Bumblebee Blog

Bzzzz January 19th, 2011

Ah, January. I have created a new folder in Photoshop Bridge entitled Garden 2011. I have one single photo in it, but it’s an important one—a shot of where we’ll be creating a woodland garden.

Out of necessity came opportunity. We had the local tree guys out to take down a large tulip tree that was in imminent danger of falling onto the chicken coop and across the driveway. It was a tricky undertaking because of its location. The older of the father/son pair is in his 60s, but you wouldn’t know it by the way he scampered up that tree. Starting at the top he sawed off limbs and then he topped it. I was in the house when the top 10 feet of the tree came down. There was a huge crash, which I would have been worried about except I heard the two men erupt into whoops of glee. Isn’t it great to take joy in your work?

Anyway, the rest of the tree came down, as did another in the way. I will also have to move a lot of the hostas I planted there in the past two years since they will now likely scorch in the sun. I’m not showing you photos of it all because the whole process made a humongous mess that I will have to deal with when the thermometer climbs above freezing.

While the tree guys were here they made me a good deal offer to clear some of the woods. I hopped on the chance to get this section of the woods cleared of underbrush and trash trees. It is the area near the house that we look on when we eat dinner outside in the summer. Without all the tangle of underbrush and trash trees, we’ll get a better view into the woods. We’ll also put in a path and a bench to overlook a ravine that you can’t see very well in the photo.

Whatever else goes in the woodland garden, I am determined that it will be low maintenance. We already have a healthy crop of moss. I like moss. Some of the hostas will also find a new home there. Then there will be bulbs. And a hammock. And my bottle tree.

So here you have it, the first view of the new woodland garden.

Posted In: Gardening

Tags: Blogging, garden seating, trees, winter, woodland garden

14 Comments

Bzzzz November 10th, 2010

If you were expecting a savory fall poultry recipe from reading this post title, you’ll be disappointed! You can’t eat these chickens because they’re pets. And you can’t eat this sage, because it’s ornamental. (Okay, the flowers of the stunning salvia elegans—pineapple sage—are edible.)

As I was giving the chickens fresh water this morning they were kicking up such a fuss about the fact that they didn’t get their afternoon walkabout yesterday that I opened the gate so they could have extra time wandering the yard and gardens. Fall is one of their favorite times of year, I think, because there is such adventure searching for bugs under every fallen leaf. I am also less prone to shoo them away from areas of the garden that I don’t want them scratching in since the garden is largely devastated by fall already. What harm is a little bit of chicken foraging going to do?

The chickens did seem to tire of their bug hunting adventures early though because I caught them congregating near one of the bird baths for a mid-day snooze. As you can see though, T. Boone Chickens is still guarding his girls.

He’ll have some help with the guard duty soon though. As it turns out, my instincts on the gender of Edith’s baby were correct. Baby is a rooster and is now learning to crow. He is now called Ricky since he is clearly not a Lucy.

Posted In: Chickens

Tags: hens, Marilyn, Ricky, rooster, T. Boone Chickens

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Taming Nature: The Start of a Woodland Garden

Autumn Chickens with Sage