September

Well, my plan to keep this blog updated throughout the summer didn't really happen.

Various reasons mainly i have been busy but also the yard hasn't been as exciting or interesting as it has been in past years. My veggie garden didn't really start doing anything until August.

But here is a picture of some veggies i picked today.

Some russet potatoes. A bunch of cherry tomatoes. 1 big boy tomato. And after thinking that i was never going to get any, green beans. I really thought they were never going to bloom, but finally about a week or 2 ago i noticed some blooms on them on the trellis.

So far i have just had a bunch of basil and i have had 1 eggplant and a handful of cucumbers.

All my beets well started off strong and then didn't grow very much at all and then the rabbits found their way into the veggie bed and ate the little beets. The rabbits also ate my broccoli, lettuce and parts of my Brussels sprouts.

The deer have been causing a lot of damage to everything this year. And with the lack of rain for the past 2 months the yard is well struggling.

Hopefully ill keep getting a good amount of veggies in for the rest of September and i hope we don't have our first frost or snow until October.

native Blue Flag found down the hill at the marsh

A really bad picture of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak

2012

It has been quite some time since I have posted.

We had an early spring. It was quite warm in March, a week of 70 degree days was nice, but I didn't want to believe the cold was over so I didn't really take much advantage of it. I mostly cleaned out one bed that i had let go last summer. I still have another bed to clean out as well as the trellis and terraced beds.

I am unsure about the amount of time I will have this summer to grow vegetables, but my parents say they will help. I think I am going to go with the usual, tomatoes, beets, lettuce, cucumbers, green peppers, squash and parsnips. I think i might try some peas on the trellis and put my cucumbers somewhere else.

As for wildlife its been kinda quiet. There are signs of the deer passing through. A few weeks ago I found a bunch of fur in patches all over the yard. I came to the conclusion it was deer fur because it was in such random places, and i found some around deer droppings and also next to what looked like a deer urine mark. I will try to post pictures if i still have them on my phone.

Here's a list of what birds i have seen so far.

Black Capped Chickadee
Nuthatch
Cardinals
Eastern Phoebe
Northern Flicker
Downy Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Pileated Woodpecker
Red-Winged Blackbird
House Wren
Kingfisher
Mallard
Wood Duck
Great White Egrets
Great Blue Heron
Osprey
Coopers Hawk
Red Tail Hawk
Bald Eagle
Red Bellied Woodpecker
Blue Jay
Goldfinch
Robin
Canadian Geese
Swans

The chipmunk is back, and there is a second one that i think was the baby of the pair that i fed last summer. Its quite skiddish, and wont eat any seeds or peanuts i toss towards it unless it lands directly in front of it.

I haven't seen any rabbits and haven't seen the turkeys. I think found some fox scat but it could be raccoon scat.

I have seen muskrats swimming in the marsh.

I will try to update my blog throughout the summer.