Winter is Back

I have been saying this has been a wacky, weird winter.  It seems like it has been mild in lots of places.  Just when I had decided it would be OK to skip winter all together, here it is!  With all of this snow, we are even on the national news!

When I got up a little before 7:00 a.m. it looked like this:

When I looked out around 8:30, I took some more photos, from the front and back doors.  I did not venture out.

I included this photo because I think it's the only one with the evergreen trees across the street.  They always look so pretty in the snow.  The lump is our grill.
 

I don't show the back yard very often.  The small area behind the picket fence is where I grow the herbs I use for cooking.  I also grow some in pots near the back door.

It is supposed to snow most of the day.  If it snows as much as it already has, we will be getting more than was predicted.

I got some more photos taken around 5:00 p.m.  Our next door neighbor to the north knocked on our back door while we were eating to let us know our car port was starting to come down due to the weight of the snow.  (At the 10:00 news, they said we got 11 inches.)

The piles of snow were deeper this afternoon. I like how the variety of objects in the yard look with snow caps on.

Shortly after I went in, I saw the rabbit (or one of them) that lives here out here on the sidewalk.  It stayed there until I opened the door, and it went in its "door" under the deck, which is to the right of  the herb garden, where it must have a nest. 

Here is our poor tipped carport.  Larry's heated bird bath is in front of the garage.

The photos here are in the order I took them, so here is the vegetable garden.

Heidi and I went to the front to take photos for my header and background.

She did well in the deep snow.  I walked in the tracks in the street.

I feel kind of bad for leaving this bike out for the winter.  I probably should have stored it, but when I got it, I knew it was not in good enough condition to be ridden.  I hope it holds up OK.

I took a number of photos for insurance purposes.  Larry contacted our homeowners' insurance, and they will be sending an appraiser.  I hope we will be able to replace the carport with one that will be sturdier or better designed/built to withstand the snow.  Larry and I tried to get the long snow rake dealy, whatever it is called, down to get some of the snow off of the carport, but it was wedged between where the carport was coming down, and the blue tarp.  I don't remember what is under the tarp, but that is what was keeping it from coming down further. 

I saw a couple guys outside two houses down, and walked over to ask one of them to help us get the rake/shovel out.  It was the neighbors' brother who came over and said we need to prop it with something.  He cut these beams, or whatever they are called, to the correct height.  I gave him a little cash, because it was so nice to have his help.  I felt bad, too, because he had cut his finger earlier in the day, and still went out and shoveled driveways and sidewalks all day.  (That's Larry finishing up.)

Well, I'm glad I got some lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, and radishes planted Thursday.  I had already planted several kinds of lettuce on January 5th, earlier than ever, because the soil was not frozen.   I always like to plant some seeds early.  I've mentioned I call it my "gamble garden".  I am not a gambler in other ways.  Really, this isn't much of one anyway, as my rate of getting a crop has been virtually 100%.  The seeds wait for the soil to be warm enough, and once up, they seem to be able to withstand temps into the 20s, and even snow.  Once in awhile some of the seeds don't come up, but that happens even in April or May.  I was a little worried about the January seeds coming up too early, because of how warm it continued to be.  Now, they have a nice blanket of snow, and when it melts, they will have some nice moisture to help them germinate.  I don't think I've planted peas this early before, though, so I'm not sure how well they will do.  I should mention that the main reason I do this, is that the soil is frequently too wet to plant things once spring gets here.  This way, there are some in, and I can be patient to wait for the soil to be dry enough to plant more.

We are getting closer to spring, and I am looking forward to it.

Almost a Week Late for Wildflower Wednesday

I didn't get a post done last month for Gail's Wildlflower Wednesday, but planned to for January, so I am going to go ahead and do it, even though I'm late.  I seem to be late for lots of things.

Even though the winter has been very mild this year, that doesn't mean there are any blooms yet.  There are a few hellebore buds, but they are not wildflowers.  It was almost 70 today, so I enjoyed taking foliage and seed photos after work.

