Author: ellineer

Not a great video because of fog. But there are four, count ’em 4 coyotes in our midst this night. Not sure if one is a juvenile from last year’s cubs, or just another hanger-on coming to see how the ‘pros from Dover’ do it. When there’s three coyotes, they sometimes triangulate the backyard to flush out the bunnies, and then the others catch it (see one of the videos from last to see that practice).

Had a nice summer and fall as far as the garden goes. Good cycles of rain which seemed to be mostly at night, and hand watering wasn’t really necessarily. The native plants lasted with some green on the deciduous plants into December.

We decided to have the two large pine trees removed from the backyard. They were there and had been topped multiple times before we moved in. The branches were spreading pretty widely and no arborists would prune it anymore. So now there’s a whole lotta space and sun for a new meadow,and to bring more light to all the long suffering plants under or behind the pine. The crows were a little befuddled, as we knew they would be, but they seem to recognize the place still. There’s still a juvenile shore pine and neighbor’s trees to nest in.

Previously the lower back yard was completely obscured by trees beyond the border of the deck. Now we can just see the street in the winter. The winter pic is from a year or so ago but gives the idea. Another small pine also removed because it was a lodge pole pine and would get too big (sold as shore pine, as some are). Now we have the possibility of seeing a critter trotting through during the day in the winter, as our video shows so many of – during the day at all hours as well as at night.

We had the deed done in December, between the last of the greenery and the first of the bulbs and other early starters. We had the two stumps ground, too, so we could have a start-over platform to move our Adirondacks and some patio stones to, and develop the garden back to that point. There is now lots o’ sun, and a fair amount of space.

Speaking of stump grinding and tree removal, though, there was a bit of a cleanup for me. They did a good job getting all the branches and stuff out and didn’t leave any real messes. But stump grinding produces a lot of mulch which is combined ground wood and dirt, about 6-8″ deep in the area of the two trees. This covered a few feet of some plants and required a dig-out and haul-off of the mulch, as well as the usual raking out of pine needles out of all the poor hapless plants that line the path to the street for removal. And that path, well, that became obscured soon after the operation started, so the “path” ended up straight through some of the plants. But they’re recovering and all’s well. It will be interesting to see what comes to life once the large dominating pines are gone….

Speaking of critters, lots of coyote sightings. They also seem to be coming more frequently since the tree removal, maybe they like the hunting odds. For the bunny, it’s no different because I don’t think the trees affected them. Early yesterday morning, for instance, we have a lower quality idea of 2 coyotes after one of them has caught a bunny, unfortunately camera not on early enough. The only good video we have of a coyote carrying prey is of a black and white cat.

Doing well this year, due to a few changes and decent weather. I tried to pick a new seed brand this year and made a point of it being a different brand. But it turned out to be the same company, different label. Maybe different source, though, labeled “organic” and this time they seem to be doing very well, from a vegetation and flowering standpoint.

Tomatoes are stars so far this year. I found a deeper, 20″ pot for the tomatoes and only bought one cherry tomato plant from Sky called “Sweet Million”, as regular sized tomatoes never ripen in time. This plant seems to have a good upright habit with strong stems and I haven’t had to train or tie them to the cage. I also haven’t had to address and mites or other pesky problems that were probably related to too small a pot. Tomatoes have deep roots, and you’re supposed to bury most of the stems of the start, which is hard to do when the pot is too short. The start had a small first spray of flowers which I took off because it was too early….the plant wasn’t tall enough. There is concern that nutrient resources would be diverted to flowers during crucial plant growth time, but I’m not sure there isn’t also a chemical feedback system that is affected by early flowers, which could result in a shorter or ultimately less productive plant. It would make sense, given the sophistication of the plants world, we’re finding. Of course, have I looked that up or done any research other than think about it? Not yet, but I will, and you just KNOW I’ll have an update. Now there are tons of flowers and developing tomatoes, some should begin to ripen I would think by the end of this month. August and September should be good tomato months!

I feed all the plants with liquid Alaska fish fertilizer every two to three weeks which doesn’t burn plants. They seem to like it fine. Last year I think the beans were mislabeled and were actually bush beans, the only way to explain their inertia and ultimate failure. The beans actually pressed themselves to climb this year, and once they reached the tallest spot on the highest pole (they in fact are pole beans this year, it seems) they started out for nearby tree branches, the mesh fencing on the sides and each other. I’m thinking of finding a pole to plant in the middle of the planter bed for some of the other new strays that are bound to come along. Bean heaven. And they’re great stir fried fresh with a little Szechwan sauce, served on a plate with tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers. Others on track….good carrot growth but no carrots emerging yet. Actually have a dozen or so cucumbers as flowers or developing cukes, that’s a first because they haven’t liked it here in two tries. If those turn out, and are also edible, I may actually try that brand again….who knew, though they are probably different sources than the icky brand from last year. Green onions doing fine but then they’re easy. I haven’t had the nerve to eat a bunch of native onions, but I have a whole lot of nodding onions that I could afford to try sometime. I know the native people here ate them.

