| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Clare |
Posted - Oct 09 2005 : 6:43:21 PM
This has been my agenda this weekend, and I'm pleased to report that I made alot of progress. Cleaned up my vege garden, and got started putting away the outdoor furniture... but before I could do that I made HUGE progress in cleaning out my shed. This had been overlooked for a couple years (Yikes!... but I did have a life threatening illness during that time, so that's my excuse.).. When I could only take two steps into the shed and turn around, ya know ya just have to start pitching things... get all the tools organized, the extra pots, etcs.... then there was room for the lawn furniture, with room to spare. Now the lawnmower may even fit!  Feels so good to get this accomplished before the inclimate weather... now I can tackle my indoor projects and not have my mind divided about what to do when!
How's everyone else coming along with their fall cleanup?
May the sun bring you new energy by day, may the moon softly restore you by night, may the rain wash away your worries, may the breeze blow new strength into your being, may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life. ~~Apache Blessing
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| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Eileen |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 1:02:11 PM
When i find a patch of the slug eggs in the lawn or under something I show them to my chickens who energetically go after those darn little pearls. Hoping to have a smaller population of slugs next year.
The wind is GREAT!!!!!
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 12:44:50 PM
Eileen, Wind dancing is GOOD! You go girl!
If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come. |
| Fabulous Farm Femmes |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 12:37:47 PM
I have heard or read somewhere that slugs (except for banana slugs I believe)are NOT native to the United States, that they came over in potted plants from China and they have no natural enemies here (except for gardeners) that is why they are so prolific.In China they had wild ducks and chickens to keep them in check.
Just a little more Fabulous Trivia.... |
| Clare |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 12:15:51 PM
Eileen, permission to dance in the wind granted!! (As if you needed it from me! hahaha) 
"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have." - Abraham Lincoln.... http://farmstyle.blogspot.com
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| Eileen |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 11:34:58 AM
Kay, The spiders you are seeing with the big fat body are probably hornback females. Right now they are making their egg sacks that will hatch out in the spring. Life begets life and all of it has a purpose. These spiders do us a wonderful amount of good no matter how afraid we are of them. They eat other bugs that work on destroying our beautiful plants. So they actually are a helper for us. Slugs are land dwelling escargot. The one job that nobody really wants is to be the garbage collector or the sewage man. Well that is the job of slugs. They clean up our land waste. The unfortunate thing about them is that they cannot tell the difference between a plant we do not want and one we do want and they are attracted to the beautiful salad bar we create for (they think) them. I do not like them to eat my flowers any more than the next person but I cannot help being grateful to them for cleaning up the droppings of the other wild life and even the droppings of domestic pets and recycling them for nutrients my plants can use.
We are having a wind today that is bringing down all the remaining leaves that did not come down in the wind of last week. The trees are dancing and the wind is singing through them today. I just want to go out and dance around in the wind.
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 10:46:06 AM
I hesitate to mention what the box elders are called here in Kansas...they have been called "democrats" because they show up in droves around Election day...first part of November.  Ever since I was a kid they have been called this.
If I keep a green bough in my heart, the singing bird will come. |
| Julia |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 10:26:18 AM
We had a cat who ate them,instead of mice! Go figure!
(see Julia, there's that twin thing again!)
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| BlueApple |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 09:18:15 AM
LOL! Boys and maybe cats too - my cats love to play with them!
Julia
BlueApple Farm |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 08:28:51 AM
probably to interest little boys..mine love them..yuck!!
Jenny in Utah
Put all your eggs in one basket..and then watch that basket!! Mark Twain |
| therusticcottage |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 07:40:41 AM
No I don't know what their purpose is. Kind of like slugs -- what is their purpose? I've always said that is the one question I'm going to ask God when I get to heaven -- why did He make slugs!
GO WHITE SOX!!!!
http://rusticcottage.blogspot.com/ |
| BlueApple |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 05:53:06 AM
YES! It is time for the Box Elder bugs to visit! UGH It's been cool and a little rainy so they are hiding but as soon as the sun comes out my house is covered. Anyone know what their purpose in life is??
