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Ilona's Garden Journal




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February Gardening, Last of Winter in the Flower Garden

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I’ve had plenty of winter this year, yessiree. It is mid-February and that means the worst is over and spring is on its way. Eventually. February gardening in Ohio usually means lots of waiting, unless you are starting your seeds inside. Then, under the lights you see sprouts of spring -just about when March is ready to blow into the calendar year. The last of winter in the flower garden will not likely yield many flowering plants here, unless it is one of those unusual mild winters.

We were in deep freeze until recently when the climate had wild swings from near zero (or below) to tropical 50-60 °.  Presently we are looking to receive more rain on top of our already saturated ground. I didn’t experience them, but learned about frost quakes for the first time. Apparently places like Pennsylvania and Minnesota had them. Due to the saturated ground and polar vortex, there were pops and explosions of the earth.

Yes, I’m a little worried for my peach trees. I planted three new ones and gave them no protection. They would have been better prepared with some mulch and wrapped trunks.

Winter Beauty

We had plenty of winter beauty this year, and with the snowfall this month, it was prettier than usual for this month. I have memories of February being soggy with dirty half-melted snow. We either have snow or not around here (usually not) in cold weather; and it looks halfway presentable for photos. Although I took almost none this winter.

I love the beauty to be had, but was a bit jaded when it comes to photographs. I get tired of winter snowscapes -except when experiencing them firsthand.

We had some exceptional scenes, and it is too bad I had such an attitude about using a camera. We had ice storms that coated the trees, winter wonderland snowfalls, and a particularly magical scene of hoarfrost and new fallen snow together one night. The ground was covered in fluffy white, while the fog froze on every branch and withered weed. The wands of the willow tree hung like cascades of diamond dusted ice curtains over the driveway.

Truly magical in the deep night of winter.

I did take a few pics for instagram, after one of the recent snowfalls.

 

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The Flowers Are Coming

All this month the spears of daffodil and snowdrops have shown that they are eager to emerge.  I should be inspecting since sometimes the snowdrops have come into full bloom without me even realizing it. I used to get a glimpse from the window, but now I have to actually venture into the yard to see them blooming. (I let the pyracantha grow over the window last year)

After about a decade or more they finally decided they liked my yard. Galanthus nivalis has been planted here in a couple spots, but never multiplied in the happy way that the Glory of the snow (Chionodoxa)  bulbs have. Until the last year or two! Then there were snowdrops coming up in the lawn and all around the Magnolia stellata.

The snowdrops are the earliest blooming bulbs, here.

Then come the daffodils, and ‘February Gold’, despite its name, usually does not appear until March. A diminutive sized plant and flower that has perfect proportions in a clear golden yellow. It is one of my favorite daffodil cultivars. ( Although I have many, many favorites, honestly).

Spring 2009
Scillas in the box, a young Magnolia stellata immediately behind.

Magnolia stellata starts budding out at the end of this month, but because it flowers early sometimes the blossoms are ruined in late frosts which we can expect into April. Groundhog Day predicted that winter will end sooner rather than later… but I have my doubts.

All The Rain

I can’t imagine being out in the garden anytime soon with all the rain we have had, and continue to have. It gets soppy-soggy and muddy even in normal years. This year is exceptionally wet… as I think I said.

The frozen state of the ground helps a bit, but when it thaws- it sucked my husbands shoe right off!

That reminds me. On a topic detour: so many gardening people complain about grass and lawns, but it is during mud season that you can appreciate the quality of grassed areas. The grass is useful for swales to help water runoff without losing soil, and when walking anywhere in my yard at this time, the protection of grass means one can walk through necessary areas. A garden isn’t the place for fads, but a stewardship of the ground we borrow for a time. I don’t love lawns at all, but they do have their uses.

That winds up my little chat as I drop in on this blog and update you on what is happening in the garden.

‘Til next time

Ilona

Garden Update And Late Starts

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Every year I promise I won’t go AWOL during the main growing season of the garden. Just so I will get everything done and catch up with the past year’s neglect. but every year I manage to break those unspoken, informal vows.

Usually family related, but sometime through the call of far off places I leave the yard in varying states of upkeep and return to a jungle.

This year I didn’t even start until I returned after Mother’s Day.

