Expanding the Garden
On Wednesday we ran over to my mom’s house because she’s letting us expand her garden. Since we have limited full-sun areas in our gardens, she offered to let us plant our popcorn at her house.
My mom and I covered the new garden area with a tarp back in March so that the grass would be smothered. When we uncovered it, it was ready to till up.
We pulled out the old tiller and finally got it started. I had a good laugh, it was a lot like Good Neighbors.
When it was finished my mom’s garden is now 1/3 larger than it was. I’ll be heading over some time next week to plant my popcorn, beans and squash for a proper 3 sisters garden.
Anyone else growing popcorn?
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Chipmunks, A Small Problem?
The eastern chipmunk is the same size as the ground squirrel, but is found in more woodland or woodland edge habitat and has only two light stripes. Absent only from the northwest corner of Iowa, they inhabit neighborhoods with mature trees and shrubs, rock and wood piles and retaining walls. While they may live in holes dug in the ground, they are more likely to live in the retaining walls, beneath decks or even in holes in trees. They do not hibernate in the winter and, though they sleep for days at a time, can be seen raiding bird feeders on warm winter days.
I’ve got a big problem, chipmunks, or grinnies as some people call them. They’re cute as can be really, but destructive little rodents for sure. They have been digging up my seedlings on the back deck and eating the seeds that I plant (although the ones that ate my castor beans seeds are taken care of).
We used to have a pair of owls that kept the population under control, but I haven’t seen them this year. Aside from getting a pet falcon, I’m looking into easy ways to deal with my overpopulation of chipmunks. I’d love to get rid of them without letting my cats outside (I don’t want them to get worms or eat birds). I really hate to kill them, however they’re starting to dig holes around the foundation of our home. I’d rather not deal with drainage issues from that, so it’s time to wage war on the grinnies. I’ve heard good things about chipmunk swimming pools, anyone tried them?
Anyone have any great tips on getting rid of chipmunks?
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Potatoes, the Wonder Crop?
The potato produces more calories and protein than any other food crop in terms of space and amount of time. It also stores for up to 6 months under good conditions and can be grown in marginal soil anywhere from sea level up to 13,000 feet. The potato produces about 10,000 pounds of food per acre. A 100 foot row can vield 150-300 pounds of potatoes per year. The average American currently eats about 140 pounds of potatoes per year.
Since Christy asked about my potato growing methods yesterday I thought I’d talk about potatoes today. I don’t grow a ton of potatoes, I have a good local source for organic potatoes, so I prefer to use my garden space for other crops, like tomatoes. I do plant a small batch of potatoes though, usually just 10 seed potatoes. They get their own 2 x 5 ft raised bed.
When they grow tall enough I add another box and then fill it with soil. Last year I only got one extra box put on, but this year I may do 1 more making it a total of about 3 feet tall. I’m hoping to get a pretty good potato harvest from this small space by building up. Last year I tried the add straw and not soil method and I wasn’t very happy with the results, so this year they’re getting good old dirt.
Next year I would like to grow a few different varieties of potatoes for fun, anyone have any great suggestions?
How do you grow your potatoes?
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Around the Gardens
I spent yesterday evening working in the garden. It was the perfect night, cool and breezy and the sunset was beautiful. I love working outside as the sun is setting, it’s always so peaceful and the light is lovely. I had my camera by my side and I spent more time snapping photos than weeding or watering as I should have been. So I thought I’d just share some photos of my gardens as they currently look.
Arugula blooming and spilling out of it’s raised bed.
I was trying to take some photos of my catmint plant, which the bumblebees love. I caught this one in mid-flight, not quite in focus, but I still love it.
I really like that chives bloom for so long.
Time to harvest this chamomile for winter teas.
The first bloom on my dark pink peony, it’s hiding on the back side of the fence.
We had a bit of rain shower on Saturday and the peonies always end up on the ground, I guess they need better drainage.
Lucy also enjoyed the evening in the garden.
I love it when the sun shines on the peas and you can see the little peas in the pod.
Things are getting a little crowded in the front flowerbed. I think it’s time to divide some perennials.
The potatoes seem to grow 6 inches each day!
I love the sunlight at this time of night, perfect!
What’s your favorite time of the day to work in the garden?
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Wild Foxglove
When we moved in here we had this wild foxglove that blooms along the edges of the woods. It’s truly lovely, I really love the greenish yellow color.
One of the things I really love about this plant is that it’s much hardier in our climate than most other foxgloves. I have grown foxglove from seed several times and they always live for a few years and then they die off during one of our really cold winters. This foxglove spreads every year no matter what kind of winter we have. It’s also much shorter than regular foxgloves, only growing about 24 inches tall.
I keep wanting to save some seeds from it and try to start more of them to plant around the shady woodland edges. The problem is that I always forget to mark the plant and then I can’t find it when it goes to seed. Perhaps this will be the year I will finally remember. If it get some I’ll be happy to share seeds with anyone that’s interested.
What kinds of native wildflowers do you like? Have you ever had success propagating wild plants?
