The Volunteers

August 9, 2014August 9, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

I have a large mulch pile where I throw a lot of stuff over the course of the seasons. I usually turn it over a number of times throughout the year with the tractor. This year there were recognizable plants growing in the spring so I just left it.

There are now potatoes in blossom and the biggest squash plant I have ever grown. I think it is actually a long pie pumpkin. There were blossoms in profusion (and still are) earlier in the summer but no fruit. Yesterday I took a closer look and there it was. Looks like a giant zucchini but will ripen off of the vine to a wonderful, orange, thick skinned pumpkin. An excellent keeper and awesome pie pumpkin.

Every year there are volunteers in my garden. This year there were potato plants which I expect since I don’t always get all of the potatoes when I dig them. There are also a couple of tomatoes and sunflowers. It always amazes me that something grows, I till the plot multiple times before it’s planted each year.

It’s the mulch pile stuff that always fascinates me. Things that are rotten and intentionally cast off grow and bloom into something more spectacular than is ever grown in the garden. Maybe next year I’ll just toss my seeds over the bank and hope for the best, it certainly is working this year.

A Burning Question

August 7, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 6 Comments

This is driving me a little crazy. The little yellow things on the ground normally cover the nectar holes on this hummingbird feeder. I have three feeders around my yard. Every day something has pulled these things off and they are lying on the ground as shown. The feeder is about 3 feet off of the ground. Any ideas what might be doing this? Inquiring minds want to know.

Garden Bounty

August 6, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 6 Comments

My vegetable garden has been somewhat of a disappointment this year. The tomatoes have blight, the cucumbers are slow, everything is 2 to 3 weeks behind because of the cool temperatures and copious amounts of rain we have had. The things that are doing great are my perennials.

The cooler temperatures have allowed me to begin a long, long overdue garden rehab project. Yes, new gardens are going in but one of the reasons for the new gardens is that there are so many things that need division in the old gardens. I have to say that it has taken me by surprise. One iris, planted about 5 years ago, yielded a garden full of new ones.

I’m never one to complain about free plants mind you but this is a little concerning to me when I look at what I have to divide. I dug up three plants yesterday, an iris, a balloon flower and a Stella di Oro lily. The iris yielded about 30 usable rhizomes, the balloon flower maybe three separate plants and the lily went from one larger clump to six good size plants.

The distressing part for me is the fact that I haven’t even begun to dig up the garden that needs to be redone. I’m not one to throw plants over the bank but foresee that happening. How many haphazard gardens are there from plants being pitched when the gardens are redone? (You gardeners out there know what I’m talking about). I have two of those right here. Daffodils come up all over the place now where they were thrown purposefully or accidentally over the years. Hostas, myrtle, daylilies, even Jack in the Pulpits. I prefer to refer to those haphazard messes as reserves for the day when I need them.

Yesterday I gave away half of the iris to a friend that was here in the morning. I didn’t give him a choice – I told him he could pitch them over his bank, I would never know.

This is how friendship gardens happen. Someone is dividing up their plants in order to have them be healthier and bloom better, they are overwhelmed with the number of unexpected plants they end up with, they force them onto their friends and family. That gives me a whole new perspective on a couple of the gardens that I always thought of as “friendship” gardens. Maybe all those special plants are really things that were being cast off and rescued by my mother, similar to things that have happened to me recently.

Regardless of how the plants have ended up in my garden I love most of them. Even if some were cast off from another’s garden renovation I look upon them fondly. Some of them have been here since 1968 when we moved here and my mother began gardening in earnest. To identify certain specimens with certain people in an aspect that I love.

So as the garden renovation continues I will be giving away a lot of things and hope that some years from now someone will say, “Oh I got that from Joanne in 2014 during the big dig”. For that reason I’m careful what I give away and make sure it is weed free. The last thing I want is someone cursing me out for some invasive species that I introduced to their garden. Although at this point irises are feeling a little invasive.

Birds, Bees and Butterflies

July 29, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 9 Comments

This garden was one we put in about 3 years ago (time all melds together at this point – maybe it was four years, maybe two). It is pretty spectacular this year. All of the plants have matured and I put in a few annuals that Bill brought up. The best part about this garden is its attraction to hummingbirds, bees and butterflies.

If you are within sight of this garden you can see it is a hub of activity.

I was thrilled to see honey bees on a lot of my flowering plants this year, it’s been a while.

There is always something to watch.

I originally planted this for the color it would give our view of the back forty. When I sit in the Adirondack chairs and look over this garden I realize I planted the perfect wildlife garden. There’s a hummingbird feeder that I have to fill every few days and I have seen finches in and out of it all day long.

There are also a critters that I could do without – chipmunks, red squirrels and woodchucks. Although, truth be told, I love watching them too. They don’t really bother anything, they do dig holes all over the place. If and when they get into the vegetable garden I might have a change of heart but for now I’ll share this beautiful space with anyone that wants to visit.

Digging Sod

July 24, 2014July 24, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 2 Comments

I have been thinking about expanding this garden for a couple of years now. I blame the weather for my lack of commitment to the project. It’s been too hot during the window I have every summer to move things around.

