Home / Blogs / CritterPainter's Blog / August 2006 /

bunny fertilizer, and sand?!?

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 6:43 pm

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I weeded out the site by my cabin to plant my new fuschia. Apparently, that's where a bunch of sand leftover from a construction project got dumped. Huzzah, another garden challenge (grump) Think I'll just beef up the area as best I can with bunny fertilizer before I stick any unsuspecting plants into it. All my bunnies are shedding like crazy right now because of the hot weather. Garnet actually let me pick him up and cuddle him a bit, and I came away with a white angora shirt from it. Garnet is an albino minilop, and has the Worlds Softest Fur! Unfortunately it would be a royal pain to gather enough to spin a decent amount of yarn from, but it crosses my mind every time I pet him. His mother, Esther, produces a most prodigious pile of pellets for my garden, bless her little bunny self.
Bunnies produce a "hot" fertilizer, though not so hot as chickens do. I either let the pellets age under the cages or pile it behind some trees to let it mellow a bit. In the winter when the garden is asleep and it's raining constantly, I just take wheelbarrow loads and spread the pellets throughout the garden. It works down through the shredded bark mulch and makes a good bed for the spring growth to get started in.

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day 2

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:22 am

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OK, so here's where three of my paintings are on the web, I'll try to post more http://windygate.home.att.net
My animal inventory stands, for the moment, at 7 bunnies, 4 chickens, 2 goats, 2 dogs, a cat, outdoor goldfish, and 2 parakeets. I've pared waaaay back from what I used to have!
Anyway, the grocery store in town had hardy fuschias for 5 bucks, so I picked one up to plant by the little cabin/greenhouse where I like to paint and where I start seeds. Now I just need to get the weeds out of the patch where I'll plant it, and try to convince my old-timer doggie that it isn't a good place to take a nap!
I think alot of the wildfires I know about don't make the news. I hear the engines tearing by every few days now, they are probably getting the fires out before they amount to much. One came within a few feet of my neighbors house a couple of weeks ago, and I've seen the fire department roll down there a couple of times since, probably checking for hot spots and such. It's so dry out, a bit of glass magnifying sunlight onto a bit of dry grass can start a blaze going. ugh!

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All rocks and no soil, a gardening challenge!

Category: gardening among the rocks | Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 5:07 am

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My gardening challenge is simple but enormous. I live on a rocky prairie. On land that, when my grandparents came out West, made them roll their eyes and keep on moving to found a town on more friendly soil. Seriously! The ground here holds onto marks made in it for a looong time, and running through what is now my goat pasture are a set of ruts that were probably made by a horse drawn wagon!
Anyways, that part of my place I maintain in wildflowers. I have to mow the whole thing 2 or 3 times a year to keep the nonnative brush down, but as long as my riding mower holds out, it isn't too bad. And if the weather would go back to my old familiar mild-and-rainy, the wildflowers will go on doing well. I have everything from meadowlarks to california quail, wild bunnies to porcupines visiting my bit of prairie, and I love it. But, to create a green fire break near my house, and to continue developing my Pseudo-Japanese garden near the evergreens, is a really huge challenge. If I plant a tree, and at the same time a friend with decent soil plants a tree, within a very short time the difference is obvious. A crabapple I planted here 15 years ago is far more spindly and scraggly than I would like!
So, I raise bunnies. Not only because, well, I adore bunnies, but also because they produce a nice fertilizer. I let it pile up & compost for a while, then spread it around the garden. So I'm gradually getting a bit of actual soil going. But I still have a long way to go.
I plant my veggies in raised beds. My sweetie built these almost 15 years ago, and they are rotting slowly despite being cedar. Gonna have to work on that. They have landscape fabric under them to keep the soil from washing away.
Whew, that's enough for one night. Hope it rains soon, the wildfires around here are getting scary!

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