Vegetables Are Growing

Nevertheless the vegetable garden was put in, and I have harvested the salad stuff. Handyman rigged up a somewhat permanent support for my tomatoes, in between the latest upkeep of painting the house’s metal roof.

I finally went about buying plants for my containers, and reversed the usual schedule of garden cleanup, starting from the outer reaches (the vegetable beds) and working inward toward the house. I was so ashamed of my driveway entrance that I finally popped in some flowers and halfway cleared the weedy overgrowth. Now I am only half ashamed.

Flower container with Rose geranium and Polka Dot plants
I should take photos of my best container examples -not the ones that are thrown together. Next time.

This year has been forgiving of late starts, so far.

The tomatoes and peppers are a little behind, but the spinach grew like… what is a good simile? As in a time lapse, almost visibly leafing out like a Magician’s scarf trick. It was the old fashioned ‘Bloomsdale Long Standing’ variety, I think.

It was very good tasting even after those hot spells, and hasn’t bolted yet, though the radishes long had gone to flower and cracked … now cleared away.

No, I didn’t note which seeds I planted this year – in the rush to just get something planted.

I have switched over to raised beds and deeply mulched the paths in the last few years. The chickens make havoc of the paths as they scratch through. Now an extra chore of raking the mulch into even levels is added to program of regular tasks.

The mulched paths have kept the weeds down and spare both dust and mud. They have been a good idea, so far.

Summer Storms

magnolia tree after the rainstorm
M. stellata after the storm

We had a powerful storm last night and the leaves of the Star Magnolia and the hostas are still turned from the winds. Tree leaves are scattered everywhere and the seat cushions even blew off the porch.

I had given up on the many predicted days of precipitation, and watered. The overnight storm brought inundations and flash flood warnings, but is all soaked up now.

My Hands… And Muscles

All the weeding and pruning that was needed has taken its toll. My mind can always accomplish more than my body can keep up with. However, what is more satisfying than the result of a newly tidied garden?

I have only bits that qualify for that description, but still! Every area that is worked on shows such marked difference that it redoubles my determination to see the job through.

And the weather has helped immeasurably. Warm, but with cooling breezes and overcast days, lend meaning to the old farm saying “make hay while the sun shines”.  Whether sunny or in shadow, the days have been perfect for yardwork.

When the hot and humid Ohio summer settles in, Nature will be given no restraints from me. At least not on the scale that shows progress,

The Yin And Yang Of Gardening

It is a constant exchange of both positives and negatives in working a garden. It is more obvious to me as I am older, but I must flow with both the successes and the failures… which more often seem just an illusion of my own making.

So many years of no fruit from my sweet cherries and the destruction of one of the trees in entirety by Japanese beetles, only to have a flush of beautiful fruit on one of the trees this year.

The loss of a tree can produce an area of light; the loss of branches becomes a plethora of fruit; cool temperatures are a delay of one type of plant while prolonging the bloom of another.

We don’t always have everything figured out and our subjective view often lacks wisdom.

The Garden Now

Shirley poppy
Shirley Poppies are blooming now. This one hold the pod of another opening bud.

My dream of a gardened place has given way to that of a planted place. It also is more derelict than I would like.

As gardeners we all harbor a vision of ‘The Secret Garden’ somewhere in our mind. Long neglected, the earth with just a little care springs forth as Eden. The reality might be closer to blood, sweat, and tears.

But the lesson of “late starts”, as taught in the garden, is that the outcome may surprise you and the only failure is to not to have tried.

For all its work, the storms, pests, and losses, there is nothing so peace nurturing, soul satisfying, and restorative as the hours spent puttering in the garden.

 

Fire Pit Conversations

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Nights Are Cool, But The Conversation Creates Warmth

We embarked on a venture to improve our family interactions and it eventually led to creating a firepit conversation area this summer. It was a quick project and has already proven to add a cozy feeling to our nightly conversations. Join me around the fire as I share with you what we are doing, why, and what it has meant to us so far.

Even if you don’t decide that a firepit conversation area is for you, you might tailor the ideas in improving family relationships to give some added warmth and love to your own family interactions.

When night falls, we meet together at the end of the day with a deliberate effort to have a positive and encouraging time of sharing. At times we just talk about something in our day, our feelings, or follow a topic that a person suggests. Sometimes we use prompts from games that provide questions for conversations, and lately we have been gathering around the newly created firepit, since a crackling fire, the setting sun, and the cooler evenings lend just the right atmosphere for enjoying each others company.

