stubbed toes and mud pies

[flowerbug]

Are you sure? Haha. Thought for sure it was clover. But then what do I know. They are beautiful non the less.

Mary

they sure are. i do miss that large area and how it looked for those few days/week but it was just too difficult for me to keep all the weeds out of that area (even with three of the four sides not being a lawn). i do still have some of those carnations growing along the edge but i keep them smaller and have to make sure they're not letting any weeds hide under them. that was the problem with them. they don't grow thick and low enough (like the creeping thyme) so too much can get started up under them. keeping the mouse-eared chickweed under control in there has always been an issue and that was one weed that could really exploit that niche. the mouse-eared chickweed is also a tough one for growing in the creeping thyme but it is so much more obvious and so i tend to keep it out better now.

the thing i am noticing is that with the north garden being kept weeded and clear the birds are not around much at all. surely not as much as before. we also had a hawk become a mourning dove specialist and i think it really thinned them out.

the other more positive thing to notice (which i hoped for) was that with the pallet and ditch project finished the chipmunks (and other creatures) have fewer places to hide so they're not around as much. also we might have another feral or semi-feral kitty hunting here so if they are doing their job they'll help keep the population down too.

the deer still are around... our location would be the perfect place for someone who liked to eat venison. you can harvest a deer a week without any work at all in terms of hunting they come right to you... it is hunting season here so they are on the move.

 

[flowerbug]

i just have to say that i'm proud of my university (where i went to school and worked for 15 years) in how they've handled the COVID-19 situation and are also helping out with the surrounding community.

Portage Health Foundation gift will allow Michigan Tech to double COVID-19 testing

The $142,000 gift will be used to purchase an information management system and an RNA extractor.

www.uppermichiganssource.com

Health Alerts | Dean of Students | Michigan Tech

A listing of health alerts concerning Michigan Technological University faculty, staff, and students.

blogs.mtu.edu

Health Alerts | Dean of Students | Michigan Tech

A listing of health alerts concerning Michigan Technological University faculty, staff, and students.

www.mtu.edu

i just sent a note telling an old friend up there how glad i am that they're doing ok and helping out.

 

[flowerbug]

today's task was to get the grassy edge of the north garden fixed up again since it was torn apart by Mom and she kept saying that she was going to put it back down again, but i told her i would help her.

after looking at things today i could see that how she was weeding along there was excavating the weed barrier and so that is why it fell out and also why even more than just the north garden edge had to be put back into place again. grr... three times the work.

so, as i'm looking at it i'm wanting to try something different, actually a few things different which will save Mom from having to scrape along that weed barrier and such. move the weed barrier to the back of that edge so the daffodils will be on the other side. also i wanted to try out putting down some bricks over landscape fabric along that weed barrier plastic so that she can just run the mower right along there and not have to scrape or weed it. so we had some extra bricks stacked in that corner anyways so they became test subjects.

the edge is daffodiils, full of them. i can't get a shovel in there without hitting them, they need to be thinned out. not going to happen. i just need to get a line chopped in the back where i can put the black plastic edging back there and call it done for now. we have tons of thyme i can transplant along there and then it can fight it out with the grass and i'll help weed it as i'd much more put time into weeding than scraping if it means the dirt gets covered with green stuff that flowers instead of the bare dirt it is in most places now. we've already got a few spots of thyme growing in there and i have plenty i can move in there this fall and/or next spring too... yeah, another project but these are good projects. things that i've wanted to get done for years with the idea that they are much easier to take care of. we have spots of this thyme (heehee love the pun) growing already in places in the grassy area so to have it take over would not upset me at all. not a bit...

the edge used to be a daffodil and tulip edge alternating but all the tulips keep getting eaten by rabbits, deer, etc. so they're mostly gone or very small now.

the fun part is the edge with the bricks is kinda curvy so i've named it Jake the Snake.

another improvement this new edge is that it will be down deeper so any water can go over it.

pictures when i get it settled.

now we have to figure out what to do with a few rocks that can't easily be lifted. one has to be about 400lbs and the other is perhaps 250lbs. roll roll the rocks gently up the hill says Sysiphus (hey, i spelled that right!)...

 

[flowerbug]

i got the creeping thyme chunks moved and the north edge all taken care of so now it is just down to getting the rest of the edge uphill taken care of. i feel a nap coming on... haha... i did take pics of some things and most of the gardens as they are now.

 

[flowerbug]

in 12 weeks and some days the days will start being longer again than they are today... these are the thoughts that help get me to and over the hump for the cold season and towards the return of spring and the green stuff and flowers and gardening.

