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Flowers, Flowers Everywhere

This gardening season is off to a hot start!

It has been an intense few weeks in the garden. Everything always seems to happen at once at this time of year, and I waver between feeling completely overwhelmed and excited at all the activity. We’ve had a lot of rain this month, and some unseasonably warm temperatures, so all the plants have been growing like wild.

About everything is finally in the ground. I started an absurd number of plants from seed this year (after swearing to myself I’d be reasonable- ha!), and nearly everything has made its way outside and into the dirt. I still have some beans to find room for, but my seed stash is pretty sparse again. I’m looking forward to harvest time! I started a lot of new (to me) things this year.

Many plants are living in containers on the deck this year, since we don’t have quite enough room for everything out in the beds. I find that some days, it’s far easier to manage pots, both for watering and harvesting. Wrangling the hose around the yard and willing myself up and down the deck stairs to gather up everything out in the beds gets to be a bit much when I’m having flare days from my autoimmune disease. So, having things close to the kitchen really ups the odds that I’ll pay the plants their due attention!

The deck probably passed its Container Capacity (the amount of pots the husband has to wade through to get to the grill) about 20 plants ago, but I’m excited for everything to grow up and start blooming. I have quite a few different vining plants (cantaloupe, pie pumpkins, watermelons, loofahs, madder, morning glories, and coral honeysuckle) on the deck this year, and oodles of herbs, fruits, veggies, and flowers for the pollinators. I don’t plant annuals out in the beds in the full sun since they typically require watering almost daily, but on the deck, where there’s some shade, I can stretch my watering to just a few days a week.

Living on the deck now, in addition to the vines, are: bay laurel, calla lilies, a chenille plant, begonias, petunias, parsley, two types of fennel, a lemon tree, basil, lettuce, spinach, cosmos, potatoes, mint, four types of thyme, chives, zinnias, oregano, aloe, four pineapples, cumin, indigo, nasturtiums, chamomile, a banana tree, swiss chard, ranunculus, tomatillos… I’m sure I’m forgetting something. Oh! The stairs! I made a “Stairway to Salsa,” on the deck steps, with more tomatillos, sweet peppers, and druzba tomatoes. So, clearly, a normal amount of plants.

Out in the raised beds, I’m impatiently waiting for the garlic scapes to show up. With our recent warm weather, I’m expecting to see them here by the end of the month. Once the garlic bulbs are able to be harvested, I’ll probably plant up some more lettuce. The rest of the beds are packed pretty full. Our first bed houses the permanent asparagus patch (which was delicious this year), and I added some potatoes. The next bed is hosting the paste tomatoes, marigolds, and more potatoes. (There are also four grow bags of potatoes on the deck- I think I could feed the entire Midwest with the number of potatoes I planted this year). Our third bed houses the aforementioned garlic, lettuce, cucumbers, parsley, basil, and a handful of poblano peppers. The final raised bed is mostly devoted to a cut flower garden this year, and in it lives a boatload of onions, carrots, leaks, bachelor buttons, love-in-a-mist, zinnias, calendulas, and a trellis of snow peas.

Out in the flower beds, I’ve added a lot more native plant seedlings. I grew several types of milkweed- common and swamp (my favorite- it’s so pretty and smells divine!), yellow coneflowers, ironweed, prairie dropseed, big bluestem, switchgrass, indiangrass, little bluestem, rudbeckia, broom sedge, violets, wild bergamot, and yarrow. Everything sprouted up nicely this spring and has since been moved out into the beds as I’ve been weeding, removing invasive creeping charlie and creeping jenny, and cleaning up the stalks left from last years perennials. I’ve also been tossing in sunflower seeds along the fenceline. They grow up quickly and bring me so much joy in the late summer while they bloom. Plus, the pollinators are always all over the flowers, and the birds eat the seeds in the autumn.

I’ve also been expanding the garden around the wildlife pond. It’s become one of my favorite spots in the whole yard. I love sitting next to the pond, listening to the water move, and watching the insects and frogs. I’m still not sure what species the frogs are, but they showed up a couple weeks ago and have been hanging out on the rocks and in the cover of the foliage around the pond. I’m so thrilled to see them back. I hope they have little froglettes and we end up with an army of mosquito eaters! But, back to expansion. I’ve been slowly removing more grass, and adding in extra native plants. I moved a bunch of the swamp milkweed seedlings (they loves the wet area there, and thrive in our obnoxious clay soil), as well as a few more smooth penstemon (another wet soil/clay lover), and an oak leaf hydrangea. I’ve wanted one of these hydrangeas for ages, and I’m so excited that I was able to plant this baby this year. They are native to our area, require almost zero maintenance (a must for plants in my garden), and they also grow just fine in our clay.