Rules of Conversation

In a culture of honor, both people in the conversation matter; therefore, we don’t have to agree

-Danny Silk

The Culture of Honor

  • Searching For Christianity?
    Introducing and explaining an old concept with a modern application in Christian Living. Maybe you’ve never heard of this idea, or maybe you have -but don’t really know what it is… consider my view.

enjoying the fire pit, photo by Ilona1
enjoying the fire pit,

Creating Our Family Culture

  1. Inspired by listening to teaching about a “Culture of Honor”, we drew up a compilation of what our family members would ideally like to see as the way we interact as a family.
  2. The general desire for better communication led to intentional “conversation time” meetings daily (until it would become a habit of us), and this became the idea for gathering around a fire pit outdoors.
  3. We quickly acted on buying the ready-made fire pit (after some decision making which indicated this to be the best choice for us). Then constructed the entire area in an afternoon. We have regularly used it since its creation, making this a very successful part of our plan so far.

Conversation starters – Prompts for great communication

Would you like to find out more about how we use these little conversation starters in our family efforts to communicate better and more often?

Melissa & Doug Family Dinner Box Of Questions
Melissa & Doug Family Dinner Box Of Questions
This is the exact box of conversation cards we have used to create the start of conversation when no one has ideas of topics or need to express what’s on their mind.

The questions are fun, sometimes funny, and non-threatening, which is ideal for people who tend to keep their thoughts to themselves.

Think you know everyone in your family? Maybe their answers and ideas will surprise you.

Reminder

If you build a fire for family conversation or friendly get-togethers, keep fire safety in mind. Fire extinguisher or water source nearby, and remember how quickly grass can dry and burn.

The Wood Burning Fire Pit

Our Purchase

We settled on this one after reading numerous reviews. This consistently had high ratings from consumers, and it is sturdy. The price was economical for us, blending quality with value. It is no longer offered, but another highly rated one would be a great substitute, and probably better, since it has a stainless steel bowl.

The same slate ledge with copper accents, but with a shallow stainless steel bowl.
This makes a firebowl that is resistant to rust ( a major drawback for many wood burning firepits). A ledge makes a great benefit for the design since it is nice as a footrest or a handy place to set your mugs. I like to just have conversation, not use it for cooking, but some designs also have grills attached. Consider your options and how you will likely use your firepit before committing to a purchase.

Heirloom Slate Fire Pit with Cover
Heirloom Slate Fire Pit with Cover
This fire pit has a beautiful slate ledge and a deep bowl that is enameled for rust resistance. It comes with a cover and a screen.

What we are learning:

How to feel at ease in expressing our feelings and opinions with each other.

What it takes to commit to participating in each others day, and caring about building our relationships.

How to work out disagreements as a group.

So far… that we like each other 🙂

Purpose

Our family conversations have a purpose. The landscape addition of this fire pit had purpose. We simply combined the two.

Tete A Tete Seating – Matching the fire pit design

Heirloom Tete-a-Tete Outdoor Set
Heirloom Tete-a-Tete Outdoor Set
If you like the fire pit, you may also like the coordinating seating made by the same company.

Steps to Creating A Landscape Feature – It wasn’t difficult

the conversation area
the conversation area

We chose an open area, but sheltered by trees and shrub cover on the windward side. The grass had been somewhat weedy, anyway, so I did not mind removing the sod and laying the sand base for pavers that we purchased at our nearby Home Improvement store. It took only a few hours to do this and create a fireproof base for our wood burning fire pit.

We placed the one we had chosen, an “Heirloom Slate Fire Pit”, that was porcelain coated and had an extra large bowl for creating a nice fire. The slate tiles with copper insets is a very nice touch. I like the ledge and it is handy for setting your cup or resting your feet, but I think I would have liked it to be a little wider.

  1. Pick an area of the yard that is sheltered, but not too close to overhanging trees or shrubs
  2. Use sand or masonry to construct a simple, firesafe base, the bottom of the fire pit can produce a lot of heat
  3. Simple seating added and the conversation feature is complete

There is something conducive to friendly and open conversations when you are seated around a crackling fire, glowing with embers on a chilly night. In the moonlight, looking up at the stars we are not only feeling connected to each other, but to the larger universe that is around us. I think the times we are sharing is helping us to grow closer together.

