Out they go

Living in Minnesota, there are certain non-hardy plants that we bring in for the winter. We have two large shamrock plants and a very large, over 10 year old hibiscus.

About a month ago I got an inquiry – is it time to put out the shamrocks? The answer now is yes. When it is consistently above 40°F at night we put the hibiscus and both the shamrocks out. It will be sad this year because they are so full and nice indoors, and as you will see from the pictures below, the wind and sun beats them up almost immediately. We do keep them close to the house at first, but they have to make the transition. We have a small home, and everything has its season. And they do fine. As a bonus, the birds make good use of the dried stems and leaves for their nests. When they are done, the pots are very clean for the new growth. It is the circle of life, and nothing goes to waste.

With the large plants now outdoors I have space to start our seedlings for up north. Everything in its time.

That’s no lily

Last year I saw what I thought was a daylily volunteer from our ‘Marque Moon’ trio. I pulled it originaly thinking it was grass, but then second guessed. I planted it in our garden and this spring I have been rewarded with – grass. Out it goes. Maybe the bunnies willl enjoy it on their nightly hop-through.

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Trying out Hugelkultur

Along with the up-north plan comes my garden. Originally I envisioned at least a 20′ x 20′ garden year one, right in the ground, with no gate at first. Then I remembered we have abundant deer, bunny, and even some moose tracks on the land. They love to walk the established trail,

but they are all over the land, and new plants will be more yummy food for them to eat!

Next I thought about using a dog kennel to keep them out of the garden – and I still may do that.

Along the way we heard about Hugelkultur – using raised beds with layered organic material that slowly decomposes. Tree trunk pieces come first, then branches, then twigs, and finally soil. It sounds like a plan we can grow with!

For year one I bought two steel raised bed garden forms to try it out. We can put up chicken wire inside the forms to keep deer and hopefully bunnies out and still let pollinators in. I’m not sure about the moose. We will see.

Right now there is still snow in the forecast up north. It will be at least a month until we can get seedlings into the raised beds. But we’re ready – we have the materials and a decent plan for year one.

Just like individual plants in a garden sleep, then creep, then finally leap as they get established, so it is with this process – step by step, layer by layer.

It’s a tough call

This past weekend we “escaped” what was supposed to be a very rainy Saturday at home and headed to see how the thaw is going up north. We brought Sandy along to walk the land for the first time. He loved every sniff, and thoroughly wore himself out.

Afterward we drove to Duluth to check out how the big lake (Superior) looked. There is still plenty of ice and snow along the shore in Canal Park.

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We also learned that Sandy is not a fan of seagulls. Little dog, big noisy birds … He was ready to be done with that visit!

Back home, it is supposed to be a rainy week. I have a tough call. Some time soon I need to get the (now huge again) hibiscus back outdoors so I have room to start my seedlings for up north. The nighttime forecast is calling for temperatures just shy of 40°F all week. It will probably be next weekend until I can make that shift. It’ll be tight on time but it should still work. Up north there is still snow/rain in the forecast this week. We’re looking at around a month, maybe more, until seedlings can safely be put out up there.

All in good time.

A day’s difference

What a difference a day, and especially two, make at this time of year. Two days ago only the cherry trees had leafed out. Today this site was common.

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Yesterday our ninebarks hadn’t leafed out. Today they looked like this.

Two days ago the clematis was inches closer to the ground. Today it looked like this.

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The tulip are starting to show buds. The sedum are starting to round out. The daylilies are up 4-6″. The asian lilies are popping up in back. Even the new red asian lilies I planted in front popped up overnight. And a few hostas are starting to come up. Not as many as I’m used to this time of year, and that slightly concerns me. We lost some very healthy full hostas during the 2017-2018 winter and I was at a loss as to what happened. I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again.

But almost all the daylilies are up, including one from last year’s seedlings. And THAT is very exciting.

The tulip greens are up – hooray???

The tulip greens are, of course, well up now. I have a “love/expect little” relationship with our tulips. Many produce abundant greens every year, but no blooms. I leave them in the ground, ever so hopeful. They are tulips that bloomed beautifully one, maybe two years, but then just fizzled out. It seems they find it very easy being just green.

Last fall, once again, I planted a large bag of tulips. I do see some up already. They are the ones poking up in front of the taller tulip greens that look like they will not have blooms again this year. We’ll see how the new ones do.