Thea area around the pond, mid-expansion

So, the pond garden is filling up! I added a water lily to the pond itself, and the canadian anemones and ohio spiderwort are in bloom now. Next, I hope to see the blue flag irises and our new buttonbush flowering.

Out in the front yard, the new pollinator garden we added by the street is growing in nicely! I added mostly native plants to this space as well, and every time I go get the mail, I see bees enjoying the flowers there. I’m hoping to add a few more plants this season since the terrible soil out there doesn’t seem to be slowing anything down. Closer to the house, around our locust tree, the bed we added two seasons ago is also filling in nicely. I stuck a few native prairie plants here, but there’s a lot more shade from the locust tree, so this bed houses mostly perennials that I’ve split from elsewhere in the garden. The final beds, around the house, are about to explode with day lilies, daisies, butterfly weed, and purple giant hyssop (a really lovely native alternative to salvias that are packed with butterflies, hummingbird moths, and bees all summer long). The purple bugleweed is also blooming now, which the bees seem to enjoy.

Indoor plants aside, that’s the garden for 2022! (I keep a few plants inside year-round, since they either require more shade than I can offer, or less water than we receive). Now that most of the clean up and the first round of weeding is done, I really won’t have too much more to do, maintenance-wise. I have a few more project ideas for the year… we’ll see how far I get. And, the pond bed expansion is ongoing. But, things seem to really be shaping up in the ole Happy Rabbit Garden. Despite my fretting, the plants seem happy. There’s oodles of birds around, enjoying the bug buffet. I’ve yet to be bitten by a mosquito (I will now that I’ve acknowledged that fact). I see bees out working hard and enjoying the spring flowers. It’s not always the space I have in mind, but the garden really is beautiful. Hope that you are enjoying a lovely spring with your plants as well. Happy gardening!

Small Fish in a Big Pond

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Hardening off the freshly-sprouted seedlings!

After waking up to thunderstorms in the wee small hours of the morning, I didn’t have tremendously high hopes for the day. But, in the afternoon, the sun came out, and it turned into a lovely time for gardening.

Today is the first of May, my favorite month in the garden. All the perennials are coming back up, there’s lots of trees and flowers in bloom, and it’s not yet so hot and humid that being outside for any length of time is miserable. We’re not quite past our last frost date here in Central Ohio, so I haven’t moved everything outside quite yet. But, I was able to start hardening off the tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, and flowers that I’ve been growing from seed indoors. The process takes about ten days/two weeks, so by the time they are ready to plant in the ground, it will be warm enough to plant them in the ground.

The deck is already packed full of pots. I started a bunch of native grasses from seed to add to the borders along our fence: Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), Big Bluestem (Andropogon geradii), Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans), and Broom Sedge (Andropogon virginicus). There’s also pots full of strawberries, potatoes, thyme, chives, mint, and a bunch of native perennials, like Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). The cold frame filled up very quickly this year, but we’re about past the time where I need it. Looks like I skated by starting too many seeds for yet another year!

Out in the raised beds, things are also filling up. Our asparagus is in its fourth year, so it’s really coming in nicely. We’ve already been able to enjoy a few harvests on the grill. The garlic I planted last fall is also looking quite nice. It should be time to harvest those bulbs here in a few weeks. Also out in the beds are some carrots, leeks, onions, snow peas, and potatoes. We’re going to have potatoes coming out of our ears this year. I have four grow bags full of them on the deck, and two more rows of potatoes out in the raised beds. I’m just trying to represent my Irish heritage well!

As usual, the deck is filling up with potted plants.

Just off of the raised beds is the wildlife pond that went in last year. I’ve had a few people ask how the pond had its start in life, so I thought I’d share the tale again, and give an update.

I’d had a small water feature in mind for a few years, but I wasn’t sure about what to put in. Fountains are EXPENSIVE and I thought a pond would be too much upkeep. Two years ago, I added a few small, shallow pots to the landscape, filled with water for the birds and pollinators to enjoy. I highly recommend this. It’s a simple way to help lure more wildlife into the yard, and things are easy to clean and maintain. But, with every viewing of the BBC’s Gardeners World, I wanted more.

