Sunday 17 May 2020

Our Nicest Day So Far

Yesterday was soul reviving. Our temperatures reached 18 degrees C. I spent most of the day outside, still cleaning up perennial beds (not quite done, but much closer now!). We have had a fire ban for a while now, so the old dried up plant stalks, spruce cones, fallen branches have been piling up behind the chicken run, and I added much more yesterday. But now, the fire ban is over, so some burning in the burn barrel will be happening soon.

I have a question for all the gardeners out there: What is the plant that you would banish from your beds, now that you realize what an unruly pain it is? What do you regret planting the most? Mine is lily of the valley. In fact, I don't even think I was the one who planted it. I completely ripped out a bed one time, digging deep to pull every last root or rhizome, or whatever nasty way it spawns, out of the ground. This plant has managed to grow and creep its way under our porch to emerge on the other side. It is now overtaking a different bed and is growing up amongst peonies, phlox, cranesbill, and other flowers. It will take another complete dig-out to get rid of it. I'm not sure I have the energy for that right now.


Oh well, that's the thing with gardening, there's always another project.

I was pretty satisfied with my work, a lot of it involving cleaning up the "rail fence bed".

As well, husband cut the lawn and started the process of filling in the remaining low spots and slices in our back yard from when we trenched for the propane line to be put in. This is our back yard. Every time I come out onto the back porch, the chickens rush to the fence at the front of the chicken run, thinking I'm going to bring them some food.

You can see the line in the ground from the trench. Those two beds in the picture are still to be cleaned up completely. There's a forsythia that's in bloom - a gifted few little roots from a previous co-worker that I've split and put into a different locations. Forsythia is such a harbinger of Spring.

So, we have a bit of a dilemma. We have a visitor. Well, not a visitor, really, more of a resident.

That is one of two holes that leads under our shed (which is more garage sized). I know it belongs to a ground hog because we've seen the ground hog. It is very healthy and robust. I just don't want it to become more robust on my vegetable garden when the time comes. We have a humane trap that we could use, but I'm concerned that this might be a mama ground hog. We haven't seen any young, but that doesn't mean they aren't there, somewhere under our shed. Anybody know when baby groundhog season is? Likely now, I would think.

Last night, with outdoor fires being allowed again, we set up our metal campfire "thing" (four sided, screen-in unit with a hinged side to put the wood in, and roast marshmallows from). The four of us had a nice time sitting around and talking and laughing and enjoying the exchange between our two fairly different children. It is the "long weekend" in Canada (Victoria Day) and there were a few fireworks set off in the distance that we could hear and sometimes see.

Today is supposed to be rainy, it's already a bit overcast as of 7:24 a.m. Maybe that's a good thing, as it will deter me from more yard work - I'm feeling muscles that I haven't felt in a while! I might bake a pie today, and with tomorrow being a holiday, I'm not feeling rushed to put together lessons for this coming week online. Happy May Two-Four to all my fellow Canadians. It's a different one!

52 comments:

  1. A mother groundhog may have up to 10 babies,
    but 3 to 6 is the most common litter size..
    Baby groundhogs are called "pups", "kits" or
    sometimes "cubs"..
    When they are full grown, they may be called
    woodchucks, or whistlepigs..
    Birth of the young approaches in April or May..
    And! And! There nice to eat..
    Groundhogs are not only edible, they're tender
    and delicious if properly cleaned and prepared..
    They live on a completely vegetarian diet, and
    carry no life threatening diseases for humans..
    Groundhogs are similar to rabbit in taste, and
    most recipes for groundhog have you prepare them
    in the same manner.....!

    Love the look of your backyard..bet the chickens
    love it..all that space..! Sound quite tame to..!
    And..Lily of the valley..Take care..
    All parts of the plant are highly poisonous, including
    the red berries which may be attractive to children..

    So..there it is..can't advise on gardening really, l'm
    no gardener..just a lawn back and front, a privet hedge
    that needs cutting twice a year, and my Virginia Creeper
    that covers my home, not the roof, just back and front!
    I love my Virginia Creeper..Oh! And..An over grown pond,
    left to the wild life..! Though l do love gardens, and
    love seeing a well kept one..! And l don't mind paying
    to see one..! As long as l can enjoy a nice coffee and cake!
    ☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕🍰☕

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  2. Thanks, Willie. I do not intend to eat either the groundhog, or the lily of the valley, so no worries there. I'm going to keep an eye out and have a listen to see if I can notice any sign of 3-6 (or 10!!) babies. -Jenn

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  3. We used to have an orange day lily in France that was a very pretty flower when it bloomed but it was an absolute thug for spreading and invading other parts of the garden. Not keen on Verbena either because it spreads so many seeds that sprout everywhere.

