The last two evenings we’ve had nice weather here in NE Indiana. With temperatures in the mid 50’s F, not wanting to waste this unseasonably fine weather, I spent some time caring for the maples, arborvitaes, and flowering cherry trees. It felt so good to get my hands in the soil again; breaking up the crust of last year’s wood…
The Chippewa blueberry is setting buds nicely. The two transplants are still showing no signs of life. This concerns me, as I will need at least one of these plants to pollinate the Chippewa. If the Chippewa was a two-year-old start I wouldn’t be too concerned, because I would not let it set fruit this year, but since…
This past week has been full of minor garden related activities and some lessons learned. First, all of the berries have been planted into their containers. We currently have three different blueberry varieties, two raspberries, and one strawberry container. Blueberries- For nearly all blueberries, it is critical to have multiple varieties for efficient pollination. I thought I…
The compost bin is finally up and running! I’ve had the addition of a compost bin on my list for some time, but I hadn’t decided where to place it and what to make it from. I wanted to have a compost bin that was self-contained, wouldn’t dry out to quickly or stay too wet during rainy…
We have recently expanded our container garden to include some strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Last year I planted a couple of two-year-old blueberry plants, only to have them flounder through the summer and get nearly destroyed by winter-starved bunnies. These both appear to have made it through the winter alive. I’ve transplanted them into containers and…
During the last few days the weather here in NE Indiana has begun to turn more “springlike”. Sunny days with highs in the low forties and cold frosty nights. The buds on the trees appear to be plumping right before my eyes and the boxwoods out front are showing signs of their spring growth. As I sit here writing at…
It’s amazing how wonderful a sunny evening and 42-degrees F feels after a long, cold, snowy winter. As simple a task as cutting down some ornamental grasses was, it felt so incredibly relaxing and refreshing. With my ever-expanding awareness of Permaculture and landscape design, I now view our landscape in a totally new light. I’ve become more aware of the beautiful, living, breathing, evolving ecological canvas…
Having spent a lot of time in the great out-of doors, I was aware of the synergy that the web of life provides, but I never gave much thought about the inter-relations within the home landscape. Jack Spirko, and his TSP podcast, helped enlighten me to principles of Permaculture. I’ve been hooked on Permaculture research…
The time has come to take down the rest of our messy hybrid willows. Come Monday, they will be nothing but stumps. We’ll have those ground out come springtime. We were in no rush to deal with the last eight willows but after seeing the mess of switches they littered all over the neighbors’ yards after just…
Follow-up to yucca cordage video…