Our lot is just over 6,000 square feet, which is below average for the US (you people with acreage are really throwing off the curve). It’s more than big enough for two fairly lazy people who hate lawn maintenance, and as I searched online for examples of wildlife ponds, I knew the yard was large enough to fit what I had in mind as well. I wanted something about 3′ by 3′, in a circle-ish shape, and shallow enough that I wouldn’t have to do much digging to put the thing in. So, one day, I told the husband that we were putting a pond in, and we started to dig. Well, actually, back that up. First, I called 8-1-1 and had the utility companies come out to mark our electric and cable lines so we wouldn’t hit anything. If you’re ever doing any digging in your yard, for a tree, a pond, or any kind of larger hole, Call Before You Dig!

So, yard spray-painted with lines marking the important things, we mapped out the spot for the pond with an old hose. I’ve seen this done before, and it’s a great way to “see” what your new project is going to look like before you start digging around. Just use the hose like a border, and make the shape you want. Once we had things outlined, we started digging.

The pond is about 2′ deep in the center, with tapered edges, and a little beach on one end. I specifically wanted a wildlife-style pond in the yard, and for animals to be able to get in and use the thing, I knew a gradual entryway was required. Once the digging was complete, we added a lining, using plastic sheeting. The sheet is fairly thick, and I folded it in half to add even more oomph to the lining.

The perennials are coming back in nicely this year, framing in the pond and helping to provide food and shelter to any critters who may be in the area. Now that the rocks have settled in, I have a few more to add, but I’m happy with the progress so far!

Next, we added some river rock and pebbles to the bottom, and along the edges. Then, larger flat stones went in around the border of the pond and along the sides, to hide the plastic sheet. Once that was finished, we filled the pond with water, and I used some old branches and sticks to line one end of the pond and make it look more natural and wild. This makes a great space for wildlife to hide and nest. After a simple bubbler went in to circulate the water around, that was that for the pond.

The area where we put the pond is mostly in the shade. It was a damp area to begin with, that grew a lot of moss and henbit. So, I added in plants that liked the shade and wet conditions, and used mostly species native to our area to lure in even more o the things we wanted, like dragonflies and caterpillars. There’s a lot around the pond, all perennials: an eastern redbud tree, a buttonbush, maidenhair ferns, wild geraniums, creek sedge, blue flag irises, sweet flag irises, jack-in-the-pulpits, rue anemones, sea oats, spiderwort, a pitcher plant, and a little grouping of hostas and heucheras. The native plants and trees (all but the last two) support over 100 species of caterpillars!

Today, I added the bubbler back into the pond for the season. I started with a little, floating solar fountain. But, after a couple of months, it bit the dust. So, I added in a little aquarium pump, that plugs into an outlet on the deck. It helps keep water circulating and the sound attracts more birds to the pond for bath time.

Other than that, I don’t do a thing to the pond, except weed around it. (And, today, I pulled a few leaves out of the water so they wouldn’t clog up the bubbler). I don’t use any chemicals to clean the water- the bubbler takes care of that. And we’ve had the neatest wildlife show up in the short time the pond has been around: all kinds of birds, dragonflies (just one can eat up to 100 mosquitoes in a day, in case you’re worried about the water in the yard attracting too many of the bloodsuckers), beetles, spiders, other insects, and most excitingly, frogs! Two arrive last summer and I hope we see more this year.

Some of the shade-loving plants and trees in bloom right now: great white trillium, dutchman’s breeches, rue anemone, and flowering dogwood

So, that’s the wildlife pond. It’s doing exactly what I’d wanted: luring in wildlife. And, it’s been fuss-free. Is the water always 100% clear? Nope. Does it look like a well-manicured water feature? Absolutely not. But, those things weren’t my goal. I wanted the space to look natural and I think we succeeded. This spring has already been filled with joyful moments and I wander around the pond, looking at the different wildlife which lives there- the insects, the native wildflowers, and the occasional bird, stopping by to wade around the beach.

Hopefully, this helps get you started if you’re interested in adding your own pond to the yard. There’s lots of books and resources out there to inspire, including this one that I used from the Conservation Foundation. Happy gardening!

Freezers: Not Just for Ice Cream

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Our calendula and marigolds, autumn joy sedum, lantanas, zinnias, coral honeysuckle, and nasturtiums continue to bring the color this year.

August carries on. The heat probably won’t really break until mid-October here, and the humidity makes just standing outside an unpleasant experience. Last week was filled with rain, sheets of it would come down every day. At least I didn’t have to water at all. And rain at this time of year usually makes for pretty autumn color from the trees come fall.

