Rocks: My Gardening Nemesis
I’ve talked about our rocky soil before. Everywhere I dig I find rocks of all sizes. From tiny pebbles to boulders I have to get Mr Chiots to help me dig out, they’re everywhere! I spend more time removing rocks from the garden areas than I do on any other garden task, even weeding. It’s especially bad in new garden areas that haven’t been worked before.
Last spring I worked up this new area in the garden and I picked out tons of big rocks while preparing the area. This spring we reworked the soil with some amendments and I picked out several bucketfuls of smaller rocks, only a few large ones.
Next year I’ll still pick out a several bucketfuls of smaller rocks and probably the year after that as well. I still get a bucketful of rocks from the front foundation bed when I weed and I’ve been picking rocks out of it for the last 9 years!
I’ve always got a bucket by my side to throw the smaller rocks into. I make piles of the bigger rocks around the property and we use those for rock walls and for stepping stones in the garden.
I’m currently saving them to edge the driveway in my efforts to keep the driveway gravel out of the garden on the lower side garden. (yes I have to pick those out of the garden as well *sigh*)
What’s your gardening nemesis?
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Around the Neighborhood
This time of year it seems like everything is bursting in bloom. It’s been quite warm here, warmer than usual. We’ve been having temperatures in the 80’s so all the blooming trees bloomed at the same time. We often take the Chiots on a walk in the evenings right at dusk and the trees in the neighborhood are particularly lovely. One evening I took my camera on one of our walks to get a few shots.
The flowering pear trees are particularly lovely, although I’d much prefer one that produced fruit!
The magnolias are quite lovely this. Often here in Ohio the buds get frozen off by a late spring freeze. This year we were lucky and now we’re enjoying the lovely magnolias.
The star magnolias are lovely little trees as well!
The forsythias are really lovely this year as well, sunny shrubs that are most lovely when left to their natural weeping habitat (in my mind).
Here are Chiot’s run some of our fruit trees are blooming as well. The apples trees (what’s left of them after the deer nibbled them all winter) are blooming beautifully.
The nectarine tree went through the winter unscathed by the deer and it looks like we might have a nice crop.
The dogwood are blooming as well, they’re native here and grow all over. These are probably my favorite spring blooming trees. All these flowering trees are great for the bees, they’ll be taking advantage and making us lots of honey with all the pollen and nectar!
What’s your favorite spring blooming tree?
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Harvesting My First Asparagus
I harvested my first asparagus last week. I have a few asparagus plants in the front foundation border because the ferns add such great texture to the garden. Each spring I harvest a few spears from these plants.
I started a proper asparagus bed last spring so I can’t harvest any of those this year. I can’t wait until my proper asparagus bed is producing, we really love asparagus.
In fact we love asparagus so much I’m considering doubling the size of my asparagus bed. I think it’s one of my favorite spring vegetables and I don’t see it at the farmer’s market very often. We love eating it sauteed or roasted and drizzled with olive oil and some freshly ground pepper.
Do you grow asparagus in your garden? What’s your favorite way to eat it?
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Saved from the Deer
I normally do not cut flowers, I prefer enjoying them in the garden, but I decided to rescue these from the voracious deer. They’re quite lovely on the dining room table and provided some inspiration for some lovely photos.
I don’t get to see many tulips unless they’re in areas where the deer don’t feel comfortable going; right next to the garage, in between the house and the garage and in certain part of the front flowerbed. I have a few patches of tulips growing in the back of our lot and on the front hillside and at least half of each patch was already munched down.
The creamy white blooms with purple petal tips are ‘Shirly’ tulips. The purple one in the background is a ‘Negrita’ Tulip. I got them in a combo pack 4-5 years ago. The big orange tulip was here when we bought the house so I’m not sure of it’s name. It’s a vigorous tulip and gives a beautiful show of giant blooms each year.
Someday I hope to have a dedicated cutting garden, but until then I’ll cut a few flowers here and there to enjoy inside, especially if the deer will eat them anyways.
Do you cut flowers from your garden to enjoy indoors?
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Quote of the Day: Rand B. Lee
Needless to say, a five by five foot plot of sweet corn is not going to feed many people for very long. But that is not why urban backyard gardeners create such things.
They create such things to remind themselves that once the world was a soil world, a bee world, a bird world and a seed world, not the concrete thing it has become.
Rand B. Lee (Pleasures of the Cottage Garden)
We live in a technology saturated society surrounded by flat images. So often we spend our time looking at photos or watching movies instead of getting out and enjoying the real thing. I garden because I like to step away from my computer and get out into the soil, bird, bee and seed world.
Do you garden to help balance out the concrete world we live in?
