Gardening... in My Dreams!

Have been day dreaming about the 2011 gardening season. Reading gardening magazines adds fuel to the fire! Still far too early to do much of anything yet except look at the greenhouse that I passed on the highway today with longing!  LOL!

Crocuses from the local grocery store- Gorgeous, aren't they?!

The local grocery store provides some little samples of spring with their assortment of crocuses, hyacinths and Japanese lilies to brighten the cold winter days. :)

In March I will start planting my dahlia bulbs, canna lily tubers, and begonia tubers which I have stored in the laundry room right now. They take several weeks to sprout. Luckily I have some big, sunny windows in my living room ready to provide hours of much needed sunshine when they do sprout!

After that it will be time to trim back the geraniums that I have been over wintering in the house. Maybe take a few cuttings to start some new plants. One of my Orbit Pink geraniums has 3 bunches of blossoms on it right now and looking so bright and beautiful! It is in a south/west facing window in the kitchen and seems to like it there.

I love looking at seed catalogs at this time of the year and making lists of which bedding plants I want to purchase for this year's garden.  All part of the planning and necessary preparation for a successful garden! ;)

I wonder if I have been 'creating a monster' as my husband seems to think. I have been buying apples and cutting them up to put out for the deer. They have been wandering around in large groups of a dozen or more this year. It's called "yarding up"according to my Deer book. I guess they have better protection from predators in groups, but I would think they would have a harder time finding enough food then.

Mama white tail with twins -relatives in background

I saw two really tiny white tail deer in a group a few days ago (Even tinier than the two in the photo above.) It was interesting to see their mother trying to coax them to be brave enough to go close to our backyard bird feeder where some oiled sunflower seeds lay on the ground. She used one front hoof to nudge two other deer out of the way. But by the time the little ones ventured close, there wasn't much left to eat.  I'm afraid they might not survive till spring, they are so tiny. The weather has taken a really serious cold dip again, -21C today and going to -29C again tonight. How can tiny little thin animals even stay warm when it's that cold!?

Anyway, my husband thinks I am creating a monster by luring all these plant eaters to our yard. But I reminded him that we have had deer come every winter since we started living here 5 years ago and now that I have discovered Plantskydd to spray on my flowers as they grow, it deters the deer from making lunch out of them. Besides, by spring there will be a lot of greenery sprouting up in the environmental reserve around our place and the deer groups will split up before they give birth. Once they have better food sources, they won't come around nearly as often. Plus we have a high wire fence around the vegetable garden which no deer have breached yet.

Young mule deer on the deck sampling the plum tree branches

Even the mule deer have been coming around this winter more often, which is really unusual. You seldom see them in summer either, except from afar.  They are very scruffy looking right now. One morning last week, I looked out my front door and saw one brazen mule deer youngster standing on my deck, eating my plum tree to his heart's content, while his relatives were munching away on the other side of the deck railing. It was very icy on the deck after the recent thaw and refreeze, and since it's 13 steps down off the deck to the ground, I didn't want to scare him and possibly cause him to break a leg or injure himself in his flight. I took his photo through the window, then opened the door and poked my head out, speaking softly. He turned around to look at me and then swiftly fled, taking his family members with him!

We have so much snow this year making it harder for the animals to move around. The repeated thaw and freeze up has created a crust on top of the snow. The rabbits just hop around on top, so light that they don't sink through like the deer.  But these conditions make it harder for the deer to find food under the snow.
So I figure, what are a few dozen apples going to hurt!  As much as I love gardening, I wouldn't want to give up the daily deer visits just to save a few bedding plants.  Now my lilies... that might be another matter! LOL!