The cicadas are out in full force, screeching over the hum of the grasshoppers and crickets. This time of year is tough, for me. I really love autumn, and it feels so far away on these endless hot days. Summertime is probably my least favorite season, which is probably a weird thing for a gardener to say. I think I like fall and springtime best, though. I like the changing- the new life in spring after winters long, cold days where everything is finally wake up again. Then, in fall, where all the colors change and the air feels so crisp and cool. I like the feeling that a big shift is on the way.

The wildlife pond has been surprisingly easy to maintain. I haven’t had to add any water, and the bubbler is keeping it all moving around. I don’t touch the space at all, other than weeding as needed.

But, for now, it is definitely still summertime. Our monarch caterpillars have all finally made their lime-green and gold chrysalises. We could have our first hatching this upcoming weekend, though it will probably be next week before we see butterflies. The rest of the life on the deck seems to be thriving still. We have one last baby pumpkin ripening on the vine, and all the flowers are doing well. The other day, I saw a gorgeous tiger swallowtail hopping from zinnia to zinnia and enjoying the lantanas. It was looking a little beat up, but still flying fine. I checked the dill and fennel for eggs, but the butterfly was either a male, or it just didn’t have any eggs to lay. (Usually, you’re able to identify the gender of a swallowtail by their markings, but this one was missing pieces in the spots where I would normally do that).

I also saw a hummingbird on the deck yesterday. They’ve been all over our nasturtiums this year, as well as the zinnias. I’m definitely going to be growing zinnias from seed again next year- they’ve been a wildlife magnet this season.

This tiger swallowtail was a treat to watch!

Out in the yard, I’ve been continuing to harvest tomatoes, peppers, and green beans daily. The freezer is filling up with veggies, and the Family Canning Day for our salsa has been scheduled for the fall. It’s been a great year for tomatoes so far. I don’t want to jinx myself, but even with the extreme heat, I haven’t had any issues so far with blossom end rot like in years past. We seem to have had pretty steady rains, and when we haven’t, I’ve been keeping up with the watering and fertilizing. We’ll probably have at least another month/month and a half before there’s even a chance of frost, which is plenty of time for me to have to TETRIS the freezer contents to make everything fit.

The wildlife pond doesn’t have a lot blooming at the moment, but there’s lots of happy plants around the water. I see birds stop by every so often, and there’s usually a dragonfly or two hovering around the rocks. This past week, I had a huge surprise: a frog was sunning itself on the rock edge! When I put in the pond, my goal was to help attract wildlife to the area. I was so hoping for a frog, but the closest water to our house is a creek, some 100 yards away. I wasn’t sure any would find their way through the field, where the hawks and neighborhood cats hunt, to my little fenced-in water feature. But, this one made it. The husband named it Stanley, and Stanley likes to hide in the brush swimming all day. In the afternoon, Stanley sun bathes on the rocks, warming up and maybe grabbing a bite to eat. I hope Stanley tells its friends and they all have lots of lots of little froggo babies.

Stanley the Frog, soaking up some rays on the rocks around the pond.

Around the pond, I managed to do some weeding last week. Our original shade garden was looking extremely scruffy and there were SIX rogue tomato plants growing beside the compost bin. I removed them (seriously, I can barely keep up with all the tomatoes I planted on purpose) to inside the compost pile, and cleaned up the space.

The black-eyed susan’s in the front yard are looking extra gorgeous in their second year. Just beyond them is the new native plant bed.

In the rest of the beds, the mid-late summer plants are really starting to flower and come in, like the new england aster, black-eyed susan’s, and goldenrod. I do really enjoy these plants that stretch into autumn, giving the pollinators the extra boost they need for their flights south or to overwinter in the yard here. The swamp milkweed, which flowered earlier this year, is seeding already. The seed pods unfurl, revealing a bunch of dark brown seeds on tiny wisps of silky fluff that fly on the wind to carry the seeds to new homes. I collect most of mine to plant out the following year.

It’s easy to remove the seeds, and to get them to grow. The seeds just require the winter cold to break their dormancy and to open up their tough outer shells. You can either do this by placing them in the fridge, or simply planting them in the ground in late fall, the winter, or early spring. Last winter, I grew a bunch in milk jugs on the porch, using a process called winter sowing. It works shockingly well, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking to grow native seeds in their spaces (if you have winter temperatures where you garden).