I can't think of the scientific name for this native heuchera, but it was quite small when I planted it, and I am pleased with its growth.  I'm thinking the leaves were green in the summer.  

I've shown the wild quinine in almost every WW post.  I had never heard of it before last spring, and I am excited to see how it and the other one I planted grow.

This is helenium hoopseii, which is a native variety of sneezeweed, but in looking to see its range, found out it's not native to Nebraska.  Still, I got it from our arboretum.  It prefers to be moist.  That must be why I planted it near the Culver's root and another plant that likes moisture, too.  It looks happy so far.

The seedheads of the Joe Pye weed look pretty against the blue sky.

The rattlesnake master seedheads also look nice with the blue sky in the background.

The pasque flowers are one of the first spring flowers to come up and bloom.  I forgot to check to see if the ones I planted in the front yard are starting to come up yet.  I am excited to see how well they do.

It sounds like this winter has been mild in a lot of places.  I wonder what affect that will have on the plants and critters in the spring and summer.  I just hope that whatever comes up now, will not be harmed by colder weather that could yet come.  We need more moisture, too.  I suppose I should get some water on the new plants out there.  Some of the spots are bare dirt.  I hope the little roots are OK under there.

Behind the Blog Title, in a Hodge Podge Way

Yesterday, I found time to visit blogs in my sidebar.  While catching up on a few blogs, I came across a post written by Shady Gardener telling the story about the title of her blog.  She was joining in on a meme started by Monica, from Garden Faerie's Musings  and Bren, from BGgarden from December 5th.  If there was a prize for the most scatterbrained blogger, I'm pretty sure I would win it.  I clicked on my link, "blogging" to see what I'd written already about my blog title, and found out I had written two posts in October for my blog turning three years old.  One of my most recent posts was done because I had come across Catherine's from A Gardener in Progress post about her third blog anniversary, and I thought I had forgotten to write about mine in October.  Oh, my!  Well, I have also written about my title, but I am going to again, because I had fun going through old photos and wanted to post them.  I decided to show some changes in the front yard over the years of blogging, mostly from the views of or from the corner, since that is how the blog got its name.

Hey, I just went to my very first post, and here it is:

It's time for bed!

I have been thinking about starting a blog to help me keep records of my gardening exploits and to help me make plans.  I finally got it set up after an hour and a half.  I am slow and sometimes have trouble making up my mind.  I just want to get this done to make sure it works.  If you buy a new car, you don't just leave it parked, you need to drive it!  

Part of what took me so long, was the names I was choosing for my blog were not available.  My choices were:

1.  My Corner

2.  My Corner Lot

3.  Corner Gardener

4.  Corner Garden

Each of these had variations with my name, but I couldn't use an underline symbol or apostrophe in the address for the blog.  Here I was, so tickled that I'd thought of the name for my blog very quickly after realizing I'd have to have a name, and I had to think of something else.  

Then, when I was writing about me, I didn't realize it was going to be on my blog page, I thought there would be a link to it.  I may go in and change that tomorrow.  Well, here I am, blog!  We'll see if I keep you up.  

Looking back, I wish I would have put more thought into a title, but, since we live on a corner lot, I got stuck on that.  I had even thought of playing with, "My Corner of the World" but didn't think of a variation.  A number of people have come to my blog doing a search for corner gardens.  The garden is on the corner of the street, not in a corner between structures.  Sorry searchers!

This photo is from May or June of 2008.  I have already done a post about the painting of the fire hydrant.

This is from the other direction, in June.

I've shown this, taken the first week of June before, too.  This is the only time we've rented a sod cutter.  It was harder than Larry thought it would be.  I was tickled to get this new area to plant.  It started out to be for large annuals, but there aren't many places left for them.  I do have some great self sowers in there, though.

