Whirlwind

Every night I think, “Tonight I’ll blog”, but it’s been a four week whirlwind of activities. Tonight’s the night. There is so much to share!

My 15 yr old purple tulip bunch that I have truly enjoyed each and every year faded this year to one small purple tulip. (Plus one the bunnies might have enjoyed)

I have wonderful pictures over the years and will always remember spring mornings relaxing on the patio, looking at their gorgeous blooms swaying in the breeze.

Besides these giant new tulip “bouquets” I planted last fall,

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Last fall’s planting also brought a new, delicate bouquet of pink tulips out back. At our family gathering last week someone thought they were artificial! I reportedly gave a funny look and said, “Go touch them!” – lol. They were, admittedly, pretty “perfect”.

Right next to them, the bunnies had a munch-fest, so having them spared was awesome!

The amur maple out front flowered last week. It smelled glorious for two days, and then I got a cold. But I trust it still continued to smell wonderful for a few more days at least! Hopefully our family enjoyed it a bit!

Now the pink tulips are starting to fade, the asian lilies are starting to show buds, and the daylilies and hostas seem to have doubled in size this past week.

The days have been full. The sunsets have been incredible.

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We have also spent time up north, where the sunrises were awe inspiring.

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And we saw the sunset reflect off one of our very old old pines. We think this one is over 100 yrs. Notice it’s size compared to the other 20ish yr growth!

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Quite a difference from “Charlie” who we moved to get the camper situated.

Grow, Charlie! Grow, Charlie! He has a companion “Lucy” who we will also need to move. They will both be in decent proximity to “Linus”. You get the theme?

The seeds are half planted up north. Lifting 440 pounds of dirt into a raised bed garden was enough for me for one weekend.

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And that was 2/3 full of branches (see hugelkultur post).

Unfortunately, there is a center support that it turns out bends pretty easily when you push down on branches. Oh well! Live and learn!

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I still have one more (identical) raised bed garden to do. And I have milkweed plants to get in the ground, and stakes and chickenwire to put up once the seeds sprout, plus daylily seeds to try. It’s all so much easier to have “scope creep” in the winter when planning! But slow and steady wins the race. I keep reminding myself my gardens at the townhome are years of putzing – changing this, moving that, adding “one more thing”. This is the Year One Test Garden up north.

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.

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.

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 ☺