Blog5
It is daffodil season in my yard. It seems as if the garden has gone from brown to yellow over night. It’s Wednesday 4/21/21 and it is sunny one minute and fully overcast the next. A storm front is moving through New England. We did get a good down pour about an hour ago, with more rain to come later on this afternoon. I’m heading out to snap pictures for this blog.
Not much progress in the gardens last week. There was 4 days of rain and raw damp weather last week. We ended up with 2 inches of rain from that storm. The rain was much needed and went a long way towards cutting the drought conditions. New England has had no rain all of the last month until this storm. Most areas in the state were down three to four inches from the normal April rainfall amounts.
Deer and turkey fencing.
I did get the rest of the deer netting up and secured; so now half of the house is fenced in. The turkeys are realizing that they can’t just break through this new deer netting. The gauge is heavier; and they have to fly over it to get out of my fenced in garden area. I have been chasing turkeys all morning and having a good laugh watching them try and get out from behind the netting.
There is one area left that the turkeys are still using to get up onto the patio and into the fenced off back garden area – the area around my back door – but I’m trying different methods there to discourage them there.
I’ve sunk tomato stakes, and I’m going to weave string between the stakes to make a trellis for some sweet peas to climb on the stakes. The wooden pole across the stairs keeps the turkey’s from using the stairs. But they would just jump up onto the wall and walk on to the patio. They are getting up there to get to the seed dropped from the bird feeders. I don’t mind them eating the seed, but I do mind their poop being left all over my patio. I walk barefoot out there.
Daffodils everywhere.
The daffodils and forsythia bushes are at their peak gorgeousness right now.
This bed started out as a daylilly bed with catmint plants planted along the wall. (Thanks to the deer; I never see the daylilly flowers) I added the daffodils over the years as I added the fill dirt. This view from my bedroom window is my favorite view of the gardens during daffodil season.
The flower bed on the far side of the house. Can you tell that I like daffodils? I love daffodil season.
Other flowers.
Even though its daffodil season; there are other flowers open right now.
Siberian Squill – these flowers have naturalized all over my yard.
The Violets are starting to bloom.
Some real planting done.
It’s been a very weird spring. It started off unusually warm for the entire month of March. April has been what March should have been – cold and chilly. Yesterday we had a storm front sweep through. It was in the mid-70s in Boston and throughout most of the state; with temps here right on the water in the low 60s. The ocean water temps are still in the mid-40s; so, the wind off the water keeps the air temp at least 10 degrees cooler than in land. After the storm front moved through, air temps dropped like a rock to the mid-30s overnight. Some places even saw snow on the backside of the storm. The weather prediction for this front was for a beneficial amount of rain, but little rain actually fell here on the upper cape. All my outside plants need watering now.
I started a bit of planting – my herb/green planter: Kale, chives, lovage, spinach, and broccoli rabe.
Annuals.
The chives and lovage are perenials and come back strong each year. Lovage is winderful herb when used in soups. It tastes like a cross between celery and parsley.
A bumble bee favorite. I try and have 2 or 3 foxglove plants in bloom all summer long.
New flowers. The saucer of seed under the table is where I feed my chipmunks.
Starting to bring in some annuals I buy for my patios. One of the male turkeys, who live here year around; here walking in the background.
A visitor!
A visitor today – Milk snake – one of the harmless but beneficial snakes native to here.
No Hummingbirds here yet – but the hummingbird feeders are out – the hummers should arrive any day now. I also haven’t seen: the orioles, cat birds, black birds, or box turtles yet. I have seen deer, turkeys, a fox, and evidence that a raccoon is visiting at night.
Next on my garden agenda is to finish adding dirt to the Hügelkultur bed and to get that bed planted up with all my leafy greens seeds. I also have to get the peas planted. I have planted a few perennials here and there as I have been working. But I have a lot more to plant, as I find the perfect home for each of the perennial pots I over wintered.
See my earlier posts for more on the Hügelkultur method of planting. Gardening on the Upper Cape blog2
Other stuff.
I did find a unique new Hosta. Its name is “Fire Island”. It has an almost yellow leaf with a brown strip down the center of each leaf. (Olsen’s) I will be planting it in a pot.
I keep my special hostas in pots behind the deer netting. Hostas are a deer magnet. They eat these plants right to the ground wherever and whenever they find them.
Two Leopards Bain perennials getting ready to bloom (and a thyme plant that I need to replace). The blooms of this plant should be open in a week or so. A third Leopards Bain plant is still in it’s nursery pot up in the patio. Below is a picture of a Leopards Bain plant in bloom (from the web).
This plant is originally from England and grows wild over there. I have had this plant reseed itself here – but just once. This plant needs wet conditions to really thrive and we have been facing drought conditions here for the last few years.
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