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    1. Must have been an ill-mannered daylily. I have quite a few clumps of daylilies, but they just increase into a bigger sized clump. Verbena, yes, I understand that.

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  4. The one thing in my garden I would love to eradicate are those blasted orange ditch lilies. I've tried to relocate them all across the far side of the front field so they look pretty from afar, but any little bit of root left behind goes into growth overdrive.

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  5. This made me gasp!! Lily of the valley? I have tried for years to get them to grow in various gardens and it fails. Oh the wonder of being over run with them! What do I wish I didn't have? I am inundated with Mares Tail, which is a pericious weed - prehistoric apparently - and impossible to eradicate. All gardeners have their problems.

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    Replies
    1. I've read about your troubles with Mares Tail! I'm glad I'm not dealing with that.

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    2. Yes, Mare's Tail here... luckily I haven't found Japanese knotweed here or Himalayan balsam...

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  6. Personally, I'd get rid of that groundhog (and any smaller offspring!) by any means I could. Dear little rodents are going to do all kinds of further damage to your yard, buildings and garden. (Heartless, perhaps, but they can be very destructive.)

    My biggest can't-get-rid-of-the-darn-things was planting Jerusalem artichokes. Did so in a raised bed because I was warned they could spread and take over the acreage. Ended up we didn't enjoy eating them so dug them out. Ha! I fought getting all the roots out for about three years. They even sprouted up outside the confinement of the raised bed. Geesh. It became a personal battle and for a while I didn't know who was going to win! Good luck with your Lilies of the Valley!

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    Replies
    1. Nope- just can't do it. We've trapped raccoons and relocated them as well. I have heard similar horror stories about Jerusalem artichokes.

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  7. Another nice long interesting post.
    And a very good temperature ! That's perfect for working outside and melting marshmallows .
    We had a plant like that which looked very pretty but just strangled everything else. Can't remember it's its name. Blue sticky flowers.
    To get out the last of the roots I sat the two girls in the garden with small spades and they slowly dug it all out.
    Good riddance! Now clover takes over in the winter but it's so green I forgive it and it dries up and disappears all by itself in the summer

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    Replies
    1. I'm not sure what kind of plant that would be. I also have bindweed, but that's a weed, not something someone would plant on purpose.

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  8. Too bad groundhogs don't eat lilies of the valley!

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  9. Oh my what a dilemma . Do you guys have animal control units in Canada? Down here in the US we do and if you have a critter like this and even a nest of babies they will come and remove them and take them to a wildlife sanctuary. Maybe you could call your local government offices to see. OMG that one person saying to eat them. I do not think I have ever heard of that!!! Yikes!!! Have a great Sunday. Hope you can get rid of your unwanted guests in a humane way. Good luck.
    Kris

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    Replies
    1. We do have some kind of animal control, I guess, but we're pretty rural and groundhogs, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, geese, turkeys, coyotes, deer.. they kind of come with the territory. We have no problem trapping it (it's a trap that you can then release them elsewhere), but I just don't want nursing babies left under our shed. We'll figure it out, or I'll just leave out a sandwich every now and again by its hole! ;)

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  10. I do not eat the critters in my yard. They are God's children too. As for the Lily Of The Valley, I know what you mean. I planted a few of them and they spread like wild fire. Good luck with your garden. Hugs, Edna B.

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  11. This is funny because I haven't had success with either lily of the valley or verbena. I do have my dreaded plant though that I wish to goodness I had never planted. Creeping Jenny! I planted a little of it for some ground cover when we moved in thirteen years ago. How I wish I hadn't. It spreads like crazy and I have spent years trying to get rid of it. It gets amongst other plants so that it is difficult to get out and the root breaks and grows back again vigorously. It is now all over the garden. I don't think we will ever get rid of it but we try to keep pulling it to keep on top of it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I rue the day I planted it and would never plant it anywhere ever again.

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    Replies
    1. Funny, I have purchased creeping Jenny to be part of planters and urns. One year when I was pulling spent plants out of pots, I just dumped stuff in a pile by the chicken coop. I've noticed it now has spread from there.

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    2. Yeah that stuff - it arrived in my garden from a planter at MIL's place and spread under the beehives, where no one was brave enough or stoic enough to dig it out - the prospect of hours in a sweaty bee-suit, sifting tiny roots of that stuff out of the soil....

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  12. Oh, I wish you could tear out those lily of the valley and I could get them! They are my favorites. I have a small patch which is yet to bloom -- Rick's are on the opposite side of his house and his are pick-ready right now! My dreaded plant is lemon balm. One plant would be nice. Many plants? Not so good -- they spread like weeds. Your yard looks great and I can see where it would be a haven. How nice the weather held to sit with your family around the fire.

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    Replies
    1. Lily of the valley does well in slightly shady areas and, for me, seems to thrive on neglect and contempt.

