Merry xmess!

Happy holidays to all our family and friends.

Our tree this year:

A cute little tree Joey made with Daniel's grandmother's buttons:

Miss Gracie just after being caught in the act of scratching the furniture.

Harsh days around the Sound

Bad weather ripped thru the region over the past 24 hours and mudslides and flooding have been reported all over. The Gov. declared a state of emergency. Power was out here for most of the afternoon, but is back now. No damage or water problems here, as we're on the ridge top. Our usual little overflow creek didn't even have more than a trickle going.

Nothing happening in the garden. Still trying to get beds weeded and mulched for winter. Only half way thru with that. I'll be glad when spring is here.

A mulching we will go

Finding a good day to be outside and get some garden beds put to rest is wonderful, and Monday was just such a day. Not only did the entire driveway bed get weeded and mulched this weekend, but on Monday I managed to get two new large beds made and planted in the back of the rootwad in that bed, under the madrona tree. I'm really pleased at how it turned out and can't wait to finish the whole length of it off. So many other areas are wanting my attention though. I'm trying to work on those we can see from inside the house, as I'm tired of seeing weeds out there. Here's pics.

Fall Fungus Parade

Last Saturday Daniel and I went mushroom hunting for Chantrelles down this old logging road near our place. We found a nice handful of good mushrooms and had them with steak that evening. We also found hundreds of other mushrooms that were just pretty. here's a dozen of them.






















I love these little tiny ones on a fir cone. So cute.


I never did manage to photograph a chantrelle. I was always so excited to find one it never occurred to me to take it's picture.

Thunder, Trifolium incarnatum, and Tiny Mushrooms

A peal of thunder - the first of the day - peals across Arcadia as I sit down to write this post. William Elliot Whitmore's Ashes To Dust is playing on the iTunes, and Chewbacca sits perched on my desk, just below my chin so I can most easily bend down and nuzzle her head. She likes that.

I've spent the day out in the garden and down in the woods. Today was the day, seed in hand and "scattered sun" in the forecast, that I finished tidying up the veggie garden and planted my fall crops. I may have missed the window on one or two of the plants I set seed out for, but I'm not too worried. I'm sure winter will cooperate. Indian Summer is yet to come, if it comes at all this year, and first freeze still seems a few weeks away.

Crimson Clover, Trifolium incarnatum, has been planted in Beds # 1 and #3. I pulled out all the plant matter that was leftover after tearing out the squash and nasturtium in Bed #3, and tossed it on the compost, scattering found nasturtium seeds around the fence and out in the trees and stump pile. Bed #1 had been cleared of brocolli and heat-killed, late-planted dill starts a week ago. I turned both beds over and sifted for large roots, then scratched what was probably a generous dose of lime in. Raking everything smooth, I reserved a bit of soil from each bed, broadcast seed over them, and scattered the reserved soil back over to barely cover the seeds. I don't know if that was the way I was supposed to do it, but that's how I did it.

[Hoo-boy - big thunder and wind and rain, all at once!!! Boy it got dark! That's Mother Nature, watering my seeds in...]

And I have to say, that soil looks quite nice after a season of stuff growing in it. I was going to put some of that garden soil we recently had delivered in my beds to enrich them, but it's too weedy, Mike quite rightly recommended against it. And since I've planted crimson clover, the soils will be even better in the spring. I'm planning to plant root crops in Bed #1.

In Bed #2 I had mulched with compost a few weeks ago, while I removed much of the cabbage, all the dill (which would much rather grow in really crappy soil), the shallots, and the nasturtiums. I had left my transplanted miner's lettuce, a few nice cabbages and some French sorrel. After removing a couple ore cabbage plants, I added lime and turned everything over, rather shallowly - a couple inches at most.

Having removed some French sorrel last week, I realized after some reading that I really do want to try the very young leaves, or cook with the older ones. I had tried an older leaf raw, right out of the garden, and I didn't like it. I figure I should give it another chance or two. Today I discovered that it has a very long root, which I couldn't fully remove (think thistle), there were numerous little starts all around each plant that I could 'comb' out of the soil with my fingers. These were transplanted to their own rows, and I gave them each a little kiss of love and an urging to thrive. We'll see how they do.

I planted a patch of shallots from last fall's planting - while not all had multiplied, many had. I also stuck three white garlic bulbs in the edges on the other side of the bed. I left a row along the full long edge open for Inchelium red garlic, which I still need to go to the Olympia Farmer's Market to get.