The milkweed starts looking pretty scruffy by this time of year. You can see the columns of brown seeds in the newly-opened pods, and a gaggle of tiny, yellow aphids, which usually haunt the milkweed in July and August. A few visits from a ladybug or a praying mantis will clear them right up!

Well, that’s all the news I have this week. Hopefully, Stanley will have a buddy soon, and we’ll see some more rain so I don’t have to get back to my watering schedule. I imagine I’ll see some more wildlife around the yard this week while harvesting herbs and veggies, and I might try making up a little flower arrangement. I don’t pick our flowers too often, but I always enjoy seeing them on the table when I do manage to put together a bouquet. I also have some dark purple pokeberries to harvest for use in dye projects later this year. Our poor freezer is going to be stuffed to the gills…

Happy gardening!

It’s The Time of The Season

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The past few days have been a flurry of planting. And sweating. And complaining about sweating. And happily prancing around the garden, hoping the neighbors aren’t watching. On Friday, the last of the nights in the 40s were behind us, so I started going wild and popping things in the ground. In went the marigolds, zinnias, bachelor button flowers, german chamomile, thyme, parsley, basil, oregano, and the borage plants that were living in the cold frame. I ran out of room in the yard, so I started potting things up into larger recycled containers on the deck.

A little bit of mulch really helped snazzy up the new water feature.

The weekend saw several trips to the garden center to acquire more dirt and pots. And mulch. I did a little more grass-removal around the wildlife pond, and started mulching in the area. The birds don’t seem to have found the new watering hole yet, but there’s some new insect larvae in the water, and a few spiders and other bugs hanging out around the rocks. The new plants are all looking happy, including the pitcher plant I added last week. Pitcher plants are carnivorous, and love to feast on mosquitoes, which they should have plenty available to enjoy. I potted the plant up in and actually set it into the water, so the leaves are dry, but the roots of the plant are under the surface. It should really thrive and I’m excited for some more pesticide-free mosquito control!

The new Pitcher Plant, ready for breakfast.

Moving along down the yard, the raised beds are now all planted up (finally!). The first bed houses some carrots, parsley, lettuce, leeks, shallots, garlic, and pole beans. I’m going to add some parsnips in a few weeks once I do some harvesting to make room for them.

The next beds are stuffed full of tomatoes. I ended up with 14 plants: 8 san marzano paste tomatoes, and 6 druzba tomatoes. I am elated to finally have them all in the ground. I’ll be less excited once I have buckets of tomatoes to peel and dice for canning season, but that’s really the whole point of this exercise.

Growing tomatoes is sort of a national past time in the US. They are the #1 crop grown in our yards and on our porches, and there are probably more articles devoted to the art of growing them than anything else in the garden. I just have a few tips of my own, for first time (and returning) growers. Tomatoes like sun, a lot of sun. They will not thrive in a shady location. Tomatoes also prefer temperatures between the 60s-80s. A frost or freeze will kill them off, and when it gets too hot for too long, they start looking pretty pathetic (I can’t blame them, I have the same issues).

Tomatoes don’t enjoy sitting in water, but they do require a good soaking on a consistent schedule. Not enough water, or draught conditions between waterings can lead to calcium deficiencies that cause Blossom End Rot, a fun issue where the bottoms of the fruit will blacken and rot out. A good soak every few days, at the base of the plant should do the trick.

But, first, you have to get them planted. Tomatoes do well in containers or in the ground, they just like a soil with some compost and other nutrients. And, any container should have some good drainage holes to make sure they don’t swim around. Tomatoes should be planted with some sort of support system. I like metal stakes, but we’ve used those round, metal cages before, bamboo poles, wood stakes… really anything will work that the plants can be tied to, to help keep them upright. On their own, tomatoes will flop over and kind of spread like a ground cover.

Plant your tomatoes deeply for stronger roots and happier plants.

Plant your toms deeply. Tomato roots grow from the sides of the stem, so when you’re putting your plant into the dirt, plant it down far enough so the first set of leaves will be sitting on the top of the soil. This will help your tomato grow stronger roots, and ultimately, better tomatoes for you to enjoy.

Finally, if you’re planting multiple tomatoes, it helps to space them apart by at least 12 inches. Tomatoes like space to breathe, to grow healthier, bushier plants. I set mine too close together last year, and while I ended up with a lot of tomatoes, they didn’t grow very large.

Wrapping up the raised bed tour in the garden is our asparagus bed, which also now houses some herbs: more chamomile, basil, oregano, and parsley. The chamomile is mostly for the pollinators. The other stuff I like to cook with, and I’ll dry some as well for use during the winter and for holiday gifts.