White tail deer at backyard feeder

White tail deer at front yard feeder

Christmas Trees, Poinsettias and cactuses

2010 Christmas tree

Our living room recently welcomed a new addition, a thick, beautiful  6 foot balsam tree which we bought at the boy scout lot in town.  Many people have turned to artificial trees over the years, but they never appealed to me.  People have asked me why I cut down real trees when I profess to be such a nature buff.  I do love trees and appreciate all their beauty and functions in providing shade, wood and especially their important role in the cycle of life on this planet: providing oxygen. On the other hand trees are a renewable resource. The trees in the Christmas tree lots are grown on tree farms specifically to be cut down at Christmas. No one is clearing existing forests or anything radical like that to provide Christmas trees. If everyone only bought artificial trees, the tree farms would have to stop planting and growing their tree, which would reduce the amount of oxygen produced on the planet, since these trees also produce oxygen in the time it takes them to grow big enough to sell. 

And after Christmas, if you dispose of a real tree properly, use it as mulch if possible, it eventually goes back to the earth as compost, creating new soil. An artificial tree provides nothing... except of course a nice place to hang your decorations while you pretend it's a tree!  Plus it requires a place to store it , and the  artificial  trees that wear out, end up in the land fills as garbage... 

Plus I like the idea of supporting the Boy Scouts association every Christmas with our tree purchase.

Poinsettias are another example of a plant that is grown specifically for Christmas time. I have bought 4 of those this year, one large red one, a medium sized pale reddish pink, and 2 small ones for several rooms of the house.   I have an old poinsettia in my bedroom bow window from last year. It has nice looking green leaves on it, (some new growth), but most of the red brackts have long fallen off. 

In the right conditions, it is possible to get the brackts to turn red again. They need to have long, cool nights and little daylight. They don't like too much artificial light, either. The gardening books will tell you to put your poinsettia in a dark cool closet  for 16 hours a day and bring it out for 8 hours of daylight each day. And they admit that even under those circumstances, it might not turn red.  Seems like a lot of work, so most people consider poinsettias 'throw away' plants. In my house, I don't throw away anything that's still growing reasonably well. (Unless it has a disease or insect infestation I can't get rid of!)

A few years ago when we were still living in northern Manitoba, I had a poinsettia from the previous Christmas on the cold window sill in the computer room between the curtain and the window, and it did turn red again, two years in a row!

My Christmas cactus is blooming now and has an abundance of big buds on it! It is looking quite gorgeous. I have had this Christmas cactus for many years and it often blooms again in the spring around Easter time as well, although not as profusely.  The tiny one that I planted from a slip that fell off the big plant also grew buds, but my middle sized plant has none. 

I think it had something to do with the location. The middle sized Christmas cactus was in the kitchen where it got a lot of artificial light and maybe too much water. I moved it to the cool bedroom bow window where the small Christmas cactus had been to encourage it to set some buds. 

One trick that often works is to withhold water for a month or 6 weeks in October/ November which usually results in flower buds.  Once you notice the tiny little budlets forming at the end of the stems, be sure to start watering your Christmas cactus again regularly. Then it's important not to let it dry out or the rest of the little flower buds will fall off.

So some gardening is still possible in the winter.  :)

Winter 'Gardening'

Winter Sunrise 

The 'gardening' is limited to indoor things right now, due to the extreme weather outside at this time of the year.  We had the most glorious 10 days of early November weather! It was wonderful to go out for a walk, with only a light jacket or fleece, no mitts or ear warmers required!

Then overnight we were hit hard with the opposite extreme. A deep freeze with snow almost every day which lasted almost 2 weeks. But we all survived that and now things are pretty much back to normal early December weather;  Nice enough to walk the dog along the deer trails around here as long as you are wearing snow pants, warm jacket, scarf, hat and mitts.

Through the kitchen window...

Looking for sunflower seeds the birds have dropped.

The deer are out in droves this time of the year. It is rutting season right now so a person has to be very carefully driving at this time. The deer often dart out in front of the vehicles trying to cross the road at the wrong time!  But I enjoy watching them feed on the hills around our acreage.