The lettuce is post-glory, having started to finally bolt the last week or two. We got a few meals out of it, they do produce dense heads that are relatively free of bug damage. Which is probably because it’s too tough to eat. Kind of on the leathery side. Touted as the company’s alternative to butter lettuce, it’s called honey crisp and except for its shape, I don’t think it is similar. What I did plant just last week, seven days ago, is BRUSSEL SPROUT seeds, and they’re already sprouting well! They seem like they’re hardy seedlings, which bodes well for their survival….slugs smell blood when they think you’re weak. They aren’t a very impressive photo yet, though, I’ll add one in a few days.

Some pix of the little container bed, the little veggie garden definitely not in its natural habitat but safe enough from deer and bunnies and seems happy enough with its prison. Though those beans, if they could talk. They do seem to be sending it a lot of leads, about three or so each now……

Just a few of the things we’ve seen the coyotes do over the last couple of years. The first is the very first video of “Wiley”, the male. The second is of him “marking” the buckwheat, followed by “Wilma” who looks like she’s going to mark it, too, then changes her mind and takes a dump on it! No respect! He comes around a little later and checks out the scent, maybe being surprised? Could be awkward at home….

A few random videos, including the best rabbit chase out of several, and the last video is of a successful cat-hunt (there is another corrupt one ). We have a bunch more videos, mostly of them of the coyotes sniffing around a bit or pointing, before moving on. We have seen three coyotes together several times, two smaller females (Willetta) and the male, who is also known as “Pretty Boy” around here. Actually, we’ve never met. They’re way too skittish.

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Lettuce getting big, need to thin out. Carrots coming up, including the second wave of sowing that is most of them. Onions sprouting on target. Germinating cucumber and bean seeds now. Planted one large cherry tomato plant (sweet million) deep in a 20″ pot, starting to grow. I gave it a scoche of lime as one site recommended. The several days of 70-80’s and sun kick started the veggies and some perennials.

Starts came up last week, about the 3rd or so, already thinned them. I planted five rows of raised “hills” for planting the lettuce. JUST starting to see the onion seedlings come up, no sign of carrots yet. I will raise the dirt up again in mounds for the bean and cucumber seeds in the back of the planter in May, so they get a little more light behind the carrots (also only two rows of carrots for this reason).

Delphinium Menzenseii has come up, but I’ve had to protect it from slugs. We had tried it and the Nutellii variant a couple of times but they never survive. I remember why now, they always got eaten by slugs. One day to the next the first two tiny leaves got ‘et’. First I put both a glass bowl cloche and some slug bait around it. But something kept digging at the bowl and getting inside, it turns out only to eat the slug bait. I think it was birds, but at least they’ve left it alone and there are about six small leaves now. Maybe it will be the bluebell in the bubble…..watching its vigorous cousin trifoliata leaf out and flower in four places, but at least I’ll get it through the season. That is until it suffocates in the glass cloche.

Also, have two new (actually 3 but one not planted) Vanilla Leaf plants, one of which has six leaves and looks great, in a new spot in the lower back yard. Another one had two leaves eaten despite a cloche, so I moved it, haven’t seen much come up yet but the stems I saw in the soil looked promising.

Below are Delphinium and a small patch of Vanilla Leaf from a couple of years ago, which is now spreading slowly in a couple of areas….need to update pix this year for a few of these I see:

Actually started it Thursday 3/28

Planted five raised rows of “Buttercrunch” Bibb style variant lettuce, shorter variety carrots, and green onions. Reserved space for Pole beans and cucumbers. Got an organic variety of seeds, from Sky nursery. Unfortunately, it turns out they are from the exact same place as those from last year, when the yields were so miserable, didn’t know this until we were home with them. They are a different “brand” than last years, maybe they’re from a different source and they’ll turn out OK. Maybe this year the pole beans will actually climb, instead of demurring halfway through….

For the record, almost all of the sword ferns have been shorn. A couple were left in front because they are being taken out, and they provide staging for the birds at the feeder. Since most of them are going to be opening up later in April, they probably won’t be used by the towhees for nesting this year. They used one of them in a snowberry hedge cluster in the back last year but it’s now been pruned.

Also tried to shear down the hedge fronts, especially the spirea, and any leftover perennial stems around the yard in prep for spring growth. Pruned the tea plant outside to 21″ , since its last pruning before we got it was to 15″. Some instructions say to prune in January, but that may be for warmer climates.

Caught a wren on camera going into one of the roosting holes in the hanging planter, but only because the chickadee triggered the camera first: