Happy Spring everyone!
I am still getting use to writing this blogging – so please bear with me.
Spring chores
With each spring comes several tasks and chores unique to this season. Some of mine are picking up the downed branches in the lawn, keeping the turkeys from walking over my newly cleaned patios and pooping on them, trimming and cleaning out the many flower beds, dumping out used potting soil from my annual pots, restoring the deer fencing, and start in on the direct seed planting to name a few of the tasks. I plant a lot of things in pots which I keep near on the patios near the house to protect them from the deer. I buy new potting soil each year and then recycled into the flower beds teh following year.
In spring, the deer are searching for anything to eat. They wander in and out of my property eating whatever they want even plants that are supposed to be deer resistant. I have a quite the deer problem here. I have a group of six deer which I call the “Gang of Six” and another group of 2 deer which I call the “Twins”. I have had to direct the “Gang of Six” away from my yard twice this morning. They are the bane of my existence. They are nothing but “Long Legged Rat Varmints”. I have yet to see the majority of daylily plants I have planted in bloom.
I have tried all sorts of things to keep the deer away; Irish Soap chunks tied in trees, spray on deer repellent, old fashion bullying; but the only real deterrent is deer fencing. The deer fencing, I put up last year only lasted for a single season and only worked to a degree. Where I kept the fence close to the house, used tall poles to hang the fencing, and left no room for the deer to jump over the fencing – it worked. So, I ordered new deer fencing for this year. The new fence is a heavier black mesh so the turkeys will be unable to crash through it like they did the finer mesh fencing I used last year. The huge roll of new fencing came yesterday. Now I need to get outside, reset the poles, and get the new deer fencing lashed into place before these “Long Legged Rat Varmints” damage my perennial flowers and plants.
Here is an example some of the damage the deer have done here. I planted a new tree at the end of my sidewalk late last year and the deer stripped down to nothing.
When I wnet out to snap a few pics for this blog; and I had to scare off the “Gang of Six” (deer) for the third time from the back garden area.
We had 3 very warm sunny days last week; and the snowdrop and crocus flowers were open and drawing bees. Since then, the has weather turned, and we have been in deep freeze for the last two days. Weather in New England in March.
Last Friday, I spent 4 hours cleaning in the back yard. It was in the mid-60s and I loved being outside working. The mound of sticks and leaves that I am calling my “Hügelkultur garden bed”; has tripled in size but has a long way to go before it is done. I added three wheelbarrows’ full of downed branches, leaves, and garden clippings to this bed. I have not gathered the branches and leaves from the sides or front lawns yet. I need to add what is left of the wood mulch pile from last year onto to the “Hügelkultur garden bed” as well. Once the lawns are cleaned up and I have run out of filler materials; I will need to get topsoil, compost and straw to finish off the bed.
Eventually, this garden bed will be over three feet tall, four to five feet wide, and about twelve feet long. It will compact down with time. You plant along the top and upon both sides of the bed. This type of gardening creates a natural sponge that helps retain moisture during times of drought. We have had too many dry summers here as of late.
Some diagrams from Wikipedia:
I was debating on building a 2nd Hügelkultur garden bed (that small pile of sticks to the left in this pic) but I think I will just do regular flat planting there instead this year. Only one new Hügelkultur bed per year. That stick like plant which is growing in the center of this new garden area, is my Ginkgo tree that the deer cut in half last year. [All the more reason for me to fence in this area.] I have catmint and thyme plants around the Ginkgo tree. I used to have a big weeping willow tree where the Ginkgo is now; but the willow died during a wind storm a few years ago.
I need to keep the turkeys out of this area as well as keeping the deer out – since the turkeys like to make their sand “Wallows” here. I had to fill in a hole next to the Ginkgo where they had started a new wallow. The turkeys also like to scratch for bugs; and yesterday the entire flock flattened my Hügelkultur garden pile. Sometimes they are a pain to have around. So, I raked the brush back up and started setting the fence poles around the bed this morning. It is too raw to stay outside for any extended period of time; and rain is expected this afternoon.
