Radogast's Non-420 Garden Creation Thread

[Gauge Steel]

The forest on the first page of this thread is not where we live anymore. It gives a false sense of where I am now, but it was a great place to experience. Although the surrounding forest was friendly, the yard was difficult/impossible to garden in, I would love to have been able to bring my rock waterfall and a few trees and animals with me in the move.

The new garden is shaping out to be a melange of native flowering pants, traditional herbs and vegetables, and crowded European cottage garden spacing. In my mind, it will be a true delight.

My wife is getting creative garden ideas. We have discussed a whole new layer of structures to add after I finished the ones I have planned




We had more bulbs come up and deliver better flowers from 4 bags of bulbs purchased at the midwestern grocery store than I had after planting 523 bulbs fom multiple sources back in Massachusetts. Plants just love to grow in this corner of the Midwest It really makes it satisfying to work on the garden.

i love it as well. My therapist encourages me to create after so many years of planning, training and destroying. My garden is a great place where we can imagine beauty and then create it for our own satisfaction. We love to plan ahead and watch our efforts come to fruition. Bulb, Bulbs, Bulbs! We love to buy them from the most obscure places. Liquor stores, Convenience stores. Like your grocery store. We have Huck's. do you have Hucks in your Midwest?
Gauge

 

[Gauge Steel]

A single Morning Glory (the vines act like it is late spring... Hello! Fall Equinox here.

did you make this torre or did you buy it?
Guage?

 

[Radogast]

i love it as well. My therapist encourages me to create after so many years of planning, training and destroying. My garden is a great place where we can imagine beauty and then create it for our own satisfaction. We love to plan ahead and watch our efforts come to fruition. Bulb, Bulbs, Bulbs! We love to buy them from the most obscure places. Liquor stores, Convenience stores. Like your grocery store. We have Huck's. do you have Hucks in your Midwest?
Gauge

We have Huck's gas stations at the other end of the state, and a few states south, but none nearby. The only time I drove through that area was driving the moving van, so I was stopping only at the big travel plazas.

These bulbs were picked up at Aldi's - a discount grocery chain from Germany, parent company to Trader Joes. 1 lb+ Belgium Chocolate bars for $5, a dozen eggs for $0.99, etc. Lately they carry season items and the full range of grocery basics.

did you make this torre or did you buy it?
Guage?

There Torre was a metal headboard from a bed - painted white I think. Found alongside the road. Massachusetts was a good state for people leaving furniture at the curb to be reused. My wife comes from a long line of pickers. My dad's neighbors used to deliver to him - I chose the more traditional japanese colors for the tori headboard and the wife painted it. I don't think it made it onto the moving vans. If you see it in a photo this month, I was wrong

 

[kelticBlue]

We had more bulbs come up and deliver better flowers from 4 bags of bulbs purchased at the midwestern grocery store than I had after planting 523 bulbs fom multiple sources back in Massachusetts. Plants just love to grow in this corner of the Midwest It really makes it satisfying to work on the garden.

That is great news. I remember back in southeast NY squirrels or rabbits or some critter used to did up our bulbs, my dads trick was to put moth balls in the soil when planted the bulbs. It seemed to help.

It sounds good to here the plants love to grow in you region.

 

[Radogast]

That is great news. I remember back in southeast NY squirrels or rabbits or some critter used to did up our bulbs, my dads trick was to put moth balls in the soil when planted the bulbs. It seemed to help.

It sounds good to here the plants love to grow in you region.

I just put in an order for the shady native plant portion of my yard:

Crataegus mollis (Downy Hawthorn) Bare Root Plant (1)
Downy Hawthorn is a native tree that is rarely garden cultivated, but the animals love it:
The nectar and pollen of the flowers attract: small bees, flies, and beetles.
The plant and foilage feed: Striped Hairstreak butterfly caterpillars, Woolly Hawthorn Aphid,and many other insects (bird food.)
Wild birds that eat the fruit include: Ruffed Grouse, Wild Turkey, Ring-Necked Pheasant, Northern Flicker, Blue Jay, Northern Mockingbird, Robin, Hermit Thrush, Cedar Waxwing, Cardinal, Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, Purple Finch, Fox Sparrow
Mammals include: black bears, foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, tree squirrels, and (rarely) humans.
Because of their dense branching structure and thorns, Downy Hawthorn and other hawthorns provide nesting habitat for the Yellow-Breasted Chat, Brown Thrasher, and other birds. They also provide excellent protective cover for birds and other wildlife during the summer.

