annieh---I like it. Your garden area looks great even in the 'off-season'. The idea of a path through the woods leading to a small writing shed sounds very appealing. Question: can you write without electricity? Kerosene lamp?
Hi annieh. Your plot looks great and what an area for shade and part shade lovers. If your winters are not too bad thats also a blessing. Send a pic later next year when its all done. I do have this problem in remembering that in the US your winters can be very much more severe than we here in UK - what level of frost in your zone do you get please. Syd.
Cayuga, I would like to get really ambitious and one day add a small solar panel to the cabin for any lighting. It's definitely going to be a work in progress! Syd, our average low for January, which is our coldest month, is around 27F but can get colder on any given day. We're not normally as cold here in the southeast as are many other parts of the country. We do get snow but it doesn't stay around for long usually. But you know how weather is...it's always changing! We're also on a south facing hill which warms us up and gives us a kind of micro-climate. I am really paying attention and appreciating all of your tips for shade plants..this will be one of the few shade areas I have cultivated and am learning from your postings. Thanks!
Hi CM. Good that we meet again. Ref the alpines they are mostly Saxifragas and these will form the backbone of the plants I hope to grow in that cold greenhouse as part of next years plans. The Pelargonium is a beauty and not really my run of plants since they are mostly herbaceous or evergreen perennials of whatever type. This plant was given to me years ago and as stated every year I take 40 - 50 cuttings (they root very easily), keep a few for myself and pass the rest on to friends and neighbours as I do with any other surplus plants. In your long cold winters plenty of time for you to plan ahead and what a difference this makes to still be in a sense gardening in the closed season. Time to look through the catalogues, read the books, mags and ads to see whats there is ahead we can try. I think its a wonderful time starting early year as the weather perks up to go out in the garden each day and looks for those first signs of the old plant friends reappearing. Plan on and I will do likewise. Just for interest those alpines are pretty tough characters and do not mind cold (to what extent I do not know - will have a look) its winter wet and damp they dislike most of all so I read. Another plan is to extend the outdoor raised bed I grow some in - will send a few pics. Syd.
Cayuga, the peanut butter will attract other creatures than deer--raccoons, squirrels, rats, and perhaps (if they are in your area) bears. You may want to re-think the peanut butter thing. Isn't it interesting that we humans, at the top of the food chain and ostensibly more intelligent than other life forms, can't keep the critters out of our gardens?
CM, I still think you need the two fences to make it deer proof and I agree with Jane.... We don't have bears here (normally) that would come checking out the garden but if you do you may be attracting them closer to you with the food lure.
Hi all. Good to see the interest in the topic. Ref the Deer they are a problem for sure but with my plot here and all this area its Moles. There's many many of them and on just about every open green area their hills are everywhere - likewise in folks gardens. I have tried these electronic Mole and Deer scarers but cannot say if they work or not. The garden here over all was a shambles when we moved in with the front and that strip next the woods in particular - just every day more Mole hills. I gave it up and sheeted and shingled them over - problem being that they amount to two thirds of the plot and apart from some shrubs and containerised Bamboos its all lost garden planting space. I have had a thought and wondered what you all think - it's to expand the Topic just a little by talking not only of our ideas and plans ahead but also perhaps to look back a bit to give an idea of just what it was over our garden experiences that influenced our style and our plant preferences - we do all have our own favourites etc. May I please mention mine and at the same time tell of something of interest. I am going back years here and having got past the annuals stage (for me) I got the herbaceous perennials and the shrubs bug. I used to haunt the local Library for books to read and learn from and on one visit I found one by an authoress Margery Fish. Read the book and that was it, I was totally taken with what I read there and that has been my style ever since - herbaceous and evergreen perennials, unusual plants with the accent on foliage combinations/colour etc - cottage garden plants also came strongly into it all. So can I suggest that you may like to look the name up on your searcher - Margery Fish, her wonderful and famous garden at East Lambrook Manor Somerset (its still maintained as was by the current owners) and also of the books she wrote, I have them all and have read and referred to them time after time. It is all very interesting and well worth a look I think. Please tell me what you think about it all. Will leave it there for now, next post will attach a few pics of my outdoor alpines. Syd.
