Garden Resolutions

At the end of every season, I start to compile little notes of things I want to do better next year, or definitely not repeat, or something I saw somewhere else and want to copy in my garden. Usually the notes get more feverish as the winter toils on, and in greater quantity. By the time the tulips are blooming, I'm usually overcome with spring fever, breaking rules I set for myself and allowing exceptions into the garden cart.

So here's my attempt to be a better planner for 2012. (And my ramblings for the future.)


1. Cut down on the tomatoes! There is way too much space devoted to growing them, and the yields have been hit and miss over the past two years.
2. Impatiens along the garage in pots worked really well. So did growing them by seed.
3. Sweet allysum works well grown from seed, and in pots. Try to incorporate more plants into the garden where the spring bulbs are blooming.
4. Get the proper equipment to grow pole beans. Maybe skip bush beans?
5. Eggplant need more sun- perhaps grow them in a bed on the front lawn?
6. Try to grow pumpkins along the border with my neighbor, in front of the lilacs.
7. A book I'm reading now, called "Slow Gardening," suggested (tongue in cheek) to grow a living fence of corn between neighbors. Hmmm....
8. Try to grow more zinnias around the back patio.
9. Start cosmos seeds directly in ground. (They get too leggy when I start them inside and try to transfer out.)
10. The lettuce bed with carrots worked really well! (And I'm still harvesting lettuce and parsley today, without the aid of a floating row cover or cold frame! Wow!)
11. Get more hellebores.
12. Create pots out front like window boxes we photographed in Vermont.


That's a decent start.

The Bird Count Begins!

Tufted Titmouse at the feeders in late October.

This year I'm taking part in Project FeederWatch, which is celebrating it's 25th year. It's the first time I'm officially counting the birds that visit my two feeding stations (and garden). I registered earlier this week so I don't have my official login information yet, but I'm keeping a notepad handy to record information until it arrives. The official count runs between Nov. 12, 2011 and April 6, 2012. According to the website, data from Project FeederWatch helps "scientists track broadscale movements of winter bird populations and long-term trends in bird distrubution and abundance."

To avoid counting the same birds over and over, the directions specify to count the largest number of each bird variety you see at one time. For example, earlier this morning I only saw one tufted titmouse at my feeder, but by this afternoon, there were three in the garden at one time. So my current tally is three. I only count birds for two consecutive days, then I skip five days (different directions apply if you do not count online). Since I don't have my official kit yet, I'm considering treating today as a trial day, and making my usual count days Sundays and Mondays, when I definitely would have more access to watching the feeders.

For more information on how to participate, click here.

Week in Review

The calm after the storm.

We did end up losing power 15 minutes after I made my last post. And it didn't come back on until Tuesday at 2:30 a.m. We were part of the lucky CT residents who got power back early. Today, there are still state residents in the dark waiting for damage to be fixed to their homes so the power can come back on.

Neighbor's lilac bush under weight of the snow. (Taken before we lost power Saturday.)

Our front walkway with perennials (The Fairy Rose and Agastache, among others)
bending from weight of the snow. (Taken before we lost power on Saturday.)

Luckily, we fared well in the storm. The first night- Saturday - the winds tossed the trees around our property back and forth. It was dark, and the noise was frightening. Overnight, something hit our roof, and we braced ourselves for damage that luckily never came. Sunday morning, the snow had slowed and I opened the front door to see what waited outside. Six inches of snow clung to our trees and sent them bowing over.

View from the front door.

Our Kwanzaa cherry tree under the weight of the snow.

Our poor pear tree. Luckily, the damage is not as bad as it appeared on Sunday morning!

A little bird surveys the damage.

There was an alarmingly large number of tree damage in our town. Our neighbor's maple tree took a beating-- dropping branches on our roof and suspending an incredibly large one upside down in our yard.

Damaged maple tree branch dangles over our property.

As the snow slowly melted as the week went on, the rapid advancement toward winter and the absence of fall became obvious.

Baptista seed pods on Monday morning.

Hydrangea leaves on Monday morning.

Still, the garden fought on. This unseasonable weather has dampened my spirits as well. Try as hard as I might to get motivated to clean up the yard, rake, cut back plants, and more, my heart is not in it. The season was ripped away.