I also planted seeds for Arugula, two kinds of mustard greens (Southern Giant Curled and Spinach), corn salad (or mache, if you know it as that), and lettuce (both Salad Bowl and Buttercrunch). I figure the mustard greens and arugula and mache will all do fine, but I don't know if the lettuces have been planted early enough. I expect they'll all be fine.

I still have a bit to do out three before I can kick back and let things go, and grow, for the winter. I want to plant crimson clover under the raspberries. I need to build that fourth bed. I am desiring a rhubarb root to put in a patch, and if I had straw I could build my potato patch.

So after I finished up in the garden, I took a wander in the trees, looking for chanterelles. I don't even know if I should expect them, but I look anyway. I didn't find any, but I did find very young coral mushrooms, and one red russula looking specimen, as well as numerous puffballs, all very young. There were a few other varieties that I didn't recognize.

And now I'm blogging and the thunder has passed. Chewie is still sitting beneath my chin, purring of course. I'm going to eat lunch, then maybe look for mushrooms elsewhere.

Mulch!

Finally, after all this time we have a huge pile of mulch. Yesterday our friends Adam and Kevin came out to help us weed all the beds and get them mulched in for the winter. That should really cut down on the weeds (though I'll be pulling thistles for a long time yet). It looks fantastic! Can't wait to get the rest of the garden done, but of course looks like we'll have rain for the next week. Oh well.

Before:

During:

After:

Closer view:

The compost came from BCP and is the best stuff I have seen since the landfill stopped processing the city's yard waste into black gold. Really hot, fluffy and rich. It will break down beautifully. Best of all - there's enough to do the whole garden and still have a pile left for spring too.

Here's a couple other pics. Tuck in the dahlias and a lovely purple dahlia with white tips I got from my friend Patt.

Plant Swap

Daniel and I went to a plant swap yesterday. We started attending these events back in 2000 and try to go to at least one each year, just to see friends mainly. It is so much fun. Arranged off the Pacific Northwest Exchange forum at Gardenweb, most folks make prearranged trades and then bring extras to swap on the spot. We always end up with a big 'free pile' at the end that everyone sorts thru for goodies they can use. Potluck food is brought along as well, and has always been fantastic. I had nothing to take but some leftover irises and a few dahlia tubers, but came home with the car packed full.

I forgot the camera so no pics of Mark and Lanelle's beautiful garden. It has grown so much since the last swap held there 3 years ago. Got to see some old friends (missed you Doris!) and made some new ones. Our dear friend Kellie loaded us up with seemingly endless pots of vine maples, among the other treasures to be had. I am most excited about the 3 native dogwoods we managed to come home with. It will be great to get those in the mix of trees around here, as we were disappointed that none were to be found growing wild. Here's a shot of the booty. We'll be doing alot of planting today.



There's just one thing about the day that could have been better - traffic. Note to self: next time there's a swap at the same time as the Puyallup Fair and in teh same general area just beg off for another day. Dinner at Volaré later that night with Joey and terry was also a treat. Good food, good friends - all in all a great way to celebrate my b-day.

Garden visit with Weldon Neuschwanger

One afternoon my friend and coworker Ruth and I took a long lunch to do a garden visit at a friends house. Daniel met us outside work and came along. It was a short drive out to Tumwater where Weldon Neuschwanger and his wife Barbara have been gardening their property for more than 50 years.

Tucked at the end of a cul-de-sac on a bluff high above the freeway traffic (which sounds like a river rushing in the background), Weldon's garden is a densely planted and beautifully designed oasis that uses every inch of the good sized city lot. Narrow pathways - almost tunnels thru the shrubbery in some places - lead from room to room around the house, opening onto one gorgeous view after another. Overhead rises a huge dawn redwood planted from one of the first shipments of seedlings to be brought to America in the 1940's.

The garden abounds with heirloom plants, many with special family histories - numerous roses and peonies brought out from Barbara's mother's garden in the midwest are a special treasure. But on this visit we came to see the Mexican poppies bloom. They grow profusely along the corner of the drive, and are so lovely with old roses planted amongst them. Very difficult to get starts from, and never setting seed (not enough heat), they grow 7 feet tall and have large white blooms six inches across. The dahlias and hollyhocks were also looking amazing. No matter what time of year there is always a spectacular display at Weldon's.

Below: Daniel, Weldon and Ruth chat next to the mexican poppies (on right).

Below: Close up of the poppy bloom. A perfect 'fried egg'.

Below: Dahlias and hollyhocks.

Below: A very colorful honeysuckle still in profuse bloom.

Below: Daniel checking out the begonias, which summer in this shady outdoor room under old japanese maples.

