Late Fall. We usually start getting a taste of snow on Halloween.
Tomorrow is gonna be a real treat. High 30’s and sunshine. I doubt the ground will be workable enough to get the new tulips and crocus planted, however.
Looking toward the lake as the first signs of snow starts.
Peering out my window as the first snows came. Last year I was in Phoenix, LA, and SF this time of year. 70’s on 1/1/12. This was tough to digest this Winter, knowing I was staying in WNY all Winter long.
The gardens are ready for Winter. Covered, irrigation removed, and herbs shivering.
From my bedroom window, these raised beds look tightly tucked in for Winter. The winds off Lake Erie put up a fight until the snow helps keep the covers in place. Stacked in front is the black walnut I chopped and stacked from the trees that came down during a wind storm. Those big blocks are from the huge silver maple that also came down. (Luckily not on the house this time. The first one did come down on the house last time.)
A rhododendron blanketed and waiting patiently.
The front bed doesn’t resemble much of a bed anymore. One of the rhododendrons, located at the site of the other silver maple that came down on the house, looks pathetic and stressed but always perseveres. In early Summer, this is a pretty purple/pink. It’s been here since the maple came down, about 8 years, but it’s grown so little. This year it will be relocated. Others in my area are as large as 3 stories high and 40 feet across. While I don’t want that, exactly, I would like to see this little dude get stronger and fuller. I feed it coffee grounds pretty regularly. Being an evergreen, it’s acid loving.
Brenda’s favorite!
And again, since all this winter imagery can give you the blues, I have to end with my wife’s favorite flower. Every season I plant 100 and more of these and every season the deer eat 90 or more. One of the drawbacks of all of this privacy is I’m constantly battling the critters. The worst enemies I have are deer, rabbits, Japanese beetles, and cucumber beetles. The rabbits I defeat with simple fencing and netting. The cucumber beetles I defeat with neem oil and a mixture of garlic, water, and baking powder. One season, using pie plates hanging freely and banging around, a couple bars of soap strategically placed, and mustard also strategically placed, zinnia, chrysanthemum, and geranium strategically placed, I was able to defeat the deer. I would supplement that with ground chili powder and blood meal. They really don’t like that either. But this past season, I did nothing different and the deer could care less. As if they had gotten used to it. They even ate things that were doused with chili pepper. Maybe my big mistake was seasoning the plants for them? Running out of options, I ran out and got deer netting which worked well for the most part. However, there were 2 fawn born in my yard that eventually ate through them and chowed down the entire round bed of tomatoes. After they ate all my potatoes, of course.
Last season the deer ate potatoes, tomatoes, sunflowers, hostas, lillies, and iris. And a TON of them! At the beginning of the season, my wife said, “how cute, look fawn.” By the end of the season she didn’t think they were so cute after eating all the sunflowers I planted for her. Nothing hurts more than coming out in the afternoon to a bed of 100+ sunflowers all decapitated. Naked little stems sticking up in the air. The only cool part that came from that was that those sunnies grew multiple new heads! Just little ones.
The deer are like goats. They eat almost everything! This year, I’m ready and waiting for the deer. I’ll be trying some new methods and getting nets up earlier.
EAT MY PLANTS! 