Author: susansdailygarden

Upcycling, staying uncluttered, and seed starting

This week we received the heirloom seeds we ordered for the first test garden up north.

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Next up is upcycling toilet paper and paper towel rolls for the next month, to be used as biodegradable seedling starter plant pots.

Since the size of our townhome is modest, and I am super into a peaceful, uncluttered home, I am struggling a bit with the amount of stuff that is being staged in our townhome, waiting to go up north, at least two months out.  If it has to collect, it needs to stay organized 😉   Hence, the pink craft box.  Hopefully things can stay relatively contained until I begin to start the seedlings.  Then, unfortunately, I suspect things will be pretty busy looking around here until all those seedlings are safely in the ground.

More to come on how the seedlings will stay safe from the deer, rabbits and moose.

Prepping for up north

One of the things my husband has been reminding me of is that our habits for up north will need to be very different from our townhome.  One of those habits has to do with those tiny little creatures called field mice … who love easily accessible people food … and who can fit in the tiniest of spaces.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I am no stranger to field mice.  But we are here every day, and the guest in the garden is here (Sandy the dog ☺) so we don’t have to take much precaution with dry goods food storage.  I buy in bulk bags from Costco, and we leave things like brown rice and chia seeds in the heavy duty ziptop bags they come in.  But that will be different up north.  Given free reign, field mice laugh at plastic bags.  So while we wait out the end of winter before we can get in to start prepping the cabin site, I have been making lists.

One of the things on the list was airtight food storage containers.      ✔ that as done.  I found a 10 pc set of lock tight containers on sale.  They looked so snazzy I bought a set for up north and a set for the townhouse.  Pretty much loving them 😍

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Heirloom Seeds and the Shamrocks

Yesterday I bought heirloom seeds for our test garden up north – pickling plume lettuce, scarlet kale, asparagus, echinacea, zebrina hollyhock (one of my all time favorites), and some more milkweed.   I’m getting excited to get started.  It feels a bit like old times when I had seed starting trays by our west facing patio door.  I suppose I will start the seeds indoors again, but will wait for a month or so.  My guess is we won’t plant up there until the end of May or even early June.

Yesterday I also did some “indoor gardening” on the shamrocks and the amaryllis.  The shamrocks are the healthiest they have ever looked in March.

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Usually by this time at the end of winter they are very scraggly and I can hardly wait to get get them back outside in April so the birds pluck away all the dried stems in between the live ones and use them for their nests.  This year it may be a bit longer.

The amaryllis did not bloom for the second year in a row.  I suspect I should follow best practices going forward and put it in a dry dark place for a few months.  I am, however, tempted to send it to compost in the spring, along with a leggy succulent.  We’ll see.

 

The Robins Return

Over the past couple days we’ve seen a few more robins in the trees.  Today dozens at a time were flying in.

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Tonight we’re having what is supposed to be the last sub-zero night of this long winter (-6°F).  I hope they were able to tuck into warm places.

Snow is on the way for the weekend, but the temperatures are slowly warming.  Soon we will see kids out wearing shorts on 40°F days!  It’s a sure sign we are all ready for the massive mounds of snow to start melting.

 

 

 

Asclepias

Last week I ordered our first 6 deer resistant plants for up north.  Asclepias (milkweed) are the plant where monarch larvae mature to become butterflies. Some sources say the monarch population has decreased by 80% in the past 20 yrs, partially due to pesticide overspray that is killing asclepias.  They are not to be a cut flower (poisonous) but are very beneficial for the monarch population.  They also attract honey bees and hummingbirds use the seed pod floss to line their nests.  We’re going to try them as a naturalized plant up north.  More to come – bearded iris and coneflowers will be our next purchases.

Beautiful day; more snow on the way

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Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day following an almost aqua colored night due to the upcoming super snow moon.  Last night’s sunset, however, told a “not yet” story as clouds rolled in for the 6-10″ of snow we are supposed to get today.  It looks like we are headed into our typical March snow pattern, with big snowfalls followed by slowly increasing temperatures.  It may not feel like it today, but spring is on the way.

Up north, it may take longer.  We hear the snow is waist deep.  But Minnesotans are hearty folk 😉  One gentleman told us he and his wife snowshoed out to grill shrimp on the fire.  We are dreaming of that day!  Maybe next year winter we can do that.

Our daily visitor

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Last summer we had baby cardinals in our green space.  It was so fun to watch Mom and Dad come and get their food, fly to feed the hatchlings, and then we’d hear chirping.  Throughout the winter we have had a pair of cardinals who come to eat early in the day and then again late – about 5pm.  Today they are here again.  So beautiful!  Such a treat!  They are definitely well fed!

Lots More Space

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Well, we did it!  After years of passively searching and over six months of actively seeking property in northern Minnesota, we closed on 40 beautiful acres of wooded high ground not far from Canada.  Yup.  It’s cold.  It’s REALLY cold sometimes.  Yup, there’s a lot of snow.  But it’s our cold, snowy dreamland now.

It will be a pretty big process.  There is an old logging path so that job is already done, but there is no well or septic, and no dwelling at all.  There is a natural clearing we plan to use as the homesite, but it will probably be at least late April, maybe later until we can start that preparation.

And then there is the garden.  So far we have seen A LOT of deer and snowshoe rabbit tracks and some tracks that look like moose tracks.  Plus lots of field mice.  So a tall gated garden lined with chicken wire will be necessary.  We also know that composting would not be wise (bear yummies).

Some of my favorites from years ago are probably going to make a comeback.  It sounds like bearded iris, daffodils, and grape hyacinth are deer resistant.  I know from experience they naturalize beautifully!

We never dreamed we’d do something this big.  Well, my husband hoped …  We still plan to keep our townhome for at least the foreseeable future, but who knows.  God may have plans we could never imagine!  Can’t wait to share this wild adventure between our townhome and the woods with you all!

Please share any zone 3 woodland gardening expertise that may be helpful ☺

Two more gorgeous days!

We had another gorgeous day yesterday, and a third today.  Besides more sun and increasingly longer days now, 47° F is quite a treat for January in MN!

Here’s sunrise pics from the past two days

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and sunset pics from yesterday.

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Tomorrow is supposed to drop more than 10° F and be cloudy so we took every opportunity to enjoy this special treat!