Since we located the area a little distance from the house, but close enough in proximity for easy access to retrieve snacks or use the bathroom, it feels private enough for campfire talks and stories, but close enough for frequent use. I find it is a very lovely place to just sit and think quietly during the day.

A Fire Pit

is a boundary for the fire, making what could be destructive into something that provides welcome warmth. In the same way, we are free to talk, but guard our relationship with boundaries of love and respect. Consideration of each other keeps us from being burnt.

Frugal Tip

Make Your Own Fire Pit Landscape Feature

https://youtu.be/3IN-L2CGX54
https://youtu.be/NqA1S2hdsGE
https://youtu.be/fFG5XN889es

What outdoor feature is top of the list for your yard?
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My Rural Life

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My husband and I bought and started homesteading this place in the mid 1980’s. I had no skills, and plenty of dreams. I never managed to have that flock of sheep I envisioned, but instead raised a flock of children. That became my main crop.

We all worked hard. I sure wish we had used more mechanized equipment. I truly know what the old saying means, ” a hard row to hoe…”

Chickens

It was practical to have chickens, and there were two old coops on the property (everything was old, run down, dismantled or in the process of being dismantled when we moved here.) I used to say the place was within a few years of being condemned.

I started my flock of chickens with Rhode Island Reds. Next added some Barred Rocks, and finally added Golden Buffs.

Someone gave me a couple of their extra roosters. When they fought for dominance- one was given away.

The Rhode Island Reds were the hardiest, the Barred Rocks were less productive layers and the Golden Buffs were the best layers. Originally I had wanted hens good for both eggs and meat, but after the short-lived “meat chicken” fiasco, I learned that our family does better with someone else producing our meat.

We had lots of eggs for many years. I made custards and quiches, gave away dozens to all my friends, and managed to sell a little.

After a raccoon raid left all my chickens dead, I stopped raising hens for many years. Saying for the past ten years or so “Maybe this year, we will get some chicks…”

This year, we finally started with a small flock of six Golden Buff pullets, and added a pair of Bantams.

We introduced the chicks to to the bantams, and they are now all staying in a tiny coop together, in relative harmony. Except for one chick that they all picked on; she is back in the box inside the house to recover, a sort of chickie hospital.

Veggies

herbs and lettuce
A portion of the garage garden with cilantro, lettuces, and strawberry plants.

I have the biggest truck garden this year since those early years when I had something like a 25 x 100 yard garden. In those years we grew corn, beans, greens, head and Cos lettuces, carrots, tomatoes and peppers, raspberries, strawberries, melons, eggplant and zucchini, and numerous other things. I had a separate herb garden.

This year it is tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, cutting flowers, parsley, cilantro, dill, mints, radishes, mixed lettuces, a bit of Chard. I have one conventional garden planted out in rows or blocks and one with raised beds.

I just finished creating the walkways with an experimental weed suppression system of cardboard, covered with wool rug (it got damaged beyond saving) strips, and covered entirely with cypress mulch. As with all new paths it looks wonderful, but time will tell if it reduces the work of keeping that outlying garden.

My friend has started her conventional plot in one section of my old veggie garden. It looks great, and her radishes and beans have sprouted. It is about as big as the one I have closer to my house.

Flowers

I used to grow abundant flower gardens in the English Cottage style. Through the years, my workload with homeschooling and raising kids increased, I entered that limbo where you take care of aging parents and raise your kids at the same time, and kept a very busy Church schedule. Something had to give, and the flower gardens started waning, the food gardens became mostly a few pepper and tomato plants. The native grasses came to claim the abandoned flower and food gardens.

I have always tried to keep a couple borders going, but they tend to get more weedy than I can control. I still try.

Container Flower Pots

Most of my hunger for color is satisfied with numerous container plantings and  now a couple rows of cutting flowers in the food garden.

Some years the containers are painstakingly planned, but lately all is much more serendipitous. I rarely start my own flowers anymore. The garden centers have greatly reduced their variety of offerings, and they continue to put little plants in large pots and price accordingly. I put together the best of what I find.

Still, the spring season is an exhausting crush of tasks, and I am so much slower and less capable. I finally learned that what I picture in my mind must undergo a pruning session when it comes to the actual physical effort my body is capable of making.

I try to control my impulse to apologize for what is left undone.