Close observers of this blog may be wondering, why, Sara, didn’t you also grow some peppers this year? Yes, gardeners, I certainly did. I grew six italian sweet pepper plants, in fact. They are all fairly tall already, and flowering. I had planned to add them to the raised beds, but someone grew too many tomatoes and ran out of room. The third trip to the garden center this weekend (%^&%&$#!) was to pick up containers and dirt for them. They now live on the deck steps, as I am running out of room on the deck itself. I’m really testing the structural integrity of our deck boards this year.

Out in the rest of the garden, things are flowering and the heat and rain in this weeks forecast should bring out even more. Our daises, clematis, lilacs, coral bells, allium, irises, and columbines are all in bloom, and the peonies look about ready to pop as well. (Peonies are my absolute favorite flower, so I’m anxious to see them again this year!) The climbing roses are also beginning to bloom, in a brilliant, hot pink. A few years ago, I thought I’d accidentally killed them off, but they stubbornly refused to die. The plant has just grown out of control. I should have started training them a month ago, but I must have had very important things going on then. So, this weekend, the husband helped me put in some eye hooks along the fence where they grow, and we tied some fishing line between the hooks to string the roses through. Many puncture wounds later, the roses are looking much happier, and the lilies and lambs ear that grow below them are happy for some actual sunlight again.

All that’s left to do now is to dig up the sod in the front yard for the next bed, in the grass patch between the sidewalk and the street. I have some native grasses and plants growing that should be ready to pop into the ground soon, so I need to get digging. Once that’s wrapped up, it will be time to fall into the lounge chair on the deck to enjoy all of this years hard work! I can’t wait to see everything bloom as the days grow longer. The swallowtail butterflies should be here before too long. We have their favorite host plants: dill, fennel, and parsley waiting.

Hope all is well in your garden, and that you are able to get out and enjoy nature this week. Happy gardening!

Wild geraniums, brunerra, hellebores, creek sedge and hostas, hosta, dutchman’s breeches, hostas and ferns, jack in the pulpits, and ferns with trillium and hostas

Counting Down to the Planting Frenzy

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Just a few more days and it will be May! For us in Central Ohio, that means the last frost date is almost behind us, and soon I’ll be deep in the throes of a full on Planting Frenzy.

Our miniature daffodils are just opening up this week.

Our plants made it through last weeks freezes and snow with minimal damage. We had three nights below freezing, but the 2″ of snow we received didn’t stick around for more than a few hours (just enough to be depressing as hell before it was on its way). I hemmed and hawed each night about covering things up, but ultimately laziness won out. I hadn’t really planted anything yet this year that would baulk at the cold, but it was still a huge relief when things looked ok.

A few Japanese Maple leaves took a little damage from the cold, but the tree will be just fine.

Yesterday, the husband and I picked up the larger stones for the wildlife pond lining. I assembled everything, added a few twigs and branches, and filled the pond up with water. The remaining native plants I ordered should be arriving in a week or so, and then, hopefully, it will be Move In Day for our local critters. I am really pleased with the way things look so far, and as all the plants grow in, and I mulch the area, it will look even better.

Ignore the muddy water. Things will clear up once the dirt from the rocks settles.

I tried to pull out all the tricks I’ve learned for attracting and providing safe spots for wildlife. Water is always a draw on its own, and there’s plenty of nooks and crannies for things to live in, between the stone and all the branches. The native plants I chose are host plants for different butterflies and moths, and as it continues to warm up, hopefully, I’ll start seeing dragonflies, bees, and other bugs checking out the space. If we get any reptiles and amphibians, I’ll be over the moon. I’m excited for the birds to notice the pond, too. It’s a nice depth for them to be able to take a bath, and there are worms galore all over the area, so the eating is good.

For those of us with more refined taste, the first of our little lettuce patch is about ready to enjoy. We harvested some of our basil this past weekend for pasta, and our strawberries are flowering already. The carrots, leeks, and parsley that I started in the raised bed a few weeks ago are starting to really take off as well.

I’m hoping to begin hardening off my pepper and tomato plants here soon so I can add them to the raised beds after the danger of frost has passed. When you start seeds indoors, you need to put them through a fun little dance called “hardening off” before they can move outdoors. The process takes about a week. On day one, the plants can spend about an hour outside, and I usually start them in the shade. The next day, give them two hours, the third day, three hours, and so on, until a week has passed. This gives your plants a chance to adapt to the different level of sunlight, humidity, wind, and the general “joie de vivre” of life outdoors. (Ok, that last one may not be totally scientific, but the first three are all important). Not doing this can seriously stress your plants, and they may not survive.

