Favorite Summer Things

 

Backyard bunny stops by for a nibble. (7/3/17)

Very few of my neighbors cut their own lawn anymore. Seeing folks outside laying their own mulch in the spring/early summer is a rare occurrence. These were chores forced upon me as a child that I have come to take great comfort doing myself in adulthood. There is something very rewarding and therapeutic about throwing down mulch, pulling weeds and just plain ol' digging in the dirt. I am rarely alone in working in doing yard work in the early morning hours. Fortunately, my wife, the bunny that lives under our shed, neighborhood birds and all types of worms and insects keep me company. These are among my favorite moments in summer time.

Front yard with Japanese Maple. (7/3/17)

Hens and chicks from the backyard. Reminders of my

late grandmother's yard. (7/3/17)

Our original large compost pit made with stakes and chicken wire to far left,

next to shed and vegetable garden with a smaller composter within. (7/3/17)

Had a thing for ornamental grasses a few years ago

and ferns are beyond plentiful. (7/3/17)

Baby bell pepper in the vegetable garden. (7/3/17)

A number of our plants are inspect magnets... everything has its purpose. (7/3/17)

"Stones" made by my children almost 15 years ago and originally planted

at my parents home. After my father's death and mother's move to smaller

living arrangement, they have found their way to our yard. (7/3/17)

Spring Veggie Garden Set-up... in Summer

Chilling near an entrance to his underground lair, the backyard bunny surveys
that area prior to my preparation of the vegetable garden bed. (6/10/17)

Getting the garden started this Spring took a little longer than expected, so long in fact that our backyard bunny had grown fairly comfortable lounging around his newly appointed snacking field. Summer's arrived and I have a number of other projects lining up for completion during the two week break from teaching. With time to get started past due, I finally turned over the garden patch and prepped it for planting last weekend. Two days later, my wife and I drove out to the gardening store, purchased plantings and plopped them into the ground. The next day, she and her son installed our anti-rabbit fence, and now the tending begins...

Clearly it's time to get down to the business of turning over,
weeding and mulching the garden bed. (6/10/17)

At one point many years ago I stopped using roto-tiller in favor of
a pitchfork and rake--a much more satisfying method! (6/14/17)

Pitchfork'd. (6/14/17)

Weeds be-gone, compost applied, garden ready. (6/14/17)

A line of bean seeds planted and marked with stick. (6/17/17)

Each year the content of our vegetable garden shifts and changes. (6/17/17)

Ready, set... GROW! (6/17/17)

Last summer kale, this summer string beans. (6/23/17)

After Anne sets up bunny fencing and bean poles,

things are ready to rock... aided by a welcome summer

rain.(6/24/17)

What Did the Cat See?

Blackbeard the cat at his post. (7/26/19)

The majority of photographs of backyard wildlife posted on my blog are taken from the large windows that surround our kitchen counter. They open into our backyard. so when an interesting critter or bird comes into view--SNAP! I'll do this at many different times of the day, as reflected in the way that the different hues our lawn take son during the course of the day: sometimes appearing neon green when bathed in sun or deep, dark green when the shade dominates. This accounts for the occasional out-of-focus imagery and lens flare, but also for my ability to take pics when thy can't see us observing them. Blackbeard the cat is a constant viewing companion, so much so, that when we are outside working in the garden, he will prowl the windows to see what's going on. Most of what we see taking place among the tomato cages and bird feeders are, in truth, what the cat saw...

Catbird and sparrow on tomato cages. (7/29/16)

Common Grackles in the grass. (7/29/16)

Frazzled Grackle. (7/26/19)

American Robin. (7/29/16)

Cottontail rabbit with gang of Common Grackles. (7/29/16)

Grackle and Cottontail lunching together. (7/29/16)

Cottontail in the vegetable garden. (7/29/16) 

Male Northern Cardinal. (7/29/16)

Cautious Cottontail. (7/29/16)

Male Northern Cardinal with Common Grackles. (7/29/16)

Male Northern Cardinal. (7/29/16)

American Robin. (7/29/16)

Yakking American Robins. (7/29/16)

Cottontail rabbit. (7/29/16)

Black-Capped Chickadee on Nyjer feeder. (7/29/16)

Reaping Some of What We've Sown

Under the hood: celery, kale and Swiss chard. (7/22/16)

Things in our vegetable garden have been going very well this summer. This success is due to my wife's strategic watering (despite drought-like conditions) and the use of new garden equipment, including more well-designed tomato cages and a row cover.

