Notes for December 29, 2008

Well Christmas has come and gone for another year. This year it doesn't seem to be as special as in years past. My kids are in their teens but I don't think that had too much to do with the way I am feeling.

I did get some things for Christmas that will be used for the garden (sort of). I got a new gas powered trimmer (the old one was one given to me by a neighbor and it leaked fuel always).

I got a new squirrel resistant bird feeder. The old bird feeder was probably 15 years old. However, in recent years, the falling tree limbs had knocked it to the ground probably once too many times and was getting bent up. Each time I had to bend it back to work. The bottom of the old bird feeder also had bite marks on it from the border collie we had. He couldn't round up the birds that would land on the feeder and it drove him crazy (his mother was similar) and he would jump up at the bird feeder and he would scrape his teeth on the bottom (at least until I raised the feeder).

I got a electric grow mat (heated mat) for seed starting. The pepper plants will now germinate earlier.

I also got a book on shade perennials. Looking through it last night I found several new plants I want to try.

It was such a warm weekend and if it weren't between Christmas and New Years, I probably would have worked in the yard. There are still dead tomato and pepper plant stalks to clear from the veggie garden and the leaves are starting to pile up against the fences around the yard.

I have been getting at least a couple of seed catalogs every week and will start looking through them soon. There is always room for another perennial but I think I may have enough Day Lillies and Iris that I may be able to be a bit more selective. I really would like to have a red Iris and an Orange Iris. In other words, last year I was going for quantity, this year I think I can go more for quality/selection. There are also several Iris and Daylilly beds I HAVE to thin this year. I am sure I can find some people at church who would be willing to take some plants.

We have been seeing the bluebirds in our yard off and on for the last month and they are always a beautiful sight.

Notes for December 19, 2008

Not much going on in the garden although the next warm day I would like to finish cleaning up the veggie patch. The tomato and pepper plant stalks are still tied to their stakes.

I have been getting a bunch of seed catalogs already. I usually start to look at them during the holidays when I'm not playing with any of my Christmas toys

Notes for December 5, 2008

I still need to clean up the dead tomato and pepper plant stalks (they are still tied to the stakes). I need to pull out the dead annuals (marigolds and cosmos) and trim the other perennials. I need to move the flower pots of browned mums off of the front porch. I finished clearing my leaves for the moment (until the wind blows more over the fences or from across the street). I still haven't drained my garden hoses and we have had some freezing weather, so I may end up buying new hoses next spring. I would like to get some grass seed now and if I got a chance I would throw some in the bare spots. There is this one area that I would like to dig up and then plant grass to see if that will work in that area.

I picked the last of my radishes two weeks ago and I picked my carrots on Thanksgiving morning for the snack tray later that day and they were good. I had two different types of carrots (one was a short variety and the other was a normal or long variety, and the long variety seemed to do better. I am definitely going to try to plant them earlier next year. I will probably again wait to pick them on Thanksgiving morning and probably make that my tradition. The idea of fresh garden veggies on Thanksgiving is so awesome. I also noticed that where I thinned more heavily, the carrots did better. I have nothing else growing now. I've already started to get seed catalogs and glanced through one while in the reading room. I was thinking of trying celery next year until I checked up on celery and it takes alot of care and takes very long, so I think that's out. I do like to try to grow something new every year. I usually take an inventory of my seeds in early January.

I am busy filling my birdfeeders every two weeks (sunflower in one and thistle in the other). The weather has gotten cool enough to put out some suet feeder blocks and I have noticed the Red Belly woodpecker has returned but still waiting on the Downy (actually I have heard the Red Belly all summer so he wasn't very far). The squirrels are busy planting acorns throughout my yard and I did get some squirrel mix to put in their glass jar feeder. The Bluebirds have returned this past week. Haven't seen them since late Spring. They like the berries on the Dogwood and the hedge as well as the suet feeders. I am thinking of getting a wiremesh screen silo feeder for the woodpeckers to put in whole corn and or peanuts. Had a wooden one with plexiglass that the the squirrels chewed up pretty good to get at the corn.