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  13. We planted some cashmere bouquet plants taken from BIL’s yard in Louisiana and were warned they would take over... and they have, but since our yard has been given over to the wild life, we don’t mind. Would love to see more pics of your chickens! ... and PLEASE DON’T EAT THE GROUNDHOGS!

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    Replies
    1. Forgot to mention: our mint has taken over in the front... may take over the whole lawn... but it looks so green and healthy and smells wonderful!

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    2. I've never heard of cashmere bouquet plants! Must be a plant that does well in a different zone than us. Ughh, mint! They say you should plant it in a pot instead of in a bed. I won't be eating the groundhog.

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  14. Spring cleaning of the garden always causes me to smile, though it is a lot of work! Great job! I once planted peppermint in my garden it completely took over the beds, took forever it seemed to get rid of it, I now plant mint in containers.
    We also enjoy outdoor fires, toasting marshmallows too! Thanks for sharing.
    Good luck with ridding the unwanted family. ~wink~
    Blessings,
    Sue

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    1. Thanks, Sue. You are not the only one with mint regret!

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    2. A neighbour planted peppermint in the community garden. By summers end it was choking everything. Yet even as we were digging it out and looking for a more confined, or less 'gardened' places to plant it and let it do it's thing, people were walking by and requesting roots of it. Good luck with that one.

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  15. Oh, can I pick two plants to banish from my yard? Those wild orange lilies, and most of all monkey grass! Wouldn't surprise me to wake up one mornoing and find them coming in the windows. I love your yard, especially the rail fence and your little outside building. It's so pretty there.

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  16. Yes! Just spent yesterday digging, pulling, digging, pulling at my own lily of the valley. I love the little flowers, but man! is that stuff stubborn.

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    1. It is stubborn and you really have to dig deeply to get right down to the roots and from whence they come!

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  17. That little outside building is the chicken coop that my husband built! Again, with the orange lilies! I have no idea what monkey grass is. I'll have to look it up.

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  18. Your weather and our weather seem to be on par at the moment. I love the visual of chickens excitedly greeting you only to find out that they aren't to be fed!

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    Replies
    1. Chickens are a little smarter than people may think.

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  19. Wish I had your lily-of-the valley. I have a few that are well behaved and stay within their boundaries bur have yet to produce any flowers. Mint is bad for spreading but I dig it up each fall and it seems under control.

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    Replies
    1. I would gladly give you as much as you want. Too bad we don't live closer to each other.

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  20. My banisher,in the day, would be morning glory. They have the same root as lily of the valley, of which I was more tolerant because they did not grow tendrils to strangle the rest of the plants. But I no longer have a garden, and I sold that home thirty years ago. Wonder how that homeowner dealt with the morning glory.
    Have a lovely holiday.

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  21. You should be able to tell if it has babies by looking after you catch her to see she has been suckled. I would love some of your Lily of the valley. We had some at our old house and I loved the smell. I didn't take them when we moved and I regret it. I have the perfect enclosed spot for it. I don't think I regret anything I've planted.

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    1. I did think of that, about having a look at the groundhog if / when we trapped it. If it looked like a nursing mama, we would release it to raise the little ones. After that, I don't know, trap each one??

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  22. Happy Victoria Day Jenn. I was also out in the garden all day Saturday & taking Sunday to rest ... I have three I will forever curse my step Mother for; Lily of the Valley, Snow on The Mountain; Violets - all SOOOO invasive, oh & Anemone is another invasive one, but I planted that, my bad. ... Mary-Lou =^[..]^=

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    1. For some reason, I don't mind violets. They seem more innocent.

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  23. I never had an invasive plant in my garden thank goodness! We are having rain today as well.

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  24. Virginia creeper-that I didn't plant. It came over from our neighbor. And I hate it with a passion!

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  25. I just love the orange lilies and dug up many along the road in the past and put them in my yard. I planted lilies of the valley some years ago and spent many hours last season digging them up as they were taking over one area of the yard. Guess what are back in abundance this spring?

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  26. So far nothing yet that I would not plant but, but, but we have wild garlic mustard and it doesn't belong in our forest. It will, if allowed, choke out much around it. That said, it's tasty in a salad but quite a pai to get rid of.

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  27. I cannot grow lilies of the valley but would love to. The plant I can't get rid of is oyster plant(acanthus). I've given up. Autumn is now ending and I have had fields of beautiful cosmos that are only now being blackened by the frost. I think the rain came at just the right time for the best display ever.

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  28. When we were in Kingston, there were a lot of groundhogs around and we had one living under our shed. Of course, it had full access to the garden. I can't hurt a fly, so I would just plant an area for all the critters (groundhogs, rabbits, birds, squirrels, chipmunks) dropping by for buffet meals and close off certain sections with chicken wire for us. There seemed to be plenty for everyone :)

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