plans

Leave a reply

It’s been snowing off and on here in Central Ohio for days. The snow isn’t sticking to the ground, but everything feels cold and damp, and we’ve all forgotten what the sun actually looks like. It’s definitely a good day to be indoors.

I spent some time on the floor today, covered in gardening books, colored pens, and my trusty notepad, looking ahead to springtime. In addition to the usual garden clean up I have in mind (like splitting up the lamb’s ear plants before they take over the entire yard), I want to tackle a few new landscaping projects.

  • January Flurries

I have three larger projects in mind for the spring: building two more raised beds for vegetables, turning one of the side yards into a wildflower bed, and fixing up the hellstrip out front by the road.

Project One: Raised Beds
Right now in the back yard, we have two raised beds for vegetables, in addition to a merry band of pots scattered around the deck, where I keep the herbs for easy access. The beds are (maybe?) three feet across, and six feet long. We have a crop of asparagus living in one, so there isn’t much room in that bed for anything else, and the other bed was built last year out of some leftover plywood I found in the garage.

  • Our first two vegetable beds

The beds live a little bit away from one another, but both spend the summer in full sun. I’d like to build two more this year (and by “I’d like to build,” I mean, “I’d like my husband to build”) so I’ll have more space for the massive number of seeds I plan to grow. My family makes salsa each year, and I simply cannot keep losing the battle for who grows the best tomatoes.

So, this is the first thing I’d like to tackle. It will be a cheap project, and shouldn’t take much more than a few hours to complete.

Project Two: Wildflower Bed
After the raised beds, I plan to combine my hatred for mowing the lawn with my desire to help out the local pollinator population by turning the barren wasteland on the side of our house into a wildflower bed. The space is aesthetically abhorrent right now, and I’ve decided this is the year I’m finally going to do something about it.

  • Clearly, we can do better than this.

In March, I plan to place some cardboard down over the grass to kill it. Then, I’ll turn the soil, maybe add some dirt to level things off a bit, and finally, in will go the wildflower seeds mix that I picked up this fall from the Ohio Prairie Nursery (I cannot recommend OPN enough for Midwest gardeners looking for native seeds and plants). I’ll edge the bed with some stone, add water, and wait for my mini prairie to start growing. Many native plant seeds here in Ohio require a cold period before they will wake up and start growing at all, so I hope to get the seed down well before our last frost date (which is usually in mid-May).

Project Three: Hellstrip Bed
I recently heard it described that the hellstrip (the patch of grass found between the sidewalk and the street in many a US yard) is called what it is because “no one knows what the hell to do with it.” Sometimes people will plant trees here, but other than that and the occasional mailbox, the area seems to just be patchy grass with not a lot going on, either for the local wildlife, or for anyone else.

We have two of these spaces, on either side of our driveway. I’ve been thinking about the best way to utilize the area for awhile now. This is the plan I’ve come up with (though it may change a few hundred times between now and April):

  • My design skills are unrivaled throughout the lands

On the one side of the driveway, for now, I’ll keep things simple. I want to put in a sugar maple tree. It’s native to Ohio, not too messy (since it will be right next to the street), and absolutely gorgeous in the fall, with fiery orange and red leaves.

The other side of the driveway will be a pollinator bed. The area gets lots of sun, and the soil there is pretty dry, so I chose plants that I knew would thrive in those conditions. I wanted plenty of native plants and flowers to make sure the wildlife in my area would be able to utilize them. I also wanted a pretty simple color scheme: greens and purples, with plants in bloom from early spring, through the end of fall. Finally, I wanted all of the plants to be perennials (which come back every year in the springtime), that require little to no maintenance. Here’s the list, with a bit of detail about each plant:

Meadowsage: Meadowsage is a great, deer-resistant butterfly magnet, with spikes of purple flowers that bloom from early summer to late fall.

Lamb’s Ear: My parents gave me some lamb’s ear from their garden a few years ago. It grows like mad, with silvery-green leaves and pretty purple flowers each summer. The bees love it, and I plan to move some from the backyard to the front to save on plant costs.

Prairie Blazing Star: Prairie Blazing Star is one of my favorite native flowers. The bees and butterflies are all over it when it flowers, in late summer, and the purple stalks of flowers bloom through the fall. This is a great flower to plant if you have clay soil.

Little Bluestem: Gardens just look good with grasses, and this Ohio native is high on my list of loves. It thrives in dry conditions, with silvery blue shoots of grass that get up to about 3 feet high. In fall, the grass turns a deep red.

Walker’s Low Nepeta: Though not an Ohio native, I can’t imagine having a garden without nepeta. It’s just the perfect plant. Nepeta (catmint) is super easy to grow. It’s hardy, loves the sun, and is resistant to most diseases and deer. The plant is covered in small purple blooms all summer and fall, and is a favorite for the bees in our yard. It smells amazing, looks whimsical, and has been known to attract the neighborhood cats (last summer, I accidentally summoned the local feline gang- they would take turns rolling around on the nepeta before staggering off, high as little kitty kites).

Irises: I am not sure what breed of irises that I have, but I plan to split some from the backyard to move out front. My irises came from my parents, who originally acquired theirs from my grandma’s family farm in Northeast Iowa. Each spring, they bloom with absolutely stunning pale purple flowers. It makes me think of my grandma every time I see them, and the shape of the flowers and silvery green-blue leaves adds some height and will match up with the bluestem perfectly.

Prairie Dropseed: Prairie Drop Seed is a compact little native Ohio grass. It doesn’t get very tall, and the grass blades are fine. Dropseed looks a bit feathery, like hair, with a bright green color that fade to gold in the fall. I thought it would be a nice texture against all the flowers.

Creeping Thyme: There are oodles of types of thyme around, but for a good ground cover in a sunny, warm spot, I love creeping thyme. It spreads nicely, attracts bees with its minty smell, and has really pretty purple-pink flowers in the summertime.

  • Black swallowtail on some prairie blazing star

While this is not my favorite time of year, I do like being able to take a step back, and plan for what’s to come. Researching new plants, and thinking up ideas for the springtime feels hopeful to me, like planting seeds. It’s a good reminder that soon, the sun will be out again, and I’ll be back in the garden, digging around and watching things grow. Happy gardening!

Getting Started

Leave a reply

A few years ago, I started a garden journal. It was probably 60% a resource to keep track of what I’d planted (and where), weather patterns, wildlife that I’d spotted, projects that I was planning, and 40% an excuse to buy more washi tape. (But this is neither the time nor place to discuss my washi addiction).

I started a new journal every year after that, in January. Day-dreaming, researching, and planning what I projects I wanted to tackle helped me get through the cold, gray winter days in Ohio. And, as I discovered when I started really paying attention, there’s actually quite a lot going on outside before spring begins.

  • Seriously. SO much washi.
    Seriously. SO much washi.

The journals were just for me, though I’d share a lot of the pictures I’d taken with friends. Some would ask for advice on what to plant in their own spaces- especially to attract the wildlife we have here, like monarch butterflies. I started toying with the idea of just putting the whole thing online. I’ve only had my own space to dig in for a few years now, but I do think I’ve picked up a bit of knowledge over the years, and sharing it feels right.

So, this year, my garden journal will live here in this blog. I’ll work my way through the seasons, sharing it all with you. You’ll witness my love and adoration for peonies, meet Olive the One-Eyed Wonder Squirrel, watch our first asparagus harvest, and marvel at my ability to turn any outing into an excuse to pop by the local garden center.

I plan to post weekly. Feel free to comment in the mean time. Happy gardening!

  • Autumn Joy Sedum in winter