Earth Day Tribute - What Type of Gardener Are You?

Grapes are really abundant this year

Pink Verbena

Mullein

Spiderwort The more I garden and visit with other people and their gardens I have started asking this question. Its easy to be defined by a style, but in truth it goes deeper than that. I have found that gardening in many ways is an extension of a personality. Order, whimsy and purpose mark a garden in the same way we dress ourselves and decorate our homes. I think it is why our curiosity is sparked when an opportunity arises to walk around someone's yard or garden. They all tell a story. And we want to hear that story. Being involved with the Master Gardener program allows me the privilege of seeing more gardens than most. It's interesting to know that some gardens are more showy and "out-front" types that appeal to the eye.Those are the ones that make an immediate impression on visitors as one who knows everything about gardening and must be an expert. The truth is, the surface has only been scratched on the levels of gardening and know how. Even among our Master Gardeners if a question comes up about a certain plant or situation we often know immediately who needs to answer that question. That is why we have "Specialists" for certain things such as Vegetable Gardening, Composting, Etymology, Propagation etc. Its just hard to know everything. I often wonder when someone asks to see my yard what they expect. A botanical garden maybe? A show stopping view from the street? That always intimidates me when I think about it because in truth, I'm not that type of gardener. Mind you, I LOVE flowers and blooms of all types. I collect perennials and my inspiration is always an English Cottage Garden style. I fill in plants and collect them as gifts from friends and family. All of my plants have a story to tell. What is my type? I guess I'm really a backyard type of gardener with a cottage style flair. I plant things with a purpose. I like flowers and herbs so my bees and butterflies are welcomed in for a visit and nourishment. I plant vines and trees for shade. I grow food for animals and people. Its a broad spectrum of interests and I enjoy the challenge. It may not always be showy, but boy does it have a story to tell. One thing I can say is this, moving to the country has liberated my garden creativity process. I love the idea of hanging baskets overflowing with massive annual flowers and show stopping landscape design. I am inspired by them and often under my own breath say, "next year I will try this or that". But I often find myself back in the same places year after year building and dreaming in my own backyard. I like that... no pressure. Today I will be planting a few more herbs and filling soil in a three more raised beds where I grow food. I have several plants that have been given to me as gifts from friends that need a home in my yard. I will gladly place them with love and care as I think about my dear friends who gave them to me. New raised garden beds

Rabbit Work

Things have finally dried out to a point I can work on some much needed outdoor projects. With all of the rain, I have reworked the placement of the rabbit hutches in the enclosure. We need more room to install an outdoor sink and a small door in the fence to back the wagon in for loading and cleaning out.

The hutches needed to be be painted too. With rabbits, you really have to be careful with the wood you choose to build the hutches. Being a part of the rodent family, they are constantly looking for something to chew on to wear their front teeth down. I have tried my best to cover areas in their cage with 1/2 inch hardware cloth. But, rabbits also like to "pick" at anything that sticks up too, including bits of wire. They sometimes will pull it loose and then chew the wood! So, choosing safe untreated wood is a good thing. When painting the cages, I only painted the outside and edges that were covered with some sort of protection.

As you can see, I also decided to add plastic bins under each cage. Believe it or not, rabbits pretty much drop their manure in the same area each time. It's usually near their food source. Knowing that, I positioned the bins to catch most of it. In the bottom of each bin I've added about 1-1 1/2  inches of sawdust pellets that are used in horse stalls (also in pet store cages) to absorb moisture.This is where I had planned on putting my composting worms, but with fire ant issues I have changed my mind. There isn't an effective way to organically treat fire ants and I don't want the rabbit yard contaminated.

The manure bins will save on some shoveling and waste. Another lesson I learned about too much rain is that the manure was breaking down so fast under the cages that I was losing a lot of it. Plus now it will be much easier to let the rabbits out of their hutches for exercise in a clean area. I will keep you posted on how its working.

Phase number three is to finish out the entire roof between the rabbits and chickens. I would like to be able to let the animals run loose in that area at times and not worry about the hawks and boy, do we have some huge ones here that would love a chicken or rabbit to eat!

Fresh Start 09

Happy New Year!

With rolling over a new year, somehow I mentally wipe the slate clean for last year and have hope for the things to come in the new year. Isn't it amazing how we all tend to do that no matter what's going on now? Setting new goals, planning new projects and making changes to current situations is what will occupy my mind through the dark days of January. Gathering new energy to take on projects that honestly, I was too tired to consider near the end of the last full growing season. So off I go, full of hope and eager anticipation of change here.

But for today... I'll enjoy the newness of 2009 and eat some traditional New Year's Day food - black-eyed peas for luck and greens for prosperity. I'll be mindful of my actions as the saying goes, "What you do on New Year's Day will be what you're doing all year long." I wonder how this all started? (Ahh, I'll have to research that!)... Maybe it was one too many years like we had in 08. :)

Enjoy today, eat your traditional meal and have a very blessed 2009.