Changes

Invariably I start musing about the amount of changes… in my life, in the area I live, in society at large.our old house

There are…

Fewer homesteaders who have ambitious gardens, more urban chickens and tiny “farm” plots, creeping development and increasing traffic, fewer animal herds. Many of the old farmhouses are gone, and new homes sprouting up, most of them inferior in architecture- but of course, not all.

My trees now tower over me, and I have lost a number. The ash are all gone, now.

I start my work in the mornings, and go as long as I can (a pitiably short time), but am more thankful for what is accomplished.

I am presently sitting on a beautiful deck (which my husband built) in an anti-gravity chair. My life did not turn out as I imagined, but it is good now. Satisfying.

Ambitions quiet, small enjoyments shine, and I see how important allowing the moment to have its due attention is, in the movement of time.

I am returning to some of the roots of previous times, but with a different attitude, and my goals are stripped of competition and restless achievements.

There is a great deal of value in growing content, doings ones tasks, and enjoying the pleasures given in an honest and quiet life.

Living Vs. Writing

During my homeschooling years I discovered Laura Ingalls Wilder. Came to love her books and read everything I could get my hands on by her and about her. Somehow missed her books during my childhood years.

One thing that struck me was that she carefully edited her histories to show the sunny side of life. At times, real life was so trying that this was difficult. When you read of her early married years, you understand how challenging it must have been to give an optimistic view of a long string of tragic circumstances. Even her own early years were laced with what an adult reader understands is a lot of heartbreak.

There is much that is not written of the hardships of life, of how much a toll is taken by unforeseen obstacles and trials.

When we write of our gardens and farms, there is much that is a tradeoff… shall I do the work or write about doing the work? All my life there has been an ebb and flow, time and attention to one area of effort and neglect of another, then taking turns so that all may have something of a balance.

I see why some value a narrowed focus, but I continue to make my rounds (ever more slowly) to try and keep all the tops spinning! We have our choices of how we live our lives and I no longer see a hierarchy of value as much as a diversity of choices in these things.

I imagine that is partly an outcome of the changes in our society. My father might have seen that there are “right ways” of doing things, even though I think it handicapped him… I see there are more ways to deliver the same outcome. Not to extrapolate it too far, but it does help to be more accepting of oneself and of life in general.

Enough personal history and philosophy, I have a few chores to do….

‘Til Later, Friends.

chickcoop

Brand New Post On The New Site

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Here we are… the first post in a new season. It inspires me.

The first inspiration is to update my garden as well. For years I have renovated, and renovation is always somehow lacking. I want to return to some of the joy that comes from creating something new. My idea is to redo some of the gardens in a ways that identifies and places focal points inside the garden rooms, and indeed make more of a room from some of the gardens.

The entire place needs sprucing up, and I think adding more design and worrying less about weeds is the direction I want to take. This, of course, is secondary to my decision to concentrate on food gardening.

As always, my hope is to integrate the two, which is why I love ideals found in the French Potager and the English Kitchen Garden so intriguing. Somehow these types of garden combine beauty, landscape architecture, growing food for the table and a cutting garden all in one.

Focal Points In Food Gardens?

Why not? Although I have to admit that I am not sure how to do this. My plots have been in place a long time.

veggiewalkI already have raised beds in one and the other is placed against the back side of my garage with a stepping stone path along its side and backed with a fence. Maybe something against that fence as I look south?

 

Focal Points

Focal points are simply things that draw the eye and hold it. A centering of our attention. I have given concepts such as “full stops”, those plantings that allow the eye to realize the end of a flower bed, some thought in the past. (Mostly in the former border that I no longer have, it is given over to grass).

But focal points are not something that this landscape was easily given to… most of the paths and the driveway are somehow oblique in position. The photo with the urn is the one place I made a focal point. As one approaches the back of the house from the driveway.

I have a great deal of planning ahead of me if I am to make this inspiration into a reality.

The Challenge Of An Old Garden

When making new gardens, everything was much less challenging. Now I am stymied by the difficulty of moving established plants, and risking their loss. I am in need of fresh eyes for this place, too.

Perhaps I need time away in a vacation place to be able to return and truly see the improvements that need to be made. Yes! I love that idea. Not possible this year, so I need to crank up my mind’s eye to get a bead on what will give the gardens some renewed interest and form.