Last weekend, Anne and I harvested a nice amount of kale and Swiss chard. While I am not a fan of eating copious amounts of either leafy vegetable, I have become more accustomed to eating. In small quantities or as an ingredient both can be made more palatable. Despite my awareness of how each is a "super food," I have yet to acquire a taste for it. I am working on that, though.

This summer's backyard garden developments have been rewarding to be a part of. The row cover, and some well-placed bunny repellent, have created perfect growing conditions and kept away cabbage looper caterpillars from eating away at the vegetables.

Blackbeard the cat checking out the haul. (7/22/16)

Washed and ready to eat. (7/22/16)

Sauteed Swiss chard. (7/22/16)

Next up: this weekend we are taking the next step by taking on the challenge of wrapping the celery for future harvesting.

Turning, Spreading, Mixing

Nearly a week, and a few days rain, after prepping
the gardens, the opportunity presented itself to lay
 the vegetable plants in the soil. (6/5/16)

Another late spring and another go round with our vegetable garden. With each passing year the seasons come more quickly and it feels as though (too) shortly after pulling up stakes and turning over dirt in October, comes time to turn over the soil again and reappoint certain sections as tomato territory and cucumber lane. As is our tradition, I usually wake up early, around 6 a.m., to weed and prepare the bed, while my wife plans and plants. Slipping neatly into our archetypal roles, I, as the man, am the destroyer and my wife is the nurturer.

This year, Memorial Day weekend once again proved to be the first time our other individual activities gave way just enough to create the opportunity to work together in the yard. Though the images look roughly the same each year (so, maybe the house was a different color last year, or the bed inched out a little further this year), the transformation from weed bed to vegetable garden is a rewarding one even before the vegetables take root.

Rather than cutting down the length of the weeds and grass,
 not mowing allowed for an easier grasp for yanking out roots.
(5/30/16)

Once used a roto-tiller, but preferred a
pitchfork and my hands to turn the soil and extract the
invasive weeds; it's a small enough area and it feels good to
get dirty. (5/30/16)

With the overgrown weeds, removed, a bag of
compost left over from the previous summer comes into view
as things begin to take shape. (5/30/16)

Ready for the annual mixing of compost, both earned
through our recycling efforts with Community Composting
and self-generated in the corner composter. (5/30/16)

Spreading, mixing and turning. (5/30/16)

Ready to receive whatever vegetables milady
wishes to grow this summer. (5/30/16)

Digging in the Dirt

The old ceramic bird feeder that wintered neatly against the shed, 
now ready for spring retrieval. (5/24/15)

Our family garden has finally come together over the past two weekends. With my summer break still a few weeks away, and with it more time to dedicate to such things, my wife and I took every opportunity to get between raindrops in an effort to grow some vegetables. As is the case annually, my role is destroy and prepare, while my wife plants and nurtures.

Though our roles stay pretty much the same, we will annually alter our some of the techniques that we employ in an effort to kick-start the garden. This year, for example, we chose not to use compostable paper to minimize weed growth as in the previous two years. Though it did result in an aesthetically pleasing appearance for the garden, the digging in the dirt that comes with hand weeding, is something I enjoy and the mulch necessary (in addition to a few well-placed stones) hold the paper down did not seem to benefit the soil.

There were far fewer weeds this spring due, I think, to the mulch employed
the previous spring to hold down the rolled garden paper. (5/24/15)

As I turned over the surface level dirt with a pitchfork, beautiful brown soil 
was revealed. (6/2/15)

A well-timed rain the evening prior, made the task of weeding and turning over 
the ground much easier. (6/2/15)

Two bags of the compost we earned over the winter thanks to our 
participation in community composting added some valuable nutrients to 
the dirt. (6/2/15)

The crops were rotated this year, with the tomatoes moving front-and-center, 
peppers to the left and squash to the back. Cucumbers were moved to an 
alternate location elsewhere in the backyard. (6/6/15)

Apparently Epsom Salts are good for plants and not just old
people in bath tubs, a misconception I had previously held. (6/6/15)

Read to GROW--ugh! (6/6/15)

While the rabbit clan living under our shed won't eat tomatoes or peppers, 
they do seem to enjoy Brussels sprouts; thus, the "cage." (6/11/15)

The cage came first--one evening after work--and my wife
planted the Brussels sprout plants a few days later. (6/11/15)

With the plants safely in the ground, and with local precipitation plentiful of late, all that's left to to sit back and see how things develop!