The last week of February has been typical. Two days of a dusting of snow and several mild days in between. It's been raining since last night and will probably continue through tomorrow and then turn to snow on Sunday. Looks like after Monday, we will get some warm days again. Hope March is going to be mild.
The bees have quite active on the days when the weather has been mild. Yesterday was low fifties and there was a lot of activity. They are feeding and bringing in some pollen. I took a quick peek under the inner cover and saw lots of bees. I'm beginning to be very encouraged that the hive will make it safely through the winter.
We spent last Saturday with our friends Kelley and Quintin at Balltown Bee Farm. They hosted a shitake log workshop. About 30 people attended. We innoculated 200 logs with shitake spore. I forgot my camera, but Sue and Pat were kind enough to forward their pictures to me. Thanks! Follow this link to some great pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Catspaw851&target=ALBUM&id=5305639001424713857&authkey=kCGpa4De6j0&authkey=kCGpa4De6j0&feat=email
Notice all the beehives. Kelley has about 50! and I'm jealous. I hope to be so successful.
I planted some pansies on Wednesday, but when I went to the garden this morning, something had rooted them out the ground. Whatever the critter is, it also dug some dahlia tubers that had overwintered and took a few bites. I used bone meal when I planted the pansies and have had trouble in the past with the dogs digging, but the gate was closed last night and the dogs were not out. I hope I don't have voles, but I'm not sure they would cause that kind of damage. If anybody has any thoughts, let me know. Anyway, the pansies were not damaged so if it happens again, I'll just plant them in my flower boxes on the deck.
My experiment with starting seeds indoors was not successful. All the seeds germinated, but because my light is high above the seedlings, they are just stretching up and flopping over. I'll stick with planting seeds directly in the ground or buying plants from my local farm store. All is not lost, however. I'll put everything in the compost pile.
I'll be in the garden next week with my camera. Everywhere I look there are perennials beginning to show through the soil. The daffodils are up a couple of inches and a few already have big buds. Can't wait to see those first lovely yellow flowers!
2 comments:
Well, one thing we know for sure; the critters who pillaged your pansies and dahlia tubers have large families and many of their relatives live in my neck of the woods! You have bears and I have deer, which explains the eight foot high fence I invested in early last fall. Hope our respectives fences solve those two pesky problems. As to the pansies and tuber eaters, have you considered squirrels? They are the most destructive little animals that I have dealt with and we have them in droves in our downtown area, most likely because of the abundance of pecan trees. At my former home, I enjoyed the shade of six mature pecan trees, which in a good year were loaded with nuts. The varmints ate very well, were fat and healthy, so were able, unfortunately, to reproduce in large numbers. Well, I guess I shouldn't complain too much, after all, I did get a whole pound of the bounty one year along with the shade. A few months back I planted pansies and flowering kale in containers on my deck. The varmints feasted well that night, leaving only soil and some pitiful roots. Maybe you and the very handy one could relocate to GA and we could gang up on the garden trouble-makers. Not a bad idea! There is a beautiful lot available, a rich-soil garden and a greenhouse just waiting for another green thumb. Also, plenty of bear-free space for Walter Bee, who would probably feel right at home.
Georgia sound good right now as I look out the window at the driving rain and know that it will turn to 3 inches of snow by tomorrow. I have a feeling, after more thought, my critter is probably a skunk. "The handy one" stepped outside last evening and smelled said varmint. They do a great job of controlling snails in the garden, but when it comes to invading my plants, I have to draw the line. I really think whatever the offender, it was attracted to the bone meal as the plants and roots were not damaged at all. I don't know if it came back last night, because I don't care to go out in the pouring rain and check.
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