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.

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.

Here we go!

There is no snow in the 10 day forecast. Sandy and I took our first 1 mile walk of the season. And the cherry trees are budding out.

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I think we’re a “Go” for spring this time!

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!

A dog kennel?

We will be super busy this spring and summer building out a simple cabin on the land we bought up north. We need something that will be quick and easy for our year one northern test garden.

We have had a few dogs over the years. Some have been huge – 140 pounds. Sandy (our guest in the garden) is 9 pounds.

We know a bunch about dog kennels and crate structures. So when I was trying to figure out how in the world we were going to keep deer and bunnies and moose all OUT of our test gardens up north, dog kennels came to mind. I know it sounds crazy but I’ve run it by a few folks and they think it might just work. The kennel panels are 6′ high and we can easily line the bottom of the perimeter with chicken wire and even boards dug into the ground. If it works, we could easily add on to the structure in year two. If it doesn’t, we can do something else next year.

What are your thoughts?

Next up: How we plan to plant – Hugelkultur (with two dots over the u that I can’t seem to get to work 😉).

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 😍

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.

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 ☺