Julia
BlueApple Farm |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Oct 25 2005 : 05:32:52 AM
Yesterday, the wind blew through here like an autumn hurricane (and an autumn hurricane actually did blow through south of here). The trees were singing! For us it was a cold front that dipped down into north Florida, and yippee, it is cool today!!!! Leaves are literally everywhere, and the yard needs raking, but I can do it without sweating to death. Last night we had the quilt on the bed, and I am so happy for the cool weather. I am doing the Fall Festival dance and eyeing my sweaters and watching our leaves get a little golden. Love it! |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 8:07:43 PM
oh my gosh..we have zillions and zillions of box elder bugs here right now! They are awful! Like you said especially on the south side of the house...at the front door!!!! They are all over my big front window and all over the porch..yukc. I like spiders so much better than those icky things...of course I guess I wouldn't want zillions of spiders in trade..but sheesh..will be glad when they are gone!
Jenny in Utah
Put all your eggs in one basket..and then watch that basket!! Mark Twain |
| therusticcottage |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 6:50:26 PM
Pam -- I can totally relate to the spiders! We have garden spiders that are huge. They have this big fat body and are so ugly. I went outside to take the garbage out, walked through the doorway of the carport, and when I turned around one was hanging in the doorway! I hate those things. Makes me not even want to go outside. I'll be glad for the first hard frost so they'll die.
Is anyone else have problems with box elder bugs? We have them all over the outside of our house. They just crawl around, especially on the south side when the sun shines. I think that is why we're having so many spiders -- free lunch for them!
GO WHITE SOX!!!!
http://rusticcottage.blogspot.com/ |
| Hilltophomesteader |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 6:16:46 PM
WooHoo!!! We finally got outside on Saturday and the garden is looking terrific! Our tiller is down, so we pulled all the stakes, pulled out the hoses, dragged out killer zucchini carcasses and then ran the lawn tractor over everything that was left! It looks great and it's mostly dirt, just a few hardy weeds left. The goats were happy to eat the sunflowers and kohlrabis that were left and the cows got the cornstalks.
On worms: My daughter's rabbitry has zillions of worms in the manure under the cages, but it has drawn a (many?) skunk(s) who dig all thru like little tillers and eat every worm! Now it (they?) have gotten into my hen house and eaten all the eggs and one of my speckled hens disappeared, leaving only feathers!! Would a skunk kill a full grown hen? We live surrounded by timberland, so it could be anything...
"As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 |
| Eileen |
Posted - Oct 24 2005 : 09:00:39 AM
Teresa,
You have just turned your garden into a giant worm composting system. If you section off your garden and do the burying in sections for a set amount of time per section it might work just as well as using a chicken tractor system to fertilize your garden. The extra worms in the sections you have recently buried tell you that the worms are not done in that section yet. Once the worms are done finishing the compost in an area they will leave it and move on to another area of food source. I have a worm box and there is a link to the system I use in another topic section on this forum. I think "Apartment Composting" is where it is, you can view a link to my photos and directions on how to do this. You would be saved the effort of separating the worms from the finished compost in the garden setting you are using.
My only suggestion would be not to plant yet in the sections where there is a high population of worms as the soil may be still to "hot" with fresh vermicompost and burn your new seedlings. Let an area set about a month before planting. Want to know more about worms look at your library for a book called "The Worm Book"
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| Julia |
Posted - Oct 22 2005 : 1:55:02 PM
Got more cleaned up today. Did some weeeding in the strawberries and lettuce. Picked my jalapenos and pulled out the hedge of chamomile.
Got to eat some artichokes from the garden, oh yum! Still have raspberries ripening too. Harvested some flowerseeds yesterday. Probably in a couple weeks I will have to cut back the flowers.
