Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"
The last couple of days have been on the mild side very much welcomed from the previous week of cold temperatures and blizzard conditions. My husband was at Home Hardware to pick up more salt for the driveway. He brought home the spring edition of Home at Home, an idea magazine put out by Home Hardware. There's always great ideas in the magazine as well as instructions on how to complete the projects.
One of the projects is a plant cage meant to keep rabbits, groundhogs, deer and cats out of the garden or at least away from susceptible plants. The box is constructed like my square foot beds but has supports and a top rail that rises about a foot making the overall height about 18 - inches tall. Carpenter's cloth is stapled securely around the base, supports and rails. Then a hinged top is added that consists of 2 x 2 with carpenter's cloth fastened underneath. The end result when closed the plants are well protected from common garden pests.
This is an excellent way to turn a raised bed into a protected bed. As they did it a 4' x 4' bed could easily be protected from rabbits, squirrels and sometimes the nuisance birds. I'm thinking a refined version would help prevent squash borer in my zucchini plants as well. There are so many ways this design could be customized to deal with a few common garden pests.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
Here I was concerned over the lack of snowfall but earlier this week we ended up with about 35 cm of fresh snow total over two days. They were calling for 10 cm on the second day but we only got about 5 cm. A couple of hours ago it started snowing again. I haven't heard how much we are supposed to get. The cell isn't very big so should be finished here in an hour or so. We've had about 3 cm of fresh snowfall so far. If it keeps up this way we will likely have another 5 cm total. Gotta love winter!
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
The Crow
January 31, 2011
Crows are large nuisance birds that cost local farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. In urban settings they are such a nuisance that some folks have taken to shooting them with pellet guns. Home gardeners can also have problems with crows. Regardless where you live, crows can be a huge problem with getting into garbage bags set out for collection. They can make quite the mess!
We are rural on waterfront property so luckily the crows tend to be more of a nuisance for the farmland across from rather than bother us much. Recently a flock of crows have been visiting our large maple trees where they forage around the base of the trees. The snow isn't quite as deep there. They fly between the open water back to the trees, down to forage then repeat. While crows don't land on the water they can get water by standing on the ice. The crows are rather aggressive towards the smaller waterfowl but tend to behave themselves when the swans are around.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Snow and More Snow
February 2, 2011
We heard warnings of an impending snowstorm to hit our area almost a week before it hit. Monday evening the local cancellations started being announced with more Tuesday morning since the storm was to hit Tuesday evening. Grocery stores were a bit busier than usual but that's the norm anytime a snowstorm is announced. The snow started about dinner time Tuesday night. My husband had put a sign that the office would be closed on Wednesday due to the weather so this morning was a little disappointed to see asphalt in the driveway. Then he realized our driveway had been plowed out. Throughout the night we had about 30 cm of fresh snow accumulation with another 10 cm predicted during the day. Once the winds died down visibility improved and drifting lessened so he headed into the office for half the day. It continued to snow thoughout the day by evening it was clear. And here I was worried about what the lack of snowfall would mean for the upcoming growing season.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