The photos are in order by date, but I forgot to write the dates down as I was exporting.  I'm thinking this was early July, 2008.  The little area to the left of the sidewalk had been put in after the neighbors across the street had to have their water main replaced a few years before this, which involved digging in our yard.  There were some tense moments deciding how large the area was going to be.  It was smaller than I wanted, and larger than Larry wanted.  Still, the next year, he offered up the area on the other side of the sidewalk, so it would be symmetrical.

I was pleased to find a red crocosmia, that I planted on the back left corner in this bed, but it did not survive winter.  It is hardy one zone warmer than ours.  It sure was pretty that year, though.

 

 This must be from August or September of 2008.

 The next ones are from April of 2009.  I had used mini blinds to mark where I planted things in the new bed so I wouldn't plant over them.

From the other direction, you can see the old shape of the curb planting area.

This is July of 2009.  The different varieties of perennial geraniums did very well against the curb.

We had gotten plenty of notice that we would need to remove plants within 18 inches of the curb, and that we would be given 2 weeks notice before the work was to begin.  I probably did more than one post about all of this.  It was a very good experience, considering all the worrying I had done.  I had taken the plants out ahead of time, so they wouldn't have to be moved in the heat of summer, and replaced them with rose moss plants.  The work took place in August.

I moved the rose moss to other places, which I was glad to be able to do.  Most plants wouldn't survive such a move in the heat.

The guys were awesome!  They let me dig my own dirt and put it in containers to put back in place so I wouldn't have to have anyone else's dirt.  One young man even helped me finish digging, and a couple helped me put it back.
 

Knowing this work was going to be done, and because the grass next to the curb wasn't doing so well, Larry had asked if I wanted to extend the planting area.  I was giddy, because we had argued over the size of the original bed.  When the time came he said he wasn't sure, but he ended up saying if I was going to do it, to find someone else to till it.  I called a number from the paper, and someone came out the same day!  I had to check with the curb crew to make sure that was OK with them.  Larry decided it was OK with him, as well.  The milkweed had just come up that year as a volunteer.  It sure has spread since then.

The next two must be the end of August or September.

As I was working on this post, I realized I didn't have any from 2010.  This was in June, and the next one, July.

 It is now, April of 2011.  Seeing the photos of the silver maple tree coming down brought back the sadness we felt about losing it.  It is good that it was taken down when it was, though, because we had some storms where a number of trees fell into homes.  There is a good chance this would have.

 These guys were great to work with, too.  They were very careful around the flower beds.

I think the next two were taken in June.

The next ones are from August.

I have enjoyed taking lots of photos of the house for my header photos.  I try to include Heidi and Larry with the grandsons when possible.  Oh, and the fire hydrant makes a regular appearance.  This is from September.

I think this is October.  The joe pye weed had gone to seed, but the kiss me over the garden gate was in full bloom.

Here's the first snow we had, I think, the first week of December.  It didn't last long.  A number of us have been wanting more snow and seasonal temps, hoping for a warm spring.
 

The next two were taken today in the cold.  We did get about an inch of snow a couple nights ago.

I would rather live in a more private place, with a big back yard, instead of all the chopped up places we have, in full view of the street.  When I was in my twenties, my dream was to live on an acreage, but Larry convinced me neither of us is handy enough.  I will be content, though, because I talked Larry into moving here 13 years ago.  This is the house he grew up in, and he has no plans to move.  The nicest thing for me will be that when the loan for the kitchen remodel is paid, the house will be paid for.  I am hoping to retire in the next 7 years, get the place organized inside, and be in the garden as much as I want to.  I never would have imagined that Larry would give up this much grass when we first moved here.  I can be content with what we have.  Plus, the kitchen works much better than it did when we first moved here.

Thanks for visiting my corner garden.  I know I wrote a lot.  Sometimes I read all what people say, and other times I skim or skip a little.  I'm assuming others do it that way, too.  If you didn't know how my blog got its name, now you may.  :o)