Hi Carolyn-- We have been having a problem with bears. We had a huge one going for our bird feeders. We have stopped feeding the birds for now until we know the bear has gone into hibernation. I think though, once they are in hibernation, they shouldn't be out and about, would they? I still want to try the peanut butter thing. My problem is that my yard is overrun with deer ticks. And they carry lyme disease. It is an awful problem in my neck of the woods. I have many many friends who have tested positive & been treated. I think I'd rather deal with raccoons over lyme....
Hi CM Carolyn all. Jolly glad we do not get Bears here although in the wild they are superb and impressive creatures I think - but not in your garden. If I may now I would like to attach a photo of my raised bed where I have some alpines and tiny conifers also growing - I am this coming year intending to increase the beds size and concentrate on more "spready" small plants around its edges so that they can tumble over. Also one of our Muntjac Deer which are the most seen - there is/are bigger Red Deer about but they are much more secretive. The Munjacs come out into the roads here at nights and chew hedges. Syd. Raised Bed- size to be increased coming year. ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) Muntjac. ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden ) ( photo / image / picture from Sydney Smith's Garden )
SS--Beautiful shots. I like the look of your raised bed. I like how it is integrated in the garden bed, but trust of course that what you have planned will be even better. I love the contrast of foliage with the hosta & the hakone grass in your 3rd photo.
Sydney, your garden is beautiful. CM, I really have no practical experience with bears or what is the best solution for the catch 22, but for the deer ticks I would encourage you to invest in chickens. Bantams are a great addition to the garden as bug catchers with the least amount of damage (usually) to the garden. This year was the worst ever that we have had for fleas...there was no controlling them, it was awful, but I kept the chickens in their pen all summer since I didn't want them in the gardens, so there was no bug patrol going on all summer ... what a disaster. The other solution for ticks is guinea hens..I raised a clutch of them and then after about 9 months I had my son shoot them (no way to catch them and get rid of them otherwise. They were always up in a tree, on the roof top or way to skittish to get close to) they were so annoying. LOUD, raucous, dirty, mean to the chickens...They would roost on top of the house and as soon as they eyed something different or new or company/customers/neighbors they started screeching at the top of their vocal range to "warn" us of the impending danger... So those weren't the best solution, but I got them for the tick control and soon decided that the few ticks we might have were alright compared to listening to those things. Check with your local extension office to see if they have any recommendations for avoiding luring the bears and intentionally deterring the deer. Plain old electric fence should work fine though.
I've been mulching leaves and putting them in my garden beds. Lined all my walkways with cardboard and covered with more mulched leaves. Still have a few more weeks of leaves and will add them to compost. Been making a list of seeds I want and will order soon. I am bubble wrapping my greenhouse so I can get an earlier start and stay warmer through Jan. Feb and March. My greenhouse is my favorite place to be on a cold day. Hubby going to enlarge one of my veggie gardens and completely fence it in to keep out the critters, after he retires. He's counting down the days. 3 more weeks to go. So far my cold frame is doing well. Temps have been in the low 20* some nights and all my veggies survived. What really surprised me was the lettuce went to seed on me. Anyway I think I will be gardening all winter one way or another.
Hi Donna. For sure you keep yourself very busy and no doubt very happy in your garden 12 months of the year. We all have our own timetables etc but I am like yourself - its an all year garden. Ref vegetables I do grow some runner beans and tomatoes but that's it - can see all the very good sense in growing your own veggies though. This year I planted the runner beans at one end of a paved area back of the bungalow where their growth provided shade, shelter and a screen as well as looking good. You also obviously enjoy planning/ordering etc as much as doing the actual work outdoors. Very best wishes to yourself and your garden - you will be getting full time assistance in three weeks time when your husband retires - you both enjoy and best wishes for that as well. Syd.
