Tag: Gardens

End Of The Season

Three little squrrels sleeping in our walnut tree.

This is the same tree that I wrote about previously when I said it felt like the squirrels were throwing walnuts at me. I looked up at the tree when I first went outside today and I thought I saw a couple of nests. Squirrels nest look much like a birds only larger. I went back in to get my phone so I could zoom in on the nests and to my surprise all three were squirrels sleeping on the branches. Not one nest in the tree.

All three squirrels sleeping soundly in the tree. The ornery things that throw walnuts at me every fall and tease my dogs all year long. We have a tornado warning siren that goes off every Friday to test that it is working properly. It went off as I was trying to get some photos and I thought I had missed my opportunity, but no. They slept right through it. I went back in to let the dogs out and get somethings to do a little yard work and they still slept.

At the back of the fenced yard is a climbing rose. When I went out with the dogs I saw this and had to share it. It is so rare to see a rose on any of my rose vines this late in the year. If you look at the bottom right of this photo youwill see a tree stump and what is left of the hulls of several walnuts. Those same ornery squirrels sit here and chew the hulls off of the walnuts before they carry them off to store for winter. They make sure the dogs see them chattering to get their attention.

When we first moved here we had a very freindly squrrel that would get almost close enough to touch. He would chatter at us and we would put stuff out for him to eat. He lived here long enough that his fur started turning gray. That last time we saw him he looked silver from head to toe. The following year he was no long here. I suppose he didn’t make it through winter that year, but he lived longer than I think most squirrels do. I miss him, but these three newer squrrels are quite amusing and maybe they will be more friendly in time.

I spent a little time clearing out some of the tomato stems out of the raised beds. It was about to storm so I had to quit and go back in the house. I will do a little bit every day it’s not raining and have it cleared by the end of this month. If the weather doesn’t turn too cold I will rake up some of the leaves to cover the raised beds and to finish filling our compost bin. That is how we keep the soil in good shape for for planting each year.

While I was working I checked the red lettuce that I had left in the garden, to go to seed. It is finally getting close but still not quite there. I am hoping to have enough seed to plant more than usual next year. I have collected seeds from the bell peppers already. Tomorrow is another day, so weather permitting I will get a little more done then.

Raised Bed Gardens

Several years ago, we decided to start building raised beds for our gardens. We are both getting older and bending over to plant weed and take care of a garden was starting to get harder. I researched and learned one of the reasons people opt for a raised bed other than it’s more convenient as you get older, is that you can grow more in a smaller space. Also, you can decide how good the soil will be by what you use to fill them and by composting and adding it to the beds each year.

First, we needed to build them. As we are big on recycling and reusing as much as possible, we started checking around for used materials. We ended up using concrete blocks. I checked out Craigs list and the local buy sell rummage sights. We got most of them for free and the rest for half or less than the price of new. We also let friends and family know what we were doing. We ended up building three raised beds that first year one block high.

We already had a compost bin. It has hinged lids at the top to add compost items and a garage style door at the bottom each year we can lift the garage door and shovel out the oldest compost that is turned to very rich soil. We added that evenly between the three beds. We then started adding Organic compost, topsoil and cow manure to each bed, mixing as we went. We then planted our first try at growing in raised beds. I planted a little further apart than necessary the first year because I had a hard time believing how close it was recommended to plant.

We had a pretty successful year with what we planted and something I noticed was the flash floods that we sometimes get in the spring hurt some of our neighbor gardens and they had to replant part of their crops. Even though they had a bigger garden, we did not have to replant, and we had enough to share with them.

The next year we raised the gardens up another row. Our sons helped us with that as it was getting harder for me to lift the blocks. I have arthritis in my hands and tend to drop things a lot. The boys did not want to see me drop a concrete block on my foot, so they pitched in. We added compost both from our bin and a few bags from a local greenhouse. We did the same the following year and added a fourth bed behind the fenced in area.

Then came the year we had bad flooding all spring and half the summer. Farmers were having a hard time getting their crops out and several of my fellow gardeners had their gardens wiped out, replanted once and then gave up for the year. That is the year that people started asking about our gardens. We had a bumper crop, especially cucumbers. With our beds two high the plants were watered, but the excess drained out the bottom, so nothing got drowned out.

We shared a lot that year because no one else had cucumbers. Even the local fruit stand asked us about it. They had very few that survived and couldn’t find any one to buy them from. Charles took him a boxful the next day, but the rest we shared with the neighbors. We have three of us that garden and we all share what any extra with each other. Now there are four gardeners on our block. It’s nice having neighbors to share back and forth. We all end up with what we need.

Prayer Gardens

A place of peace

I discovered St. Mary’s the year my father died. The boys started school there only a few weeks before that day. The hospital is across the street from the St. Mary’s and my oldest son encouraged me to go from the hospital to the church with him and pray. He said it is the most peaceful place he has ever been, and you can’t walk in without feeling it. He was right. On the way back to the hospital I saw the prayer garden. I have always felt closest to God outside in nature, whether it be a garden, farm, woods, beach or mountains. I was fascinated with that garden. My son explained that it was a prayer garden.

 I spent many days in that prayer garden since then.  We had our pictures taken there the following spring on the day we were baptized. I often went early to pick the boys up from school, so I could spend a few moments there. School at St. Mary’s was only through middle school and then the boys were back in public school. I no longer had the daily opportunity to spend time in that garden, so I began to build my own.

It has had to change places over the years, due to changing the landscaping a bit and adding a dog that insisted on climbing my prayer tower daily. That tower is still there, and I am experimenting with different plants that will survive her daily climb. I have discovered a steppable plant that has survived this summer so hopefully it will spread thick enough to continue spreading. I have also had some Columbine from my neighbor across the street, I planted it last year and it spread throughout the front of the tower.

After we finished our front porch, I moved my prayer garden to the front porch. It makes the front entrance so much more welcoming. The glider my next-door neighbors donated, and the wicker chair my sister left me when she moved away, make it a most comfortable place to sit and relax for a while whether it be in the morning, afternoon or evening. Peaceful enough to let go of every thought and listen. Listen to the birds, crickets and other sounds of nature. I have had more answers come to me when I rest in those prayer gardens.

Last year when I went to visit my son for Mother’s Day, he took me someplace special. Knowing how much I love gardens, woods and water, he found a place that had all three. It was such a lovely day. We went to the Botanical Gardens in Virginia. It was absolutely beautiful. The flowers were such vivid colors that my photos don’t do them justice. There was a wooden walkway that led into the trees and a large area of water. We just stayed there for awhile and I did take several photos, so I am sharing the one that I like best.