Notes for January 5, 2009

I have received (so far) 15 different seed catalogs.  Now that the wind is howling and the ground is frozen and lightly frosted, its the perfect time for browsing and planning.   We've had some hard freezing weather (enough for skaters on the local smaller lakes) and a couple of snow storms.  We got 24 inches between Saturday December 19 into Sunday morning.  Every time its gets below freezing or we get some snow, I get bluebirds in my front yard.  They love the berries on my hedge along the road and the droppings from the suet block from the other birds sloppy pecking.  They wait until a piece drops and swoop down and get it.  Sometime they go to the suet block but most of the time they watch and wait for sloppy eaters.

Notes for December 24, 2009

Merry Christmas everyone!  We are guaranteed a white Christmas this year.  We got 24" of the white stuff Saturday night into Sunday.  I have never seen that much in December.  I am still getting seed catalogs and I got two more this week.  More reading for the holidays.

Notes for December 15, 2009

I picked the last of my carrots on Saturday and I think they are on the menu for tonight.  I was able to pick some nice medium size and small carrots.  I picked them around mid morning and had to chip the frozen earth around them.  The top two inches of the ground was frozen.  I could have waited until the afternoon but there were other things on the schedule.   Did some cleaning later on Saturday which including recycling the pile of last years seed catalogs (why is difficult to part with them?).  I have a few catalogs already for next year and have started a new pile.   We've had some wind storms and the leaves have started to pile up in the usual places.  But they are not posing a threat to my grass or gardens yet.   Saturday afternoon as I went to borrow the extension ladder (to put up the outdoor Christmas lights on the house) from a family member I noticed not one but two red tailed hawks perched in the trees behind my house intently watching the birds at my feeders.  In defiance I shouted to them "Leave the birds alone!  There are plenty of squirrels!"  Then one flew off.  When I returned with the ladder, the other was gone.

Notes for Monday November 30, 2009

Finally a success for the record books.  Well ok may be just for the journal.  Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning, I picked the last of my radishes and I picked some carrots.  The carrots weren't big enough for the dinner meal but they were big enough for the snack tray.  And this year they were alot sweeter.  Last year the carrots were bitter.  So this year I tried a variety known for being sweet and I made sure that I added wood ashes to the soil.  I plant my carrots in the same bed that I plant my onions and after harvesting the onions I plant carrots in late August in hopes of some small carrots for Thanksgiving.  When I made the soil ready for the onions and then for the carrots, I added ashes and leaf mulch to the soil.   This weekend I also finally put up my two suet feeders for the woodpeckers and nuthatches as well as the squirrel jar.  I bought a new silo feeder for the finches.  The one I got this summer was already caked up in the bottom half and the birds stopped coming to it about a month ago.  Last month I collected about a bucket and a half of acorns and I plan on putting them out for the squirrels in January.  I'm interested to see what happens.   I replaced the screens with the windows in the storm doors as well this weekend.  It really hasn't been that cold yet for it really to be needed.  Even yesterday afternoon was delightful after starting out at 27 degrees.  I tried to put up the outdoor Christmas lights yesterday but I had completely forgot that my father-in-law took back his ladder a few months ago (I borrowed it a few years ago and he hadn't needed it since).   I've started to get seed catalogs already but I try not to look at them until after Christmas.

Notes for Monday November 23, 2009

On Saturday I was able to finish mulching the leaves in my yard.  Most of the trees have finished dropping their leaves while a few remaining trees will gradually lose them throughout the winter.  So until the next wind storm blows them in from my neighbor across the street, I am caught up.  I asked my son to help me and he was able to give me an hour and that helped.  I didn't have to do the complete front yard, there weren't that many leaves.  I was able to blow the leaves into smaller areas so I didn't have to do the whole front yard.  The areas in the back yard were thicker with leaves because I wasn't able to get to them the last few weeks so I ran them over with the mower a few times before I bagged them.  This makes nice finely mulched leaves and I pile them separately.  I use the finer leaf mulch to turn under in the veggie garden and to mulch in tight spaces (like my onions).  So right now all three of my leaf compost piles are over flowing but in another months time they will have settled about a foot.   I still have radishes and carrots to pick and I will be picking them on Thursday.  I test picked a carrot on Saturday and it looks like I will have a bunch of baby carrots for snacking on Thanksgiving.  Hopefully this variety will be sweeter.

Notes for Monday November 16, 2009

With the remnants of Hurricane Tropical Storm Ida passing by to our south and then reforming into a typical NorEaster, we got 1.4" of rain over a three day period.   On Sunday morning, I can't remember how many times I went back and forth deciding whether or not to mulch leaves in the afternoon.  When I got up it was cloudy and so damp it was dripping off the trees.  It didn't look like it was going to dry out enough to mulch leaves.  Then when I left for church it was getting brighter and it started to nag at me that if I didn't do it today then when? (especially since the long range forecast looks like we might get rain again just before the weekend).  So after I got home from church, I did end up mulching leaves that were still wet but picked up by the mower.  I kept telling myself as I was pushing the mower, "I have to do what I can, when I can," and it seemed to fit.  At least this time I did get a little further into the back yard and it looks like no more leaves will be falling.  There are still a few trees with leaves but those oaks don't seem to give them up until spring.  So after I finish the back yard (hopefully next weekend) then all I have left to do is to mulch the leaves as they pile up in my yard from the wind (from either of my neighbors).

Notes for Monday November 9th, 2009

Well the best laid plans are usually almost always foiled somehow.  I was boasting that I still had zinnias, marigolds, daisies and cosmos still in bloom AND I had planned to take pictures of them on Saturday.  But Jack had other plans.  Saturday morning I slept in and the temperature in the bright sun at 8AM was in the 40's but in the shade of my neighbors fence I noticed that the grass was white as I took out the trash.  Watching the news later on Saturday it was said that it got down to 31 degrees in the city of Philadelphia Friday night, so I know it was colder here. Everything had been touched by Jack Frost and not worthy of a photo.  Oh well.   Later on Saturday I did work on mulching the leaves in my yard and due to the thickness of the layer, all I got done was the front yard again.  It looks like the layer should be thinner this weekend and maybe I will get more of the backyard done.  I mulched leaves for about two and half hours.  I could have done more but with all the bending over to remove the bagger on the mower, it would have been really difficult to put socks on to go to church on Sunday had I done more.  So I stopped to work another day.   I did change my approach a little bit this year.  Instead of using the leaf blower to remove the leaves from my flower beds, I used a rake to remove the leaves.  This way I don't remove the mulch from the flower beds (last years mulched leaves).  I still use the leaf blower to remove the leaves from the driveway and out from under other shrubs and away from other obstacles so the mower can reach them.   I still have radishes and carrots and I did pick some radishes and watered the carrots and radishes.  I grow the radishes (which are so easy after thinning) for my father in law.  I don't eat them unless they are thinly sliced and mixed in with a good salad.  As I watered the carrots and radishes I began to wonder if my carrots will be sweeter this year (I like to pick them on Thanksgiving morning for pre dinner snack).  I grew a different variety this year and put additional helpings of wood ashes in the soil.  So all I am hoping to get is a bunch of sweet baby carrots.  I couldn't help to think that the local farmers are picking carrots right now and of course they are huge compared to mine.  So maybe I will plant them earlier next year and pick them earlier too.  Right now I plant them in my onion patch after I've picked my onions because I have read that carrots and onions get along.  I will have to research it and maybe I will plant my radishes there instead.