Polygonatum biflorum (Solomon's Seal) Bare Root Plant (1)
A pretty flowering, 3-4' old world Herb

Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion) Bare Root Plant (1)
Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion) Packet
I am curious to watch how naturalize



The rest are chosen as pretty, flowering, shade-loving plants:

Smilacina racemosa (Solomon's Plume) 1/8 oz. seed

Caltha palustris (Marsh Marigold) Packet
Caltha palustris (Marsh Marigold) Bare Root Plant (1

Delphinium tricorne (Dwarf Larkspur) Packet

Mertensia virginica (Virginia Bluebells) Packet


** The bare root plant (1) and seed packet orders of the same plant are: (a) to show the ciy I planted something, and (b) to see how the adult plant thrives to know if the seeds were a good choice for that spot.

 

[kelticBlue]

Rad. This is fascinating to watch you do. Living in the concrete jungle I got nowhere to play except in my tent.

Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of my former home state of Florida.
Dont ask my how I know that (I have a bird identifying app on my phone) I am such a dork.

 

[Gauge Steel]

Rad. This is fascinating to watch you do. Living in the concrete jungle I got nowhere to play except in my tent.

Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of my former home state of Florida.
Dont ask my how I know that (I have a bird identifying app on my phone) I am such a dork.

Nah,
Yellow goldfinch, Nene, Cardinal, Western meadowlark, Brown pelican, Carolina Wren, California Quail. I know all of mine and I am the coolest dude ever. .

Rad. This is fascinating to watch you do. Living in the concrete jungle I got nowhere to play except in my tent.

Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of my former home state of Florida.
Dont ask my how I know that (I have a bird identifying app on my phone) I am such a dork.

Rad. This is fascinating to watch you do. Living in the concrete jungle I got nowhere to play except in my tent.

Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of my former home state of Florida.
Dont ask my how I know that (I have a bird identifying app on my phone) I am such a dork.

 

[Radogast]

Rad. This is fascinating to watch you do. Living in the concrete jungle I got nowhere to play except in my tent.

Northern Mockingbird is the state bird of my former home state of Florida.
Dont ask my how I know that (I have a bird identifying app on my phone) I am such a dork.

Well then, for a look behind the scenes:

I had a very large order of plants in my shopping cart at Burgess seed - The wife says they are like Burpee in the Midwest. I decided not to place the order on Friday when I realized I might get delivery of 50-60 potted plants and many seeds on the same day - that's a lot of planting for one shipment, especially when it comes to the final decision of exactly where to plant each one - We can more reasonably decide where to plant and then dig holes for up to 10 plants in a day.

Based on the decorating principle of place your big furniture first, I trimmed the order down to 8 vines, 2 trees, several shrubs, and the seed packets. I was then ready to place my order when I saw the box for 'discount code.' It has happened more than once, I place a big order with a new company and they send me a discount code good for 3 months, but I don't need to order anything major from them in the near future. So my bright idea was to call them up, tell them the size of my order, and ask them for a discount code so I can order on the internet.

It's about 7PM on a Friday, so I wait for regular weekday hours.

On Saturday, my 26 items are still in the shopping cart. It's a beautiful day. I dig in the yard.

On Sunday, Mercury goes retrograde. It's raining on and off, but I make some decisions about the drainage swale, so l dig a few feet of trench to test the slope. Not what I wanted, but the drainage test works.

On Monday, I realize I need to move money into the checking account. I create an account and ask to be on their email list - maybe they will send me a discount code. Except there were multiple "I am not a robot" prompts and I'm not sure what took.

On Tuesday morning, I call (busy). 5 more times over 3 hours, the phone is busy.

I come up with a new strategy. I'll place a small order (3 ivy plants for the curb strip under the shady trees) and maybe they will send me a discount code email after the order. It's a gamble, (single price shipping is high for 3 plants but very low for 20+ plants.) Halfway through my wife interrupts. I come back decide to place the small order, and I have misplaced my debit card (a rare thing for me.) - 2 interruptions while doing an online checkout - I take it as a sign, so I switch strategies, I'll just place the order without a discount code, but if I get interrupted in the middle, thats' a sign to quit for the day. Going through the checkout process, I pause before the final submit, hit enter, Bam - before the screen refreshes the young man of the house comes in to ask me where I put his bong and before I can stand up to get it the cat jumps on my lap - the screen refresh completes all jumbled with the text form of a screen that displays all wonky. it says I still have a full shopping cart. I open up a new tab and it says I have 0 open orders. I give up for the day.

