Voodoo Lily

Well its late fall here so there isn't much going on in my garden.   The bee's are for the most part staying in there hives except on really warm days.

This is go good time to start planing for next year.   I ran across this picture of Voodoo Lily 1 Bulb - Dracunculus vulgaris - Indoors/Out.   Now its not frost hardy past zone 6 so its something I will have to remember to take in for the winter.   But isn't it a lovely flower.

I have some some research on the Voodoo Lily,  it may be beautiful but there is a drawback.  When this plant blooms it gives off a horrid odor resembling that of dung or of a corpse as a means to attract flies which pollinate it.     I think I will be planting it at the far corner of the garden,  or maybe the near the mail box would be good keep the post man and his bills away.

Fall bulb planting tips

Well its that time of year again, time to start thinking about planting your bulbs for spring.  I found this grate picture that shows planting the depth for the most popular flower bulbs.    

A nice tip is to plant a few of them upside down.  They will still come up (unlike my grandmother always told me) but it will take them a few days longer to come up then the ones planted right side up.  Doing this will give you a few extra days of bloom.  

Another nice trick is to plant several types of bulbs on top of each other in the same pot.  Some bulbs come up later then others, this will extend the flowering life of your pot.  The ones that come up at the same time will give you a really pretty display, when they flower together.

If you plant them now all winter you can look at your pot and look forward to the spring. Now its time to go bulb shopping :)

Epsom salt for greener plants.

Epsom salt or Magnesium sulfate is a cheep source of magnesium for your garden.  By mixing 1 Table spoon of Epsom salt into each hole before you add your plant, or if you have already planted it you can add a table spoon to the soil around the plant.  It will help it to grow larger, greener and leafier.   You can also dissolve 1  tablespoon into a gallon of water and use it to water your plants,  trees, fruit trees, roses, all types of flowering plants and veggies.

exact amounts are not all that important.

Little visitor.

Sunday we found this little bird on the ground in Hals.  His nest had fallen off of the wall and he was just siting there on the ground.    He was very tame I put him up in a near buy plant and waited.   After 4 hours he was still there and very hungry.   We feed him some bugs, but he wasn't inclined to fly off.    I could tell he was a juvenile common house martin he still had some of his baby fluff and not all of his feathers where out yet.   I decided to bring him home with me.  His nest was on the ground there was no sign of mom.   There wasn't much else I could do.

Saturday and Sunday we feed him up on crickets and bugs.  He wasn't interested in eating the caned dog food I normally feed baby birds.     Unless of course I added some legs and things to the food then he would eat it.  Silly bird,  it must be bugs.   It's a good thing the local pet store sells live crickets  he loved those.   He was very lively and started flying around on Sunday he kept going to the window so I knew he wanted to go out.

This morning before work I feed him as many bugs as he would take then I put the cage out on the porch.    He can fly off now and start to find his own bugs.   My garden is surrounded for the most part by high trees and there are no cats in the area.   I'm hoping he wont go far as he learns to fly and hunt for himself.  When I get home if I can find him I will feed him a few more crickets.     There is a little flock of house martins not far from where I live hope he will go find them in the next few days.   They tend to like to live in flocks so he needs friends.

Update: Little bird was gone when I got home last night.  He must be able to fly well because my garden is surrounded by high trees and a hedge that is about 2 meters high.  I couldn't find him, I left his little cage on the table.  I hope he has luck finding his own bugs.

Terracing

So after the garden stairs project I was left with a little mess / problem.   The hill the stairs went up was lower then the stairs themselves every time it rained dirt was washed down onto the stairs.   I have had a problem with this little hill for a while.  A few years ago I put bark down to deter the weeds which worked very well, but every time it rained the bark would be washed down the hill into the grass.  Looked terrible and had to be raked back into the bed before we could mow the grass.

I knew I needed to terrace the hill but I wasn't sure how.   I didn't want to have to buy stones to terrace it the hill is to long and I didn't want to have to lug so many stones though the garden.   I don't think my back could take that.  I found an alternative, these little willow fences are pre-made in meter lengths and don't cost that much either.   I know they will rot out at some point but i'm hoping for a few years at least.  