That’s all I have for now. Hope everyone has a lovely week. Happy gardening!

I can’t wait to enjoy the strawberries this year!

Spring Things

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As always seems to happen in the springtime, the days are flying by. The garden continues to pop awake, and the dogwood tree, tulips, creeping phlox, brunerra, rue anemone, virginia bluebells, and trillium are in bloom. The peonies are growing, and our clematis vines and allium have blooms, waiting to open.

Our ‘Jack Frost’ Brunerra in bloom in the shade garden

I’ve been doing some work on the new wildlife pond. I added a liner, and filled it with a bit of water. I hauled some river rock and pebbles to the backyard, which I’ve half spread out around the water. I’m looking into grabbing some larger stones to edge the pond, but I didn’t want to wait to plant the native perennials I’d picked up the other week. I have a boatload of native ferns and other shade and water-loving plants on their way to me in a couple of weeks to join the edge of the pond and to make more hidey holes for bugs and birds. Slowly but surely, I’m taking up all the sod around the pond to extend that shade garden. I’m really excited for that space to come together.

We have two shade gardens in the backyard, right up next to the house. I have them both pretty packed with native flowers and sedges, and also a slew of ferns and hostas. I am a bit of a hosta fiend. I blame my dad. When we started the garden, he split one of he and my moms giant hostas, and gave it to me to help get my garden started. I love that thing. The leaves grow larger than dinner plates, in a deep blue-green, and it looks like a giant jungle plant. Since then, I’ve collected 11 more hosta plants, in various shapes and colors. They bloom every summer, with graceful little stalks of purple flowers that the bees enjoy. I saw a bumble bee sleeping inside of one of the flowers one year summer, and turned into a blubbery mess. I dare you to gaze upon a fuzzy bee, snoozing in a flower and not completely melt at the cuteness.

Our seedlings continue to grow like wild. I’m watching the calendar with anticipation, just waiting for the day I can pop my tomatoes and peppers into the ground. I’ve lost complete control over the tomatoes. I measured a few of them this past week, and they are now over 2′ tall. Normally, when I transplant them into the ground, they are 6, maybe 7″ high. These monsters are more than ready for the new raised beds.

Well, that’s all I have, for the moment. Don’t forget- this Thursday, April 22, is Earth Day! Because it’s spring in Central Ohio, we’re expecting highs in the low 40s at one point this week, with possible snow flurries. I try to get out to do some planting every Earth Day, but this year, it may be an indoor gardening sort of day instead. Wherever you are, and whatever your weather, I hope you can spend a little of your Earth Day enjoying and supporting nature. Plant a tree, or donate to a local conservation group. Check out a park, and help clean up any trash you may find. Unplug and enjoy!

Like Dr. Seuss said in The Lorax, “Unless someone like you care a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

Our first asparagus harvest of the year was delicious!

Surprise! I started another gardening project.

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I think spring must be my favorite season. Aside from my allergies, which are definitely trying to kill me through sheer irritation, watching all the trees bud and the garden coming back to life really makes this the best time of year. I love hiking through the woods and checking out the spring wildflowers. I love watching the first bees of the year bouncing wildly around from flower to flower. I love walking through the garden each day, checking out which perennials have started to break through the earth again, and which trees have sprouted leaves. I love watching all the seedlings growing and daydreaming about the first flowers and vegetable harvests. Looking outside at all the green just makes me feel like myself again.

Giant White Trillium, Brunerra, Flowering Dogwood, Creeping Phlox, Tulips, and Dandelions

I’ve been busy this past week, cleaning up the yard. Last years flowers have all been trimmed away, and I discovered a few solitary bee nurseries in some dried out sunflower stalks. The baby bees had already flown the coop, but it was really exciting to know that they had spent the winter there before hatching this spring.

I also started some more seeds, which have been sprouting up in the cold frame out on the deck. In a few weeks, I’ll finish up planting the rest of the seeds that prefer to start life in their final growing space. For now, I have an arsenal of flowers and herbs sprouting. I have a few types of thyme, parsley, oregano, basil, fennel, cilantro, and borage, as well as marigolds, bachelor button flowers, german chamomile, zinnias, prairie dropseed, and little bluestem.