The Native plants order earlier in the day went smooth - part of the reason behind my "Yay the order is placed" type post

 

[Radogast]

Nah,
Yellow goldfinch, Nene, Cardinal, Western meadowlark, Brown pelican, Carolina Wren, California Quail. I know all of mine and I am the coolest dude ever. .

I saw my first Cardinal when I lived in Arizona. Not as impressive against a cactus backdrop as the photos you see of cardinals and snow. Still, I remember it on an Ocotillo cactus just putting out leaves and red tassels after a rain the day before, with a Saguaro cactus to the right and a reservoir behind. I thought it was a Pyrrhuloxia (which are much more common) but it was a full on red male cardinal. It was my first time driving that road to the reservoir and I was psyched because it was an empty road with 80-120 mph curves that were as smooth and scenic as you picture an Arizona highway. I came back the next Tuesday morning and drove the bejeesus out of those curves.

Living in the forest in Massachusettts, Cardinals were our friends - especially when the babies hatch and the back deck was one big bird feeder ! They do look great in the snow.


Brown Pelicans always remind me of Pelicans roosting on the Templo de Guadalupe in Puerta Vallarta - back in the 60s when there were almost nothing between it and the ocean. I think I was about 8. The brown pelicans used it as a dive platform to fish the Pacific Ocean and stood on posts near the water to dry their wings.


The California Quail is the best looking quail - It's the topknot feathers

 

[Radogast]

I spent 3-4 hours scraping loose paint off the porch floor, running a carpet knife between the boards to clean out dirt and seeds, and dusting with a leaf blower. I was going to primer the half the porch I scraped, but there were only 2 hours of daylight left and they are predicting thunderstorms tonight.

I told my wife I didn't work on the yard today. She told me that it still counts because I was prepping the viewing platform for me and others to admire and observe the work on the yard She's right. I need to get paint on that porch soon before we put out all the furniture and stuff. Once we start sitting on the porch, porch painting season is over

I'd take photos, but really, it's just paint coming off gray wood.

It was 'baby bear' weather today (71 F): not too hot, not too cold, just right.

- - -

Speaking of bears, cleaning out an auction box in the garage yesterday, I uncovered a cute little resin statue of Winnie the Pooh. This morning while hunting for chalk, I discovered a 30 year old cassette tape by Kenny Loggins, "Return to Pooh Corner." When I set up my boom box on the porch to listen while working, the CD player wouldn't play. It's a Radio/CD/Cassette player, and I didn't want to listen to the radio because I didn't want to be changing the channels with a knob every few minutes to escape commercials - so naturally I put the little Pooh statue on the boom box and played 'Return to Pooh Corner.' Children's lullabies are usually not my choice, I tend more towards 70s and 90s Rock, but when I went to change the cassette my 70+ year old neighbor Sally had just started weeding in her front yard. I figured she'd be happier with the lullabies, so I played it again. The spirit of Winnie the Pooh really wanted to manifest in my life today.

 

[Radogast]

I've taken 'before' photos, and 'early' photos. But pictures of flags stuck into the earth where bulbs are planted aren't so inspiring - so really not much to post yet.

Picture of flags marking bare root Downy Hawthorn (front-green), Solomon's Seal (back-orange), and Marsh Marigold (back-yellow)

The online seller of native plants, Prarie Moon, did a real great job of selecting, and packaging the plants. Each bag comes with a picture of the plant as shipped with a scale in inches showing how deep each part of the roots go below ground.

Marsh Marigold roots and their bag

I also ordered Marsh Marigold seeds to create a few more copies, but an actual plant in the ground helps me and the city worker visualize what I have done in the yard.






This morning I planted a row of 18" zinnias and marigolds in front of the porch. The wife and I discussed peony placement. I scraped more paint off the porch floor.

A future row of zinnias and marigolds along one side of the porch - trenched, seeded, and sprinkled with soil. I put in the stone border about 10 days ago.

This side of the front yard is the rain garden. (Photo taken during a rainstorm a few days ago.) I'm done shaping the dirt for this year.
.

I planted some little pink variegated foliage plants that should grow about a foot tall on the sunny arm of the earthworks.

Most of the area bounded by the earthen dam is in deep shade.

I think I already mentioned, I hand dug a 50' ditch in 2 days under the influence of AK47 There used to be a section of fence at the corner of the house, so going from front yard to back yard was either along the driveway on the other side of the house or through the house. Without the fence in the way, this shady little walkway is fast becoming the favorite path between back and front yards.