 

[flowerbug]

recent pictures:

onion sprouts from older seeds, i had no idea how many were going to grow, planted in two rows, the left row is from sweet large onions and the right row is from reddish onions and crosses that may have happened. we'll see how many survive this winter.

what we did with the scrap wood from pallets that i was able to rescue. looks much nicer to cover up the black pastic.

this is all i could finish this summer for weeding this garden, but at least it is a start. i'm not sure how much more i'll get done this fall, but then there is always spring too for projects like this.

it is so much easier to take care of this area now that they're combined and all those edges and pathways are out of the way.

moved more creeping thyme along the east edge of the north garden. will look nicer one it gets growing next summer, but gotta start somewhere.

the deer like the comfrey. had to get the black plastic edge put back in and down deeper so that water can flow over it. will be easier to take care of, plus we are going to try some bricks for the lawnmower to roll on along there instead of having Mom scrape that area. we'll see how it goes. the upper part way in the back still needs to be finished up but that can happen in the next few days or whenever.

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

recent pictures:

onion sprouts from older seeds, i had no idea how many were going to grow, planted in two rows, the left row is from sweet large onions and the right row is from reddish onions and crosses that may have happened. we'll see how many survive this winter.

what we did with the scrap wood from pallets that i was able to rescue. looks much nicer to cover up the black pastic.

this is all i could finish this summer for weeding this garden, but at least it is a start. i'm not sure how much more i'll get done this fall, but then there is always spring too for projects like this.

it is so much easier to take care of this area now that they're combined and all those edges and pathways are out of the way.

moved more creeping thyme along the east edge of the north garden. will look nicer one it gets growing next summer, but gotta start somewhere.

the deer like the comfrey. had to get the black plastic edge put back in and down deeper so that water can flow over it. will be easier to take care of, plus we are going to try some bricks for the lawnmower to roll on along there instead of having Mom scrape that area. we'll see how it goes. the upper part way in the back still needs to be finished up but that can happen in the next few days or whenever.

There are no weeds in your gardens!

 

[flowerbug]

almost all that green stuff is weeds as far as Mom is concerned.

actually there are many gardens with weeds. note above pic where i'm saying i didn't get done weeding it. it is supposed to go all the way to the back where the rhubarb is at, plus all that green to the left is really supposed to be turned under and planted with stuff other than grass and weeds. i wanted to do that this past year but never got to it. it may take me a few more years to get it back into shape.

i also do post pics of before and after but most of what i've posted recently are after pics. if you want to see before pics of the north garden and others you can check out the web site at anthive.com...

there are billions of weeds here. new one is trying to get established the past few years but i finally saw it for what it is and have been hunting it down and removing it. there really is plenty always to do here.

my next project is going to be getting weeds/grass out of a garden and removing the lillies there too since i can't get the grass out without removing the flowers and besides the lillies are taking up about six feet too many. i think i start that project tomorrow unless i get side tracked.

and the horseshoe garden really needs a lot of work too now. i was just burying garden debris and noticed how bad it was getting in there. grass, wrong plants, weeds...

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

almost all that green stuff is weeds as far as Mom is concerned.

actually there are many gardens with weeds. note above pic where i'm saying i didn't get done weeding it. it is supposed to go all the way to the back where the rhubarb is at, plus all that green to the left is really supposed to be turned under and planted with stuff other than grass and weeds. i wanted to do that this past year but never got to it. it may take me a few more years to get it back into shape.

i also do post pics of before and after but most of what i've posted recently are after pics. if you want to see before pics of the north garden and others you can check out the web site at anthive.com...

there are billions of weeds here. new one is trying to get established the past few years but i finally saw it for what it is and have been hunting it down and removing it. there really is plenty always to do here.

my next project is going to be getting weeds/grass out of a garden and removing the lillies there too since i can't get the grass out without removing the flowers and besides the lillies are taking up about six feet too many. i think i start that project tomorrow unless i get side tracked.

and the horseshoe garden really needs a lot of work too now. i was just burying garden debris and noticed how bad it was getting in there. grass, wrong plants, weeds...

I'll check out the link.

I'm still impressed. You dont mulch anything I noticed.

 

[flowerbug]

I'll check out the link.

I'm still impressed. You dont mulch anything I noticed.

you're seeing a lot of gardens after i've cleaned them up. they looked kinda messy before that with the piles of dead bean plants or other garden veggies that were drying out before i could get them all buried.

we do mulch, wood chips, we have many many areas covered in wood chips. just the vegetable gardens are not mulched because Mom thinks it looks untidy. so i have to bury everything at the end of the season and as i weed i often bury them too so at least i'm getting some worm food in the ground for the poor creatures... oh and some places we mulch with pine needles, and a huge area is mulched with crushed rinsed limestone.