An opportunity presented itself in the past week or so that has pushed me to do this. A lifetime gardening mentor is dismantling her perennial gardens and I am the recipient of a lot of her plants. This is a mixed blessing. I’ve written before about how I feel about plants in my garden that come from friends and family, they hold a special place in my heart. For the most part perennials last more than a lifetime, that’s the reason you often see flowers blooming in odd places. They are very often in spots where homes once existed that are long gone. I have many, many plants that I can tell you came from people I love. Friendship gardening.

The difficulty in this particular gardening adventure is that I have been visiting Mabel’s gardens for decades. They were spectacular in design and there were always new and unusual plants in them. I learned a lot about the gardening of perennials from her. There are many reasons why she has decided to dismantle her gardens but for me to go there and dig plants out of it seems so wrong to me. They are part of how I think of her and it seems so sad to me to know that I will not be visiting an amazing array of plantings and have the narrative to go with it. And it’s not that I visited often but it was just knowing it was there.

At the same time I will be taking a piece of her for my yard. My sister and I walked her gardens over the weekend with her and she made a mental list of who was taking what. There were tips on how to dig up certain things and where they might go. There was also the excitement of having practically a ready-made garden for the moving.

Then comes the hard work. I have been digging out the sod for a couple of days. I finished yesterday early in the morning and have been thinking about other spots that should be dug up. Plants will be moved in the next week or two to various spots around the house, some love sun, some shade. It has also forced me to do things that I haven’t done in the past. I had to remove the forks from the tractor and put on the bucket – I’ve been shown once but never actually did it. As you can see that was a success.

All in all this project has given me perspective on my physical capabilities. It’s easy to say I’m too old and out of shape to be digging this much space by hand but honestly it feels so good doing it. Pace yourself I keep saying, stay hydrated my brain reminds me. Focus remains a bit of a problem, I want to dig up all sorts of places and know that I could get myself into some trouble with the amount I’ve taken on.

I came in for another large glass of water the other day and my father said, “You know this place once had the most beautiful gardens in town”. That, my friends, is something to aspire to.

Morning Walkabout

June 27, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

This will be a photo heavy post today – just to give you a glimpse of the place right now. It also serves as a record for me.

Each morning starts with picking up my handy bug zapper. It’s deer fly season and this has proven itself to be a necessity.

The patio garden – to my right as I cross the driveway heading for the back forty. This is an old garden, a friendship garden with almost all of the plants coming from people we know. My mother worked on this from the summer we moved in, 1967. It’s going to be renewed this summer since the lawn is really creeping in at this point and things are really crowded.

Towards the back of the garage there is the newest perennial garden and in the foreground is the raspberry patch. The raspberries are in their third year and are just starting to fill in.

We take the road to the back forty, we being me and the dogs. They know the drill and love being out there. On the right is the sawdust building for the sawmill. I don’t think it’s a crooked as it looks in the photo but you never know.

As I walk around what used to be the back pasture the dogs spend their time sniffing whatever went on the night before.

From the same spot (more or less) looking towards a road that goes back into the wood lot. There’s a branch that goes to a stump dump where I’ve taken some very nice compost for the garden over the years. Everything about gardening is waiting – years not months.

The tete-a-tete chair my father made is up there and it overlooks the pasture back up towards the house. It’s the perfect spot to drink a morning cup of coffee or that martini in the afternoon.

As I walk the perimeter I check on the berries, deciding what I will net this year so I get more of a harvest than the birds. These are blackberries and the birds pretty much get all of them – they probably scope them out more often than I do.

This is the view from the back of the pasture – the table was too worn out for the patio but too solid to burn so there it sits. Just one more thing to weed whack.

From the same spot if you turn around you look into the woods towards the wood lot – there are also some old, empty beaver ponds back there as well.

Back up into the driveway I noticed that this summer is the summer of potted plants for me. I love the way they look and I’m here to take care of them now. This is the well by the driveway. Years ago we replaced the wood cover with stone fearing our kids would climb up on top of it and fall in. I think it might be usable in an emergency but I wouldn’t want to drink out of it now.

This is the view from the patio, it overlooks the vegetable garden, the new garden and the raspberries towards the back forty. I have annuals in pots as well and tomatoes and cucumbers.

Yes, cucumbers. I was skeptical at first. Bill brought two pots of these up that he got from the plant gypsy we have come to the shop in Enfield. I told him they would never grow. How wrong I was. Now I’m looking for the seeds for next year.

Across from the patio is another perennial garden that has morphed into all kinds of things over the years. It’s now overgrown as well but I love having the pots for color. It is also a place for the birds that we can watch from the table in the kitchen.

Another crazy potted plant. Its in a pedestal pot so I guess I could take the hanger off of it now huh?

Heading for the front yard and looking back over the gardens – this is the relaxation spot for every part of the day. I swear people that drive by only do when we are sitting in those chairs. I figure they think that’s all we do.

This is the vegetable garden from the chairs. It’s slow but steady this year, about a week to 10 days behind last years. It’s been quite cool.

But the potatoes are doing great!