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There is, however, one large bunch of purple tulips that has bloomed abundantly for over a dozen years. They are so beautiful. I just love to see them again each spring. Many many years I have shared pictures of them and friends have loved their gorgeous color. They are just starting to pop up now.

I will keep you all posted!

Our “Guest in the Garden” gets a promotion

WHAT!!!???

Yup, it’s true. Since I started working from home, our “guest in the garden” has gotten a new set of responsibilities, and a promotion. He is no longer a guest. He is now the full-time monitor of the garden, and, more importantly, the office manager.

About an hour into the day he comes in to the office to make sure everything is up to snuff, then returns to his garden monitoring activities (and occasionally a snooze). When I call in for meetings, he hears the speaker phone and comes running to circle around on his office blankie and listen in. And at the end of the day he reminds me not to over-work by prancing and sneezing to ask for his walk.

Sandy’s contributions have been invaluable and he has worked very hard for this promotion. Everyone please congratulate Sandy and welcome him to the team full-time. Please feel free to reach out to him if you have questions about the squirrels, ducks, birds, and bunnies.

Not yet

In true Midwest form, we had the first wave of a spring snow storm come through today. It’s melting a bit, but there’s cold air and more snow on the way. We started the day with a visit from our duck friend.

Now the ground looks very different.

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We’re not totally at gardening spring weather yet.

Time to wake up

Twelve days ago the tulips were the first to pop up out of the ground. They always are. It is an incredibly welcome sight.

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The next day I started to see tiny bits of green in the lawn. Tiny, but unmistakable. Then I saw the one clump of iris we still have was popping up.

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And the pink asian lilies were popping up.

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Then the robins came to take baths. And the first hen (duck) arrived. The next day she came with the drake. Then I noticed that by 5:30 am the cardinals were already singing. And the chickadees were starting to look for the hummingbird water. And the dark-eyed junkos were flocking up. (I suspect they will be leaving soon.) And the sedum were popping up …

Today I absolutely had to have my first serious garden day. Out I went with my gloves on, to trim the sedums I left for the birds this past winter. Then I picked up the large branches that had come off the linden (very normal). I left the smaller pieces for the birds to use for their nests. They do such a nice job of cleaning up! I was cleaning up the debris around the hostas, and then I saw it … the daylilies are starting to come up!!! 10 minutes later I got a text from our son’s girlfriend. Her daylilies are coming up! Now I’m jazzed – lol ☺ Out come the garden pretties (fun decorations) – the spinners, the toads and turtles and hiking and hunting bears. The bird bath. The whole shebang!!! Spring is here!!! The garden is waking up!!!

Just as I was bringing the last item – the bird bath warmer – into the garage, the predicted rain came. Big plops. Yes! I “coffeed” section two of the four areas of the garden today. Perfect timing.

Up in northern Minnesota, not so much, yet. But that’s for another day.

Coffee time begins

Today we hit 50° F. Woohoo! Hello spring!!!

The snow is melting pretty fast. Last week we lost well over a foot within a few days. The sewers and drainage ditches were overwhelmed and the farm fields had so much water in them that they looked like lakes. When the wind got howling it looked like they had mini whitecaps!

Today I can see quite a bit more grass. We still have giant piles of snow from plowing, but where the open spaces were mostly white yesterday morning, this afternoon they are at least 50% grass. The more modest snow piles now resemble a snowy version of the Badlands instead of the Himalayas. 10 days ago we looked like this:

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Soon we will see tulips and sedum starting to pop up. Today it is time for this to start going out on the gardens:

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It is coffee time!

I used to buy sprinkle/pour fertilizer granules and put that on my gardens in the fall. They were “time released” so in the spring I would see them in the soil. For the past few years I have put used coffee grounds down instead. I started because it deters slugs, and I found it also deterred bunnies and did a great job of fertilizing. My plants have gone bonkers since I started doing that. They are very happy!

I start out pretty sparingly – just light sprinkles. Then when the hostas start to come up, I also put grounds lightly around each plant. I rarely have slug issues when I get started on that process early.

If the forecast holds for Saturday, I will also have my first “patio time” of the season. Some people call it “lawn chair therapy”. Either way, it is bliss!

Wait! I also just heard the first motorcycle of the season! Oh yah!!! We Minnesotans are so ready for a new season!