Munch, Munch, Munch
The last two years have been great for acorns in our area of Maine, which translates to a large deer and turkey population. While deer are beautiful creatures, they’re also destructive to a garden. This winter has been particularly rough. Almost every shrub and tree in my gardens have been browsed heavily.
They hydrangeas were hit especially hard, I doubt there will be any blooms this coming summer. Now I have to take extra care to protect plants. Next fall you’ll find me wrapping things with burlap, adding fencing around the garden, and probably spraying some things with hot pepper oil to keep them safe from browsing deer.
Do you have issues with deer in your garden? What’s your preferred method of dealing with their winter browsing?
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Winter Garden
The garden can be a bleak place in the winter and when you live in an area where it’s winter for at least half of the year, you want to make sure there’s something interesting in the garden during those winter months. The easiest thing to add to the garden for color and beauty during the winter months is red twig dogwoods.
I took this photo last week before the big nor’easter hit. These shrubs are lovely when it’s dreary and gray outside and they’re even more stunning when there’s snow on the ground. I like to prune my back every year because the new growth is the deepest red. You can also find yellow version of this, but I don’t have any of those in my garden quite yet. Around there, the deer don’t eat it either, which is a big bonus since they mow down everything else.
What’s your favorite plant for winter interest in the garden?
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Making Old Things New
I’ve been dying indigo shibori flour sack towels for Seeds & Sundries, and while I had an indigo vat going, I decided to try to give new life to an old L.L. Bean Boat & Tote bag. It worked beautifully. These bags last forever, but being natural colored canvas, they stain and start looking a little rough around the edges. I simply dipped mine into the indigo vat twice, then rinsed and washed (by hand). The handles were originally black. I also have another one with pink handles (you can see it in the background) that I’m doing to dye and a few larger ones as well.
I used the same indigo kit that I used last summer with my nieces, this one from Jacquard is a great one for beginners. While you can (and I have) purchased the indigo supplies separately from Pro Chemical & Dye, this kit is a great way to get started. Overall, I’d call this project a success. I should have taken before photos so you can see just how dingy and dirty the original bag was. Perhaps I’ll remember when I do the next few.
What fun projects have you been doing lately? Have you been trying to find ways to make old things new again?
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Maple Sap Tea
During maple sugaring season, all tea is made with maple sap. Sometimes, I dip straight from the boiling sap kettle, other times I boil it in my teapot (depends on how long the sap kettle has been boiling). It’s amazing how much sweetness straight maple sap contains.
It pairs particularly well with certain teas, like chai, rooibos, and hibiscus. The photo above is red rooibos tea brewed in sap, it’s wonderful and probably my favorite variety of tea. It tastes great and is very good for you too.
What’s your favorite kind of tea?
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Winter Burn on Boxwood
This winter was particularly cold for a long period of time. We also had less snow than normal. A prolonged January thaw and early warm temperatures, mean the the boxwoods had a particularly rough time this winter.
The majority of my box has winter burn. It’s not really a big deal, they’ll bounce back. They just look a little sad for a while. For the most part, I don’t worry about it much. They key is to not prune the winter kill out too soon. Sometimes the plants bounce nicely. They need a good pruning this spring anyways, I’ll make sure to remove any brown bits that remain in May when I prune.
Did any of your shrubs suffer this winter?