I also popped the lids off of the seeds that I started in the milk jugs in January through winter sowing. I had decent germination, and so the prairie milkweed, prairie blazing star, and purple prairie clover is coming along well. I’ve never successfully grown any of these native species from seed before, so I’m excited that this method worked out so well.

The butterflies are going to love this blazing star once it grows up!

After all that trimming, weeding, and seed starting, one would think it would be time to take off the gardening gloves and sit back on the deck with a nice cup of tea. While that does sound wonderful, I may have gone a different route…

I’ve had the idea of a wildlife pond in the back of my mind for awhile now. Water = life, and I love thinking of all the bugs, birds, and amphibians we could have traipsing around a pond. In the summer, we can hear the frogs at night, bellowing to one another from the creek behind our house. But, that’s tens of yards away. I want that in our yard. So, ignoring the fact that I already have quite a few large-ish projects planned for the next month or two, I decided a wildlife pond had to happen. Right now.

In a hole in the ground, there lived a pond.

The husband, well used to my schemes by now, raised nary an eyebrow when I asked if he’d help me dig the pond out. We discovered a huge rock while excavating, which will actually work out nicely. I plan to turn that end into a little ramp so critters can wade down into the water at their leisure.

The pond is about 2′ deep, and I picked up some lining for it yesterday. I’ll line the pond, add rocks to hold the liner down, fill it up, and then get to the fun part: planting.

I wanted as many native species as possible to live in and around the pond, which will draw in even more wildlife. I have maidenhair ferns, jack-in-the-pulpits, creek sedge, sea oats, wild geraniums, marsh marigolds, blue flag irises, sweet flags, and rue anemone. These plants are all native to our area, many being host plants for multiple species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). The area gets some sun in the morning, but is mostly a fairly shady spot. These plants should thrive there, given that they don’t love full sun, but do enjoy waterfront living.

The haul from a recent trip to Scioto Gardens, an amazing nursery in the Columbus, Ohio area that sells all native plant and trees.

While I’m on the subject of native plants (and when am I not, really?!), I want to take a moment to talk about a non-native (to our area): the Bradford Pear, which is a type of callery pear tree.

Bradford Pears are originally from southeast Asia, and were introduced to the US in the early 1960s, by the US Department of Agriculture. They were first planted here because they grow quickly, stay relatively small, and have a narrow shape, making them easy to fit into the landscaping of many houses in the cities and the ‘burbs. Since the trees are sterile, it was thought that they’d just be a nice-looking flowering tree in the springtime.

Unfortunately, these trees cross-pollinate like wild, and they have spread all over the eastern and midwest regions of the US. They’ve been declared an invasive species in many states, and have caused millions of dollars in damages.

Bradford Pears are early bloomers. Their flowers kind of smell like dead fish, and they could probably blow down if you sneezed on one hard enough.

Bradford Pears only live for about 20 years, but many don’t even make it that long. The branches sort of grow up, not out, and their tall, narrow shape makes them easy targets for storm damage, from wind, snow, and ice (things we have in abundance in the east and the midwest where they grow).

The trees are one of the first in bloom in our neck of the woods, and their thick foliage blocks out the light underneath them, keeping native species from the sunlight they need to grow. They cross-pollinate with every other pear tree around, which leads to these trees taking over. Just in the field behind our house, I count twelve of them, and I know they weren’t planted there by anyone.

In 2017, the Bradford Pear was declared an invasive species in Ohio. However, nurseries and stores have until the end of 2022 before it will become illegal to propagate, sell, or distribute these trees. Many other states have followed suit, but since the tree is so popular (they live in front of about every house just in my neighborhood alone), and selling them makes growers money, some states have been hesitant to ban the sale of Bradford Pears.

I share this information because as gardeners, we have a great opportunity to make our yards beautiful havens, both for ourselves, and the wildlife with whom we share our land. I don’t imagine most people would willingly plant something that they knew would cause so much harm to the area. When you pop out to the garden center, you sort of expect everything there to be beneficial- that the plants are pleasant to look at, and nice for the yard. But a little bit of research into what you’re adding to your space can really be eye-opening. Maybe instead of that Bradford Pear, try a native serviceberry, or a something like arrowwood viburnum, a similarly sized tree, with gorgeous white blooms. Or, for some brilliant color, add in an eastern redbud with it’s purple-pink flowers.

That’s all from the soap box (for now… mwahaha). Hope your week is filled with sunshine and relaxing. Happy gardening!

The Happy Rabbit Garden

A space for wayward gardeners

Tag Archives: wildlife pond

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Surprise! I started another gardening project.