Mom and spring baby

We have 2 bird feeders which we fill with oiled sunflower seeds year round for the numerous birds out here. It is especially important in the winter when the food is scarce. The black capped chickadees are here all winter along with little downey woodpeckers, the odd nuthatch, magpies and blue jays. The bohemian waxwings often make appearances in huge numbers, but they are here to glean the dried saskatoons and chokecherries or mountain ash berries.  

The ladder back woodpecker and the blue jays are very aggressive at the feeders and for some reason they throw huge amounts of sunflower seeds on the ground. They seem to think there is just the perfect one in the pile somewhere.... The deer have discovered this little treasure trove and they come to check the ground under the feeders every day. I'm always thrilled to see them outside my window cautiously cleaning up the seeds they discover there. Sometimes I will even put extra seeds in an old baking pan near the feeder for them to eat. Of course luring them to our yard this way has its drawbacks come gardening time in the spring....

Mom and twins searching for seeds

Time to go!

Winter Wonderland

Even winter has its beauty...

back yard spectacle

Painted with Jack Frosts frozen colours

Hoary chokecherry tree branches

morning 

Front yard snow drifts

Slumbering flower beds

Geese on frozen Buffalo Lake

Even  Phoenix is biding his time until spring arrives and he can return to his summer activities, basking in the warm sunshine, sleeping outdoors and chasing mice. Until then, he hangs around the kitchen where it's warm. 

Porcupine Adventures

The cute little porcupine WAS living under our deck and continued to do so for over a week. It would venture out every day and nibble on the bark of the various trees growing around the deck. It sampled the dried berries in the chokecherry tree, but seemed to prefer the bark of the plum as it kept going back there. It climbed up the Mountain Ash one time, but after looking at the huge clumps of berries, it climbed down again without sampling them and went back to my poor plum tree.

I was concerned not only about the damage to the trees and also the possible damage to the cats or the dog if they got close to it.  I really wanted to get rid of this little creature, but didn't want to harm it in the process. How was I going to persuade it to move on to a new location? The dog wasn't much help as she had learned the hard way not to get close to porcupines ( thankfully) and the porcupine just ignored her presence. It was only a matter of a foot or two for it to get from under the deck to some of these trees; easy to avoid the dog.

When I caught it red handed eating more of the bark off my plum tree, I tried shaking the plum tree to get it down. At first it ignored me, but then finally it slowly climbed down and, yes, headed through the snow, right back under the deck stairs again.

The next day I went to the hardware store in town looking for something called "Critter Ridder",  a product that smells like fox urine and is supposed to scare the porcupine into leaving. (Foxes are supposedly one of the only animals a porcupine is afraid of.) But the hardware store had none. One of the clerks at the store told me to try water the next time I saw the little critter in my trees. She said porcupines hate water.

Sure enough, the little guy was back in his / my favorite plum tree munching away when I got home so I decided to try the water treatment. I got a large bucket full of water and used a cup to throw the water on the porcupine. It just turned its back to me and raised it's hair and little quills, ready to do battle. After 2/3 of the water was gone out of the pail and the porcupine was still in the tree but dripping wet, I gave up on that idea. I went around the tree to its cute little face and tried yelling at it, but that had no effect either.

Later when I looked out the window, the porcupine was still in the exact same position and I wondered if it was frozen to the tree with all the water I had thrown at it!

I tried calling the county office to see if they had an animal trap I could borrow. Borrow? Nothing! They wanted a $50 deposit on a skunk cage, the only thing they had. But the guy at the other end of the line thought that if it was a small porcupine, the trap might work.  His concern was, though, how do we get it OUT of the trap?  Then he had a brilliant idea. Use a fishing net to catch it  as porcupines are rather slow moving. Then take it 1 or 2 miles away to a new location. He never did say how to get it OUT of the net once we found a new spot, though...