This is what I look at every morning (even if it rains). I check my plants, take a walk, play with the dogs all in about 20 minutes time. It gives me time to plan my day. Look around at what needs doing and try not to get overwhelmed by the list. Prioritize. Breathe in the fresh air, stand in the sunshine, hug a tree, center.

Abundance

June 17, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

I walk the perimeter of the back forty a couple of times a day with the dogs. It’s far enough away from any distractions to make the walk enjoyable for me as well as them. One of our dogs, now elderly, is hard of hearing with bad eyesight and tends to wander in the road. There are usually only a handful of cars that pass the house on any given day but this way I don’t have to worry and he can spend quality time sniffing whatever dogs with dementia sniff.

I’m constantly amazed at the things that grow back there. Blackberries in abundance. I never really get to harvest many of them because there are also birds in abundance – fruit is a big food source for them and I take whatever is leftover.

Blueberries are everywhere around the edges of the mowing. There is one large bush in the open that I net every year and it gives me a good supply of berries to freeze. There is nothing like those wild blueberries in muffins on a cold, snowy morning in January I have to tell you. There are bushes all over but this particular bush I reserve for myself. It sometimes seems as if the birds are waiting when I go down to pick them thinking they’ll just help themselves while I pick. It’s a quiet interlude I look forward to every summer just to spend time in birdsong.

Then there is the pear tree. The lone survivor of a number of plantings on a long ago Father’s Day. This tree has come into its own in the past few years. It’s spectacular in bloom and there have been years where I thought all of the branches would break under the weight of the fruit. This, of all the “free” food that surrounds me, stresses me the most. There is SO much of it. Pears are picky about when they are harvested and ripened and the frost freeze cycle of the end of season can mess you up in the timing of it all. Did I mention there is SO much of it? The past few years there have been enough pears to fill the bucket of the tractor three times over. That’s a LOT of pears folks. I can them, I eat them, I give a lot away. I even used them as place markers on my Thanksgiving table with over 40 guests. There is not enough creativity in the world to deal with this kind of harvest. Hmmmm, pear cider . . .

Being surrounded by the bounty of nature (and perhaps the forethought of many now gone) is really a wonderful thing. In the past couple of years that is how I’ve begun to think about the food I grow. There is always the huge vegetable garden but I planted asparagus last year knowing full well that I would not be eating any of it until the third year. The glory in it is the bed can be good for over thirty years. It’s nice to know that someone will be eating that lovely vegetable in 2040 because I planted it. To me THAT is food security even if it’s only for three weeks out of the year.

Lists

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

The morning walk about is really a double-edged sword. The quiet and beauty is wonderful but I look at this view and think about the to-do list that gets longer each and every minute. . .sigh.

I look at so many things and think about how bad it must look to the uneducated eye. Those who have no idea the work that goes into a place this size. In the next minute all I see is potential. We are all about sweat equity but that can also make the list look overwhelming.

I am a list maker, always have been. The to-do lists are separate – inside and outside. They are broken down by season, then priority. There are some indoor things that can be done (and should be) when the weather is not so great outdoors. So there’s always the list of short-term, little projects indoors when it rains.

Then there are the small, medium and large (read dream) projects outdoors. All of the outdoor projects I have to really break down or I would be overwhelmed. I also have to be realistic about my timeline. I want everything done now but know that’s something that’s not going to happen. I know that there are two more weeks before I plant my vegetable garden so tilling moves up the list. Picking up sticks getting ready to mow should be done right now since the grass is ready to be cut everywhere. There are leaves coming out on the trees and undergrowth that needs to be removed, that should probably be done today. Hmmm, rain, rain, go away . . .

There is a half dressed loom waiting for some attention as well. That’s the danger, all I really want to do is weave, but . . .

I use what I want to do to motivate what I need to do. It’s my reward for getting things done. With that I guess I will don weed whacking gear and head out for a couple of hours of destruction followed by a couple of hours of weaving. That’s the plan unless the sun comes out and I’m distracted by a flower garden.

Wordless Wednesday

March 12, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 4 Comments

Shoot and Share

January 17, 2014January 17, 2014 / handmadebyjo / 3 Comments

The light this morning was beautiful when I took the dogs out for their morning constitutional. There was some fog diffusing the sun long enough to keep the frost on the grass and flowers gone by in the garden. I think I look forward to these moments but the reality is I don’t realize what I’ve got until I’m in the midst of it. Once outdoors I knew I needed a camera of some sort so I abandoned the dogs to run in the house. Much to my delight they were where I left them when I returned (they have a habit of “wandering”).

As I walked around the garden I was struck by what a lonely process creativity can be. Sure, I share my images but I do not take them unless I am by myself (or in the company of dogs). I need to concentrate, to really see what it is I’m looking at. If someone had been in the yard with me I never would have noticed how beautiful the light was. It takes solitude for me to see. Interesting.

I read grumblings about people not paying attention to their lives when they have their cameras (of whatever kind) in theirs hands. Speaking for myself I can say that when I have a camera in my hand I pay special attention to everything around me, looking for that one thing that perhaps others would never notice. I capture it for myself but once seen I share. If I didn’t have a camera available to me all the time just think of how much we’d miss!

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