Below: Across from the begonias is a gazebo sited amidst lush ferns and hostas and hung with bits of garden art.

Below: In the back garden is a lovely planting of hot summer colors.

Feels like fall

Cooler temps and turning leaves have lent a feeling of autumn to our area. Seems like we just waited for summer all season and now it's slipped away without ever really arriving.

Here's a few recent photos.

Joey deadheading the dahlias

Daylily 'Brien Lee' - loves those black buds.

A dahlia display with bowls of fruits and veggies.

And finally, the gorgeous geometry of sedum spurium

We're off to Mike's Dahlias in Shelton this morning to do some shopping for next years growing. I am excited to have some new varieties. Even though we added 28 last year, many turned out to be duplicates or just bad varieties (stems to short for cutting, lousy garden display, horrific color, etc.) and only a dozen or so remain.
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Late summer....

Warm evenings these past few days brings termites out of their buried stumps just as the sun dips below the horizon. This in turn brings out the little bats that fly in crazy patterns all about the clearing around the house snapping them from the air. We enjoyed sitting on the porch and watching their silhouettes against the sunset sky a few nights ago.

Someday a bat box for the big tree. Good pest control.

The Driveway

It's done! It's done! Hallelujah!!! I'm dancing around the garden on my tiptoes!!!

Pensinsula Sand & Gravel was out yesterday afternoon to deposit 20 yards (truck and trailer recorded a net weight of 26.92 tons) of 3/4" black driveway rock from the local (Kennedy Creek) Quarry.




It was applied in a "rutspread" manner - meaning that blocks were set in the center of the dump gate to place the gravel only on the ruts of the driveway. You can see the two pieces of tubafor on the lip of the trailer's bed.


The center strip was not gravelled, except for along the bend, and that was simply a fortuitous accident. The blocks fell out right at the befinning of the bend, and the driver didn't stop until he had finished the bend. I was pleased, as that area needed a bit more rock anyway.


The 20 yards were enough to cover the entire length of the driveway - just. LOL! I am so relieved on a number of accounts... my little Honda Civic won't bottom out, nor will Julie's car. The gravel should help with the mud pit and water flow problems, too. I suppose the proof of that will be had during the soggy season. Hopefully, the protective layer of gravel will assure that tires don't kick the roadbed rocks out anymore.

I watched Mike drive out this morning, and was just a little sad to see the first set of tire tracks laid down on the fresh gravel. It's not so new now... but it's gorgeous all the same.

(And just so you all know, Julie rocks like the red-headed and tattooed love child of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Thank you Julie)

Mustela frenata

Have you ever seen a long-tailed weasel? Me neither. Until last night, that is.

Long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata) are apparently native here, according to the Burke Museum at the University of Washington.

This fellow was very cute. I first noticed that there was this reddish brown creature hopping playfully about the end of my driveway, up by the county road. I figured it was a squirrel, until I realized how large it was, and noticed the strange tail sticking out behind it. As I continued down the drive, it continued to hop about, from one side of the driveway to the other. Eventually, it hopped a short way down the neighbor's drive. I noticed it hopped like a ferret, which I thought unusual, as I had never seen a rich red-chocolate brown ferret before, and certainly not one out in the wild around here.

I wanted to know what kind of creature I was looking at, so I jogged back to the house. Yes, I jogged. Highly unusual, I know, but this was a very exciting moment. Arriving breathlessly back at the house (it's a long driveway, you know), I did a Google Image search for weasels and WA. The image of Mustela frenata was a perfect match!

Of course, since I was just out for my evening stroll down to the end of the road (you know, checking out Mt. Rainier, splash about in the sound, contemplate the beauty of my neighborhood), I didn't bring a camera. What a shame! Luck would have it that by the time I made my way back down the driveway, the little dear had gamboled away.

I am hoping I see this little fellow again - and here's to having a camera on hand!

Bats!

Mike and I were driving down the driveway the other evening, and saw flickery little shapes bouncing about in the air over us. It was a bat, most likely a Little Brown Bat, Myotis lucifugus. We've discussed in the past how we would like to help them along by building boxes for them.

This Seattle Times article has some good basic info about our little brown friend, and a link to a Fish & Wildlife site about building a bat box.

I love bats.

More daylily photos.

Some varieties are winding down, but most have a while yet to go. Really impressive show on them this year.

Daylilies

The bright colors of daylilies are lighting up the gray rainy days. Can't complain about the rain - so rare this time of year and every drop welcome. The daylilies don't seem to mind.