The other suggestion was to phone the Fish and Wildlife office and get them to lend us a scare cannon, something that sounds like a gun shot that goes off every few minutes. Couldn't quite see myself putting up with that under the deck for very long!  I would probably have to leave myself!

When my husband came home from work, he was not pleased to see that his efforts at protecting the plum trees with the wire fencing had not stopped the porcupine from climbing back up there.  It was still sitting in the same tree finishing off the rest of the bark. It must have been a tasty plum tree!  He shook the tree violently and used a spade to try and dislodge the little guy. He was hoping to scoop it up in the shovel and somehow shovel it down our long driveway, then across the road into the large stand of trees there. (Couldn't see this working even as well as the fishing net idea...)

The porcupine had other ideas! It finally got tired of hanging on for dear life, so it dropped to the snow below the tree, and QUICKLY (so much for them being slow moving,) dug a hole and disappeared.... under the deck stairs.   I think, though, that this last incident must have had an effect on it's porcupine brain, because the next day, it wasn't hanging around anymore.  I noticed tracks in the snow at the far end of the yard right by the tree line going off into the underbrush.  Either it is fed up with all the interruptions during its dinner hours, or quite full of plum bark and looking for a change in its diet.  Whatever the reason, I hope it find a comfortable home elsewhere with plenty of food in a safe environment.

Juniper Wreath Creations and Porcupine invasions

Not much happening in the gardening department anymore...  A bit more clean up, that's about it.
We vigorously clipped our huge juniper bush as it has grown so large, it was making it difficult to walk down the steps beside the rock garden. What to do with the multitude of clipped branches?

I found my wire wreath frame in the shed and got out the horticultural wire, then proceeded to wire some of the branches to the frame. I have discovered the hard way that I need to wear gloves for this procedure. In the past I had come away with an itchy rash on both wrists where the juniper branches have touched my skin. I had no idea until then that I was allergic to the resin in the juniper branches. But they make such a beautiful wreath that I can't stop using them.

Some of the branches have beautiful small blue berries on them so I tried to use as many of those as I could... ( I have no idea if the berries are edible by any sort of wildlife, bird, mammal or insect.  They look very attractive, if nothing else.)  I also tied 3 branches together in sort of a Juniper bough and will put a Christmas ribbon around one end, then hang it on one of the posts of the deck. Next I have to sort out the wreath decorations and put some of them on the juniper wreath, and then it will be ready to hang up by the front door.

I googled 'Juniper berries' and discovered that Juniper Berries are used in Northern Europe and the United States in marinades, roast pork, and sauerkraut. They are used to enhance meat, stuffings, sausages, stews, and soups. Who knew!


 We recently had a young porcupine wandering through our yard again. I had surprised it on the deck a few nights before, when I went to let the dog out. It was lurking around the dog's water bowl next to the pump, but made a quick exit, 'stage left' when it heard me.  The dog was curious at the time, but stayed a safe distance away from it.

A few days later the porcupine was back and this time the dog herded it up towards the deck, right by the Juniper shrub.  I was surprised to see a small porcupine standing motionless with its nose touching the bottom of deck railing and it's little tail towards the dog's direction, right near where I was standing! It had hardly any quills on it's back, only what appeared to be long bushy looking hair, but it did have 6 or 8 short little quills on its tail.

I read recently that porcupines don't 'shoot' their quills, but rather whack the offending predator with their tail, impaling them with the quills.  Then it takes 10 days to 3 months for the quills to grow back.
I quickly called the dog and brought her in the house! She has been zapped by porcupines twice already, once the first fall we were here and then again the very next spring, resulting in 34 quills embedded in her chest and legs the first time and 52 in her muzzle, neck, legs and chest the second time. My husband and I yanked them out with pliers both times, he wielding the pliers and I sitting next to the dog and with my arms wrapped around her to hold her still and give her needed sympathy. Luckily none of them resulted in any infection, but I'm sure the dog was in some pain and discomfort both times.  Since then she has learned to keep her distance from porcupines, even when they invade our yard, her territory. Smart dog!

