a southern gal in the north

Ok.  I totally secured that fence in the corner.  Here’s what I did on Saturday.

and I sprayed the HECK on the echinacea and the hollyhocks and all along the fence.

and this is what i found this morning.

to say i am depressed and angry and upset is an understatement.  i circled the entire yard and could NOT find any other hole for the nasty g-hog to get in. 

So after calming down a little i built a wire fence around those hollyhocks – i am DETERMINED to protect them  Of course WHY is something eating these NOW after a month of leaving them alone!  Just when they are getting tall enough to be able to start budding? 

off to cry in my tea.

Yesterday morning after over a MONTH of no sign of Mr G.  YEP, two hollyhock stalks eaten and one echinacea plant eaten.

After searching i discovered he had figured out a way to get under the wire fence along the back left corner– actually i am surprised that it took so long, for upon closer examination I realized it was not very secure.

So with the temps at 85/60% humidity, I hauled TWO HEAVY wheelbarrows of rocks from the construction site (thank goodness for it) and re-secured the fence.  Working well into the dark evening and making sure all was heavy and couldn't be moved, also put extra two foot lengths of wire attached at the bottom burying it under the mulch and the rocks.

and so to bed exhausted and tired.

HORREUR this morning – THREE LOVELY echinacea plants that had spent the month recovering from his FIRST attempts – all 5 inch long leaves – ALL GONE and MORE Hollyhocks eaten.

I am sobbing – i have wanted to grow HOLLYHOCKS for my entire life – and these had JUST recovered from his vicious attacks from June – i am so upset and angry and bitter.

And yet I found that the end of the fence – which I had not re-secured from the first time it went up – he clawed at it and went in and out that way this morning.  Actually in the other shots above, you can’t see because of the sun where he tried to get out, he must of been scared off  – because that was one of the egresses of yesterday.  So he went out the other end which is where he had come in this morning.

In this photo, I have replaced the rocks which had been moved out of the way.  You can see the wire fencing curled up at the edge where he tunnelled under it. 

SO another trip to the site and another bout of securing the fence – although this time ALL this fence will now be secured.  (I remember some HUGE chunks of concrete that I think I will get for this end and then cover them with mulch)

I feel as if I will NEVER see echinacea and hollyhocks – and right now i feel like tilling over the whole damn yard or getting up early and SHOOTING the FRIGGING THING. 

anyone got a gun?

off in tears and anger to rebuild fences. G$D help me.

On the other hand, here’s a shot of what is the ‘planned’ project for today and tomorrow – redoing the herb garden

Late last night (in the dark) i had the sudden idea to reposition the fence to the outside edge of the area – I really need more space and this allows one to walk inside the fence without jumping up and down.  I had originally planned a little pathway of the gravel but in rethinking it – all the hard work must have stimulated something – I had this idea.  So in the dark, well, I have one small lamp hanging from the kitchen doorway roof, I rearranged the fencing and move the pots. 

My test when I am doing some new design is to leave the space for awhile and then come back in and see how it feels – and this morning – of course not seeing it in the light last night anyway – I really like the way it looks.  Much more like an herb garden and not a little squeezed area. 

And one of the fence panels is slightly broken so I may fashion a little gate – if I get ambitious. 

So need to alight and set in he fence and move the boxwoods over to the sides and then plant the herbs – of course I also need a pot for the Bay Laurel (so I can bring it in in the winter) and some more 6 inch pots – aw shucks another trip to the local nursery!)  Its supposed to be pretty good weather today and tomorrow – mid 80s and low humidity – good gardening weather after this past Heat Wave and maybe this will keep my mind off MR.G

Big Ticket Tuesday Special (noon eastern, 9 am Pacific–repeats Friday at 6 pm, special repeat Saturday noon eastern, 9 am Pacific)

Elizabeth Schwarzkopf,  Part 1: Two of her great collaborations with Herbert von Karajan with music by Richard Strauss: Der Rosenkavalier  and Ariadne auf Naxos; plus, one of her defining recordings of the Four Last Songs.

ARTS / MUSIC   |  August 4, 2006
Orchestra Musicians Reach Agreement Over Control of Live Recordings
By DANIEL J. WAKIN (NYT)
New agreement, while reducing upfront payments to musicians, will make it easier to release recordings of live concerts, increasing the money that makes it to players’ pockets.

Walk your garden every day, if possible, weeding as you go. 

Look at your plants and occasionally remove what's dead or overcrowding. 

Notice your rainfall and water as needed. 

And don't plant or move a damn thing until September. 

– Takoma Gardener

Fiberology 101: The Origin of Yarn

Mambocat's Knitting Asylum.

finally!

so tonight as i sat on the little patio it was bearable.  not like the last few nights.  and yes, i do sit on the patio even when its 1000000 degrees.   i lived in NYC for many years in apts without a backyard or garden – well the last five years i had a front yard garden – but it was on a busy street and the landlord didnt want me keeping a chair in it (even a nice cast iron chair) so i would have to lug a folding portable chair down the three flights and back up if i wanted to sit  or sit on a ledge by the garden or on the hard concrete – not really very appealing choices.

so now i have a real backyard (well, half of it as i share it with the occupant of the other apt on the first floor of this fourplex) so anyway, its a real backyard** and i have a real (if small) patio and a table and four chairs – and yes they are all nice – cast iron (woodard if you want to know) and an umbrella and a potting bench and two little greenhouses with shelves for all my gardening supplies and lots of room for growing little plants from seeds.  that’s something i have wanted to do for years and years and years. 