This is a weekends worth of work and several (at least 10) wheel barrows full of dirt was removed to terrace it right.    I'm not done that's probably only a third of the bed that needs to be terraced but boy does it look so much nicer.   I placed landscaping cloth behind each of the little fences to keep the dirt in when it rains, I tested that it worked by over watering a section and the dirt stays in.   Once the plants grow and fill everything in I think this is going to look wonderful.  I had a load of bark delivered yesterday and I'm going to put it down on each terrace to deter the weeds, this time they wont wash out.   My plan is to use river stones in the front of the last terrace and maybe plant some succulents in it, that way we can mow the grass right up to the line where the rocks start.  I wont have to get the weed whacker out to cut the grass in front the terraces.

August Planting

August is gate time to plant seeds for a second harvest it can be productive as your early spring plantings. Late summer is a good time to plant these vegetables.

Beans:
Start planting both bush and pole beans now.   Try for a continual 7-10 day sowing of different varieties. This will give you continual bean crops and not one large harvest with more then your family can eat. Early August is the best time to sow them.

Beets:
Beets are also a good thing to sow in August they can be ready to harvest in the fall and if left in the ground you can be eating them most of the winter.

Flower Bulbs
August is a good time to plant those fall flower bulbs. There are many varieties that can be planted this fall and start blooming early spring.

Kale
Planting kale around the middle of July to the middle of August and you will get an excellent harvest in the fall and winter.

Lettuce
Sow lettuce in August for a fall crop. Try growing early harvest varieties that will produce a harvest before cold weather rolls in.

Peas
Green peas, sugar peas and snow pees are good to plant in August, and will produce a moderate fall harvest.

Radish
An easy vegetable to grow. Plant now and you can have them ready in 30 days.

Spinach
Spinach likes the cool weather vegetable and is great to grow in August.

Compost

I have two different compost bins in my garden. One for leaves, grass and trimmings from the hedge. The other is for kitchen waste.

Leaf mold

Leaf mold a grate commodity to have in your garden. Its good for around roses in the winter to keep them warm. It can be mixed around any plant really.

In the fall we use the lawn mower with the bag attachment on. You mow right over the leaves it chops them up in to nice little pieces, and sucks them up into the bag. We do the same when we trim the hedge.   I always check that we didn't trim off any large stems before we run them over with the lawn mower.   It makes a terrible nose if it runs over anything large, probably isn't good for it either.    All this nice chopped up stuff goes right into my compost bin in the far corner of back yard.     Last winter it was full by spring it had compacted and rotted down to a third of its former size.  

Kitchen compost.

Almost anything that was once alive can go into this.   I leave cooked veggies and bread out though.   Some people say it doesn't matter that you can add cooked veggies but I find it attracts more bugs.     Some fun things to add that you might not have considered.

• Egg Cartons
• Toilet paper rolls
• news paper
• bills :)
• egg shells
• coffee grounds
• wood ash (not to much go easy with this one)

Note: As long as there's no color ink on the paper it can go in.   

You need to layer your Kitchen compost.  If you put in to much wet stuff you may start to attract fly's.  If this happens just toss some soil over it or if your Leaf compost isn't to wet you can add a layer of this to it also.   

I like to cover my compost with a blanket of sorts basically its more or less some landscaping cloth I had left over. You could also use an old tarp anything works really.   The reason for this is it keeps the heat in and the fly's out so they cant lay eggs.   Again its not a requirement but I like to do it.

Once and a while I water my compost to make sure its nice and wet.  Not to wet but it should be moist, this will help the matter break down.   

Note:  You need to get the heat up in your compost.  Mine wasn't quite high enough everything rotted down but it didn't kill the seeds.  This summer I had little tomato plants growing all over my garden from the compost I had put down in the flower beds.   Not to mention the potato plants I have growing "IN" the compost bin.

Garden waste

You can add your garden waste to either of these piles.  I wouldn't recommend adding weeds unless you are sure your compost bin gets hot enough to kill the seeds.  You may  end up with lots of weeds in your garden when you use your compost.   This is worse then lots of little tomato plants all over the garden.  :)

My Kitchen compost bin with potato's growing out of the sides. 

My leaf compost

Eggs In the garden.

Plant en egg.

Place one raw egg in the bottom of the pot before you add your plant.  As the egg decomposes, it will serve as a natural fertilizer adding calcium to the soil.