Even dried flowers and plants have a certain beauty!

Now I'm starting to wonder if  the porcupine is residing under our deck!    That would certainly explain the chewed off bark on my plum trees!  (And does it eat Juniper berries?!) I did spray the plum branches generously after that with an animal repellent just in case. So far we have had no precipitation to wash the spray off, but that should be happening in the next few days according to our weather forecast.  I guess that means I will have to get out the Plantskydd powder once more and mix up another batch to spray on the trees and shrubs.

Dried 'bunny tails'  ligularis Ovatis

Harley, enjoying the sunshine

Plantskydd is supposed to work for at least 3 months no matter what the weather.  I'd better spray my 3 little spruce trees behind the house as well. I noticed that something has been nibbling on them and I suspect it's the deer. We did put some wire fencing around them, but we ran short and one of the tiny spruces is still quite exposed.

Lexy surveying her domain

I know if I tell people about porcupines in the yard, they usually say something like, "You should get a 22 and shoot it. Porcupines are a nuisance."
I don't understand that kind of thinking.  I could never do that. We bought this place out here at the lake because of the wilderness around here. So how can a person complain if you have exactly what you paid for right outside your door?!  I noticed today that it is leaving the plum trees alone (for now, anyway) and is eating the bark off some of the wild saskatoon and chokecherry saplings nearby. And as long as the dog and the cats aren't in danger, I'm going to let it be.

Spirit

(Another porcupine on the deck again a while ago. They are after the water in the dog's bowl over by the pump. It is mostly frozen, but partially melts during the day. It rained a bit this evening which may turn to snow over night. I suspect that once we have snow on the ground, the porcupines and other wild creatures would eat snow to get their fluids?  Maybe I should remove the bowl anyway, just to deter them from coming around.... )

Ducks and Geese on the Lake

I saw the strangest sight a few days ago, one of those odd things you don't often get the chance to see.  I was taking the dog for a walk to the lake late in the afternoon and trailing us, as often is the case, was two of our cats, Milo and Harley. As we got close to the lake I could hear a cacaphony of squawking and honking. As we emerged from the trees onto the beach, I saw what was happening. The temperature had dropped the night before and the lake had frozen over. A multitude of geese and ducks were standing on the lake in long rows in about an inch of water!  The sun was starting to set and the sight was so unusual.

Even Harley and Milo thought something was odd. Both cats walked out onto the ice to investigate, where the day before the waves had been lapping and their feet had been getting wet.

'I wish I had my camera,' I thought to myself!
Should I stay and enjoy the sight a while longer or do I have time to run back down the path to the house for the camera to save this sight for posterity??? I was torn! Should I leave the cats alone on the shore (which I have never down before, having always coaxed them to follow me when I head for home)?

' YES'! I thought! 'But I have to hurry before the sun goes down and I lose the light!'

 So I RAN as fast as I could back up the path. Milo our swift little 6 month old kitty wasn't going to be left behind and he raced after me. Harley, our adventurous little 4 year old soon followed. I raced up the hill towards the house, huffing and puffing, and ran up the back steps with Milo in close pursuit.  I literally threw Milo into the kitchen, then grabbed the camera off the counter and ran out the door, back down the path towards the lake.  The dog was jumping straight up in the air in delight at this point! (WOW! Another walk already!?) And she eagerly raced after me.

'Are the birds still going to be there or will they have come to their senses and left', I wondered as I ran.

I arrived back on the beach in short order and saw the geese and ducks were still there!  I slowly walked across the beach in their direction and took several photos of them, propping my elbows on one of the picnic tables there to try and get a clear shot.

Here are the results:

Photo taken from Shore

Zoomed in photo from shore

Now the geese are starting to leave ( I think my dog on shore was making them nervous.)

           Last minute accommodation adjustments before sunset...