**(it may sound silly to those of you in urban and suburbia land – but for a transplanted southerner who grew up with a backyard and front yard and SIDE yard – its great to finally get one of those!)

and now with the heat broken, i can finish the herb garden (and will probably order some more , yes, i know – but you really can’t beat the taste of FRESH from the plant herbs – ok, a vastly overrated revelation to others maybe, but remember all those years in nyc?) . 

today i potted up the catnip and cat thyme to put along the outside of the fence of the herb garden – i have two cats (inside only, the elder one (the mother, Cordelia) will NOT keep a collar on and the younger one (the daughter, Katie) has NO interest in the outside). and there are two visiting cats (that i have seen, there could be more) a HUGE tawny BIG Tailed cat and a sleek slender black cat – both are well fed and appear taken care of so i guess they just visit… maybe to catch some bird.. but anyway, they can have whatever they want OUTSIDE the herb garden.  (see there is a plan).

here’s the herb garden in the heat…

those pots in front are the ones i am talking about.  that’s actually basil and parsley in them – i will be planting those tomorrow if it doesn't rain all day. (we are getting used to extremes here this summer – or i guess we have to get used to them, i mean).  that’s mint in the long planters – four kinds and lavenders in the big round pots.

anyway, i potted the cat mint and cat thyme in them – i started late this afternoon -well it was around 4ish and got about four done  and then the skies opened up.  i was counting the time from the lightining to the thunder boom and got in the house just as they started.

and stood under the roof of the kitchen door and watched the thermometer drop from 94 to 80 in about half an hour!  and the humidity rise about 20% in the same time.

however, about two hours later it was a little under 80 and even with the humidity, it felt so much better than the last four days – so i was able to pot the rest of them in the failing light and then sit and listen to the crickets. 

since most of the hard work is done now, when i sit out at night i am not as exhausted and am starting to identify the evening sounds and notice the timetable.  the birds arrive around 5–7 and eat voraciously and then all of sudden they are gone.  even the squirrels disappear by then.  and then its pretty quiet until around 830 or so and then the crickets start up and boy are they loud! 

so back to the herb garden – lots of lovely things waiting to plant – angelica (always wanted some), lots and lots of basil and sage and thyme and rosemary, parsley, tarragon, chives, bay laurel, coriander, and some wonderful oddities – valerian (cant wait to see what it grows up to be), rue (this one too), joe pye weed and hmm, what else… oregano, marjoram  too.

Some good sources for bulbs (and bluebells) include Tulip World, a Dutch supplier with an interactive Web site (tulipworld.com) that will tailor your choice of bulbs to climate, soil conditions, rainfall, color and companion plants. The prices are also lower than most competitors, with no sacrifice to the excellent quality of bulbs. Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, in Gloucester, Va. (brentandbeckysbulbs.com; 804-693-3966), also offers a wide range of fine bulbs, at reasonable prices. This site is also interactive: just plug in your local conditions and color choices, and a list of appropriate bulbs and companions, complete with color pictures and planting instructions, springs into view.

Van Engelen, a wholesale bulb company in Bantam, Conn., will sell to individuals, and the variety and prices are grand (vanengelen.com; 860-567-8734). Heirloom bulbs are plentiful at Old House Gardens, a mail order company in Ann Arbor, Mich. (oldhousegardens.com; 734-995-1486). Collectors will also find rare alliums and many other hard-to-find bulbs at Odyssey Bulbs, a specialty mail order company in South Lancaster, Mass. (odysseybulbs.com; 800-517-5152). Allium cupuliferum, for example, changes from tight umbels to powdery pink skyrockets on two-foot stems. Rarity costs, however: one Allium cupuliferum bulb is $7.50, which is more than a double latte at Starbucks.

taken from here

written by women…  The Lady Killers

Rhys Bowen, Lyn Hamilton, Meg Chittenden, Mary Anna Evans, Cara Black: Five female writers of mystery fiction share their wit and wisdom, writing tips and travel experiences.

Appreciation By Tim Page
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 4, 2006; Page C01

The years were not kind to soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, who died yesterday at the age of 90. When she retired in the mid-1970s, she was an all-but-universally-adored diva — a beautiful and enormously popular opera star, a revered interpreter of German art song, a central figure in some of the most celebrated recordings of the mid-20th century.

The revelation, in 1983, of her long-ago membership in the Nazi Party — which she entered Jan. 26, 1940, while an aspiring young singer in Berlin — came as a shock to many of her admirers. (“Everybody at the opera joined,” she told the New York Times. “We thought nothing of it. We just did it.”) And her harshly imperious manner in the master classes she gave after retirement infuriated many of her gentler colleagues. She terrified the young Renee Fleming, among others.

The Plaintive Last Song of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.