Save those shells

Every time you use an egg, don't discard the egg shells, put them in a container in your fridge.  When the container  is full, crush up your shells into small bits and spread them all around the base of your plants. The sharp edges of the egg shells may stop some slugs, snails, and other bugs from nibbling on your plants and will add a touch of calcium to the soil.

Roses

Having roses in my garden is a must for me.   You can find roses of so many different shapes and colors.    I love walking out on the terrace and being assaulted by the smell.  A lot of people find roses hard to care for but really they are one of the eases plants to have in your garden.

Planting  

I know that you can buy special soil for planting roses for the most part i haven't bothered with this.  I normally just plant them in the ground and watch them grow.     I read some where that if you put a bone (beef bone) in the bottom of the hole you plant the rose in this will help.  The reasons for this is roses like Phosphate by planting a bone with the rose you ensure that it has enough for quite a long time.  Another option is to put a hand full of Bone meal in the bottom of the hole with your rose.

Pruning

In late winter or  early spring you need to prune your roses you need to wait until after the last frost.   Begin pruning out and removing any dead canes.  Dead canes can be determined by their shriveled, blackened appearance. In contrast, a healthy cane has a nice green outside and a cream or green color in the center of the cane. If only part of the cane is damaged, try to prune as close to the base or bud union as possible.

Next we can focus on the remaining healthy canes. If any of the canes are to long or not in the shape or place you want them you can remove them also.  Try to prune as close to the base or bud union as possible.

Dead heading

As your roses start to die remove them as soon as you can this will encourage the plant to flower again.   Even early flowering roses can some times be encouraged to flower again later in the year by doing this.

Pests

Aphid are the worst creatures known to roses lovers.  If allowed to stay on your roses they will suck the very life out of them.   I keep a spray bottle filled with water and a tea spoon of dish washing liquid and a little vinegar ready for this.  Spray the hole plant where you see the Aphids and  they will die and for a little wile not come back.   Another option is to get a lot of bird feeders.  I have a full flock of small birds that frequent my garden they love to hang off the roses eating the Aphids for me.   

Here is a full list of rose Pests and diseases 

Tips

This is an old tip from my grandmother.  Roses love coffee.  Save your coffee grounds and put them directly on the ground around your roses.     The picture at the head of this article is from a rose bush that was in the garden of the house I bought 3 years ago.    The first summer there was 1 rose,  the second summer there was 3, this summer there are 15+.   All I have done to this rose bush is give it coffee and prune it every year. Now it gives me the most beautiful red roses that last more then 2 weeks on the bush each. 

Garden Stairs

After work on day i was weeding around the stairs in the garden.  I could see the ants where back again.  Last year we had a huge problem with ants eating out under those stairs.  I wasn't very smart and decided to look under one of the stones.  Which lead to me pulling up all the stones.   That's when i could see what the problem was who ever built those stairs didn't put sand under them they where pretty much right on the dirt.  But by this time i had demolished the stairs.   So what does that mean we need to build new stairs!

trailer full of sand and stones for the new stairs.

As you can see there isn't much left of the stairs that where there.

Nice hole we have here don't you think?

The white line is the level of chalk in the soil.  We had to chip our way down the last bit.

Oh a step :)

Now there's two. 

Doesn't it look awesome!

The only thing i forgot was to put down some type of cloth to keep the ants from coming back.  But other then that they look grate.  The best thing of all they work :)

Baby Blackbirds

It seams that a Common Blackbird decided that the bush next to my front door would be a nice place to have her baby's.

They where so cute.  Over the following week mom and dad brought lots of bugs.  We spent a few days out working on the bee hives in the carport near the bush.  It was funny because while we where there dad simply wouldn't go in and feed the baby's while we watched.     We had to turn our backs then dad would fly right in to the nest and feed the baby's.

The bad thing about the nest being here was that when the baby's flew off they ended up in my neighbors yard, she has a dog.  The dog found the baby's in the garden and they got scared tried to go back to the nest.   One ended up flying into the garage and it took me 15 minutes to find it under all the boxes and stuff in there.  The other ended up flying into the house when the front door was open.   I relocated baby birds to my garden where dad and mom quickly came and yelled at me for walking around with there baby's.  

Over the next few weeks I could see mom and dad teaching the baby's how to find juicy worms in my lawn.  I love having baby blackbirds every year.