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| asnedecor |
Posted - Oct 22 2005 : 08:16:48 AM
Teresa -
That's great - worms are wonderful. They are the ones eating those kitchen scraps and then their output it making your soil rich in nutrients. They also aerate the ground by moving and making small holes throughout the earth. As long as you bury those kitchen scraps deep enough not to attract rodents, it is a good practice.
Anne
"Second star to the right, straight on till morning" Peter Pan
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| teresa |
Posted - Oct 21 2005 : 9:06:13 PM
Just wanted to run this by someone and see what you think: I never could compost properly so I just save all my kitchen scraps in a bucket and bury it in my garden all year long except for when the veggies are gowing. I try to bury in a different spot each time and you should've seen the worms in my garden come spring!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didnt even want to put my hands in the dirt there were sooooooo many worms. This sort of grossed me out except I hear worms are good for the garden. What exactly do they do and do you think this is a good practice????
The best is yet to come! |
| Hilltophomesteader |
Posted - Oct 21 2005 : 5:46:45 PM
The only thing keeping me from completely enjoying the season is the size of the SPIDERS this year! Man, every time I think they've gone into hiding for the season, I come across an even BIGGER one! Fortunately ours are not poisonous, but they could scare ME to death!
A lot of leaves are gone already, but there are still some terrific colors out there. The deer have been munching down everything in sight - even the stuff they wouldn't touch earlier...4 o'clocks, jacob's ladder, hydrangeas, and of course the bottom two rows of my espalier! Oh, well, less pruning for me! My (apple) espalier wants pruning 3 or 4 times a year.
"As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15 |
| Julia |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 2:58:12 PM
I miss my holly tree. It was not always fun walking in the yard, as I am always barefoot. My daughter today said we need to make sure we ask the neighbor lady for some holly at christmas. There's just something about having holly in wreaths that adds to the season. I think having a holly sale would be fun, maybe a bit of hot cider to add to go with.
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| Eileen |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 2:18:40 PM
Anybody love Holly? I have lots of holly trees (not bushes) that are ten feet tall or more. This year they are loaded with georgeous red berries. The doves and cedar waxwings spend the month of september cleaning off the last of last years berries and then the new ones ripen up almost immediately. The worst thing about having these trees around is cleanup. The leaves also shed about the same time as the last berries are gone leaving a lot of very stickery leaves all over the place.
I think that this year I will post a sign at the end of my driveway offering holly for sale. It is so pretty this year!
Eileen
Songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| Julia |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 09:45:59 AM
The only pretty leaves we get come from the neighbors across the street. I don't have the leaves we had at our last home. My bother and his family just moved from AZ back to the NW. They had NO leaves for the boys to play in so I would rake up a box full to send it to them, just enough to get their fill. So, now I go to the park to walk in the leaves. Maybe I should take a box and bring some home. Oh well.
Rain today so more garden clean up will have to wait.
"...the setting sun is like going into the very presence of God." Elizabeth Von Arnim |
| therusticcottage |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 09:09:12 AM
Jan -- I'm with you! The tree at the end of the drive has dropped bunches of orang and gold leaves everywhere. I love the sound when I drive over them. Luckily for me most of them have fallen into my garden area so I'm just going to til them in the soil. The trees behind our house are starting to turn and pretty soon the whole hillside will be gorgeous.
GO WHITE SOX!!!! |
| owwlady |
Posted - Oct 19 2005 : 08:28:46 AM
Right now my driveway and front yard are so beautiful. There is a thick blanket of fall colored leaves covering everything. I love the crunch of the leaves under my tires as I drive in the driveway. I'm in no hurry to cleanup anything. Eventually I'll mow the leaves on the lawn with my mulching mower and let the driveway leaves blow where they want. I live next to a neighbor who keeps a PERFECT yard. Not a leaf in sight. He vacuums them! Good thing there's a chain link fence between us or he'd have more than his share to vac. In the meantime I will enjoy this beautiful fall weather and the crunch of my leaves. |