After spring planting is done, probably in the summer, I plant to widen and smooth this swale to make for easier walking. Trellis with be installed the full length of the fence. Sweet Pea and other vines will be planted along the trellis. The rocks along the fence (beginning about 6' in) are an animal boneyard - 2 bats, a mouse, a baby opossum, etc. that have been buried on plates and marked until nature does her thing and we can dig up the cleaned bones. Some of them are open air covered. Others are in the earth. The boneyard might have to be walked around until we are ready to disinter them.

 

[Tead]

Busy!

 

[Radogast]

Earlier today, over on SweetSue's thread, I posted some words about hanging wind chimes.

Now, I took pictures to illustrate




The wife and I did an amazing job installing 9 windchimes (restringing 2 of them) and 8 birdhouses (cleaning out 3 of them) on sativa brownies.

It was a day of intermittent wind gusts. On the front porch we balanced the sound of 5' cathedral chimes with tinkling stars, indonesian bell chimes, a pair of gongs, and bamboo chimes to a harmonious blend free of cacophany and limitted to only one or two notes until you really start paying attention.

5' cathedral chimes - Cottage Garden Side of Porch

Bamboo chimes and butterfly tinkling chimes - Cottage Garden end of porch. (Queen Elizabeth climbing rosae to be planted behind.)

Swoosh chimes - Center of porch (rain garden side)

Indonesian bells, swoosh chimes, and elephant bells near the front door - Center of porch (gong in background)

There is not much furniture on the porch. I have paint scraped 2/3 of the front porch floor. Due to be sanded and painted soon.


Bells of love - Rain Garden end of porch (Thornless climbing rose and sweet pea vine to be planted behind,)

Mid-sized and small chimes were tested and removed, positions were raised, lowered and shifted until we could hear a touch of the neighbors wind chimes joining ours. We then went around the property blending the remaining chimes. In some places, s ounds disguise conversation, bt it most they provide a harmonious undertone. - - I love a creatively collaborative experience on edibles


Sparkly little chimes by theTori gate outside the window of the basement exercise room. In the money corner of the house.

Long resonating large chimes, hung low in an arbor to reduce wind blown activity - 2 medium cimes and 1 small chime also in the backyard.

 

[SweetSue]

Simply exquisite Rad. Made my spirit smile.

 

[ginganinja30]

Looking like a very nice place to chill Rad ..

...

 

[Tead]

Ya know.... I've lost all the chimes and bells in my world. I need to fix that.
I love the sounds.... dunno how I let them escape my world.

Thanks.

 

[JPinkman]

Heres a little non 420 veg Ive been working on

 

[Radogast]

Heres a little non 420 veg Ive been working on

Nice. Where you live, i imagine you must have to start plants indoors. We have an extra couple of months of growing season (starting now) so the whole starting indoors is only necessary for slow maturing perennials or plants that are instant fodder for the critters.

Whatcha got in your planting tray?

 

[Radogast]

Back yard waking up pictures


One of the first plants to wake up in the back yard this year is the Russian Comfrey. For people who do composting/fertilizing with comfrey, she would be ready for her first harvest because the plant energy is diverting from growth to flowering. Or so I read. I don't know much about composting

Since I refill the backyard fountain once every 2-3 days, and the wind has a habit of diverting falling water onto the surounding grass, we decided the fairy on her lily pad might enjoy living in the wet zone. The yarrow on her right is very happy living in the splash zone. The wormwood/silvermound at her feet probably doesn't belong in such a wet location. She might need to be relocated

Our hazelnuts are very happy and leafing out just like the grown up trees. My wife seems to have given one of them a fairy playhouse

The purple iris from a neighbor are just startng to bud.

My wife seems to have given the iris a fairy playhouse too

The bare root wisteria at the grocery store had a 10" stalk the width of my finger. A total marketing gimick, it was just a random stick. The actual wisteria is about the size of a golfer's pencil stub. She has a ways to grow just to reach the bottom of the trellis

 

[Radogast]

As I said in a post yesterday, we hung some bird houses in a tree. Back in the woods of Massachusetts, we discovered that wrens like to live in colonies with other wrens, so my wife decided the flowering plum? in the rain garden would make a nice wren neighborhood.


Wren apartments for rent - birdseed included. I think we have a total of 8 in the one tree.

Our most popular wren apartment is this one. We have 2 units like it. Both have been cleaned since last occupied. One is newly refurbished.

Newly on the market after purchased at auction, this is bound to be a popular unit. The nuthatch have been looking this one over and might make an offer.

This unit seems to appear to wrens that show up late. I don't know why they like it, but they do.

I saw these unique birdhouses at a hardware store today.At $20 they are about 10x the price we usually pay at auction