Garden Update

This weekend was wonderfull for getting some work done out in the yard and garden. I planted 12 potatos as well as put some cabbage, beets, lettuce, parsnips, swiss chard seeds in the ground. I dug out more compost and filled in the newly extended vegetable bed (where i planted the seeds). Next on  the list is to fill in the last vegetable bed with compost and get that started as well. This weekend I decided to make a screen so i can get some nice fine soil from the compost without all the sticks and other debris in it. Im pretty sure ill get enough soil out of there that we wont need to buy any potting soil this year.

Cabbage, Beets, lettuce, parsnips and swiss chard bed. I have put down marigold seeds as a border along the fence. And once its warm enough my eggplants will be put in the back right corner.

The screen I made.

Rhododenron ( i think) first bloom

The little Magnolia we planted last year is blooming.

The big Magnolia ( i believe is 4-5 yrs old now) blooming.
I think its funny how these Magnolias bloom without having any leaves.

The Trellis netting just arrived in the mail today so I need to get that up. Here is the most recent photo of the trellis area.

I'm headed back outside there will be a second update this evening with wildlife pictures as well as the newest image of the crater I put in the compost pile.

Birds

A few pics i took yesterday afternoon.

The mystery bird. Ive decided its probably an Eastern Phoebe and not an Eastern Wood-Pewee.. 

I really like this bird.

Heres a Purple Finch

And a Female Cardinal

And a Chickadee surprising the female Cardinal

Spring Time

Well spring is here. The past week has been amazing with temps in the 70's. We even had our first thunderstorm this week! It was nice to hear some thunder and see flashes of lightening since last summer we had very few good thunderstorms.

The garden is coming along nicely. Im planning out what i am going to plant where. And this year i am going to try growing some potatoes so we'll see how that works out.

Heres some pictures i took this week.

The first Blue Heron of the year (or it could be an egret)

An Egret. There are two of them feeding in the marsh today.

One of the Chickadees who are trying to make a nest in a plum tree.

I am not sure but I think this is an Eastern Wood-Pewee


And lastly a blurry picture of a bat. Which i was stunned to see them out every night this week but it has been warm enough. I wish I knew what kind of bats lived around here but I have yet to get close enough to figure it out.

I also saw a deer in the yard a few nights ago and a raccoon keeping it company. I saw a fox across the marsh with some binocs this week. And yesterday I found my first big fat toad.

more garden work

So I got started on the trellis today. Im only putting one in for now to see how to works out. Plus I had forgotten about the randomly placed rhubarb plants in the area so I didnt want to encroach on them.

It was a great day to be outside. It hit 70! it makes me want to put plants in the ground! the only thing is that its been very windy. Wind isnt my favorite thing in the world.

So what happend with the Turkeys in Shoreview?

Well, the city caught 5 and then gave up. Since the snow melted and mating season is in full swing the turkeys have moved on. Good work Shoreview, wasting money. I am still displeased with the Minnesota DNR. They now have gone from saying they wont relocate the turkeys because they don't need turkeys anywhere else to, they cant relocate the turkeys because they are too acclimated to humans and are unsure the genetic history of the birds. They are unsure where the birds came from, and because of that are afraid that if they were not from wild stock it could affect wild stock if placed someplace else. Which i think is a bunch of bull, cause the birds are still free to wander and therefore mix in with the so called obvious wild turkeys.Ive basically paraphrased what was said in the StarTrib article here:

http://www.startribune.com/local/north/88785717.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUUr

It seems like the city is planning on continuing the project next year, which I am not excited about at all, unless like 300+ birds pop up over there, then maybe, just maybe they might need to be thinned out.

I unfortunately haven't seen any signs of turkeys in my yard. I'm guessing since the vegetation and cover that provided them with a nice safe home to raise 8 babies last year was torn out and not replanted, the area isn't very hospitable this year.

The garden

Well I am nearly done with the new garden addition. All I need it to do is rain sufficiently to give me an idea where any drainage and runoff problems are. I cant wait to plant this area.





Here is the big hole in the compost. Im going to back fill it with all the leaves so i can get to the compost underneath.


This is the next area I will be focusing on. The plan is to once again remove all the hay and other crap. Then I plan to put in 4 trellises for Loofah Gourds, cucumbers, zucchini and i guess pole beans (those climb right?).

Garden

Today i dug down into our massive leaf pile. We have piled leaves in this location of our yard since we moved into this house in 1992. I had to move about 3ft of leaf matter to get down to the compost. Then i dug out about a 4ft long hole about 2ft deep and started filling in the terraces. Its hard but worthwhile work. I had a robin watching me for a good portion of the afternoon. I tried to entice it by throwing big juicy worms its way but it didnt pick up any.




Heres a picture of the seedlings i started a bit too early. Ill be surprised if they make it much longer since some mold started growing on the surface. I kept them a little too wet last week i guess.


And yesterday this hawk let me take its picture. It was sitting in a branch right above my new garden addition. I think its a broad-winged hawk.

Garden work

So I got started on terracing the back garden. I decided to terrace it because it was an odd slope, i figured this would look nicer and hopefully cut down on erosion. Lucky for me the layers of hay my parents have covered the area with over the past few years did a great job of keeping the ground from freezing. I only found a few spots where the ground was frozen.




I just hope when it rains all the dirt doesn't get washed out... but ill find out when that happens.

All i got to do now is level out the beds and add compost and then ill probably put hay down to cut down on weeds when i plant it.

St. Patties Day

Well its St. Patrick's Day and normally I would be a lot more excited for this holiday but unfortunately I have been sick since Saturday. So please understand if there are more spelling errors than normal my brain isn't working.

In other news, the backyard is 100% snow free. hooray

Here's some pictures I took.
This is a picture of a male Pileated Woodpecker taken either friday or saturday

And here is the female Pileated Woodpecker taken the same day at the same time.

Im not sure where they are nesting but im certainly going to keep a look out for some pileated babies.

The chipmunks have crawled out of their hole/home under the front of our house. I gave them some peanuts.



Yesterday (the 16th) the birds of prey were very active. Around 11 am i had stepped outside to get some fresh air and to look around the garden to get an idea what i need to get going on when I saw one of the bald eagles fly very low over my house. It was awesome to see but I didnt have my camera.
Then later in the afternoon I saw this hawk roosting in a tree. Not sure if it is a Red-tailed hawk or a red-shoulder hawk or something else.




Then I saw this hawk flying around the same area and being chased off by crows. Its much lighter than the other hawk, and I'm assuming its a broad-winged hawk, but i have no idea. Its probably the same hawk.


Im finding it damn near impossible to correctly identify the hawks.


And today I saw a Red-tailed hawk, which I can confirm only because I saw its red-tail. but I didnt get a picture.


Today I cleaned out the wren house. Here is a picture of what i found inside. Im confused by the presence of an egg. I haven't seen any wrens so Im sure it isn't an egg that was recently laid, at least I hope not.


Here are some pictures of the back of the garden. I am going to go to town on this area. Back when i was a kid we used this portion to grow squash and pumpkins and stuff that needed alot of sun and space. Now that the city ripped out a bunch of trees and made it a full sun portion of the yard again I am going to make use of it once again. Im going to fix the fencing and rake up all the hay and tear up all the black plastic and bricks that have been forgotten underneath it all.


Im not sure if I want to put in raised beds or try to terrace it a bit to keep down on the run off. Im going to try my best to keep a photo journal of my work.

And this shows the mess the City of Shoreview left last fall when it "trimmed" back trees that were in the way of the power lines.


I especially love the random piles of chopped wood the left. (the pile in the background is my neighbors)


And I really enjoy their poor attempt at "hiding" the pile of wood in the reeds of the marsh. Big thumbs up there.




And just a few more pictures of the hill/marsh behind my house

March Melt

Well the snow is finally melting. Everyday there is more and more grass visible and it makes me excited for the summer. I cant wait to start planting and working on building up the garden.

Its been rainy and foggy as well.



I also finally came across some owl pellets! The first one i found wasent very big but had a few bones in it. But just today I came across a good sized owl pellet. Im going to try and lit is dry out a bit before dissecting.