Butterfly Junction

@Scorpio Rising wrote:What’s with the mutant mater????

@countrynaturals wrote:

@Scorpio Rising wrote:What’s with the mutant mater????

  And now it's getting spots on it. I'm gonna pick it tonight and take a pic to post.

@countrynaturals wrote:Summer is finally, really, actually GONE! Today is the first day of real gardening -- not just trying to keep things alive. We should have 6 glorious weeks of perfect weather for playing outside before it gets too cold and wet. Got 4 months of torture to make up for. Started early this morning, raking leaves. So much to do I don't know where to start.

@countrynaturals wrote:Last year I only got 1 lemon cuke from the Salad Bar. This year I lost count and there are still more coming.

@countrynaturals wrote:JACKPOT! 2 years ago Hubby built a huge extension on the chicken coop, for the rescues that couldn't be free-range like the others. That area is like an aviary, with trees and dirt. Last night I had to shoo the ladies back into the main coop. When I walked across the back, I almost bounced. That dirt/hay/leaves/poo/food/etc. had turned into the most perfect compost imaginable. AND THERE'S A TON OF IT! 

My biggest garden problem has been dirt. What we have here only grows rocks. I've spent hundreds of dollars on store-bought soil, with mediocre results. I used leaves and chips to stretch my purchases, but all that did was decompose and shrink until my beds are all down about 8". This year's compost bed, plus the mother-load I found in the chicken yard, will give me the richest soil imaginable for my spring planting. I * AM * A * HAPPY * CAMPER! So, who wants to come help me move all that compost? Hmm?

Here's a closeup:


Here's the long view, so you can see how much I have. (Eat your hearts out. )


Here's a sunflower plant, happily growing in this rich medium, behind a chair where the chickens haven't found it, yet. Looks like I'll have a flower by next week.

@Kelejan wrote:So happy for you, country Naturals.   xxx

@countrynaturals wrote:Here's a reminder of why my gardens are called "Butterfly Junction." My Dutchman's Pipe is thriving and covered in caterpillars. YEE-HAH!   

This was taken this afternoon.

@countrynaturals wrote:I'm researching bees and just found this.

The USDA recommends also creating a damp salt lick for bees in the yard. This is where you create a damp spot in the yard and mix a bit of table salt or wood ash into the wet soil. 

I have tons of wood ash left over from winter. Maybe it's time to make a "bee-bath." 

@countrynaturals wrote:I found the last of the kohlrabi I planted last year. We ate it raw and it was a real treat -- sweet, crunchy, AWESOME! My only complaint is that it takes so long and only produces 1 "fruit." Then I realized that it produces best in the "off" season. I can plant the seeds in Jiffy Pellets in the fall, then, as I pull up the spent summer crops, I can replace them with the kohlrabi seedlings. That space normally stays empty all winter, so I'll be turning "wasted" space into "productive" space. YEE HAH! Life is Good!

@countrynaturals wrote:

@countrynaturals wrote:2019 looks to be a "back to nature" year. We finally hiked the land behind our daughter's house, which will probably go to our granddaughter, eventually. Katie and I fell in love with it and got excited about clearing it out for hiking trails and "points of interest." That project will probably take the rest of our lives (mine at least) and definitely eat into our gardening time, so my posts may be more about "square foot brush clearing" than "square foor gardening" this year. I'll post some "before" pics, later.

Just got back from a nice hike back there. It's really gonna be a fun project.

When we bought the house and fenced the back, Bob put in a frame for a gate. He had no way of knowing we'd ever own that back piece, but here we are. Just beyond the frame is a flat area that overlooks the ravine. It would be perfect for a picnic area, so after we clear a path to that spot, we'll start clearing around there.


There's a beautiful, seasonal creek down from the overlook, so clearing a path down to that will be our next phase. After that, we'll make a path back to our new place. Whew!    

@Kelejan wrote:How long will you be able to make your hiking trail?  I expect you can make one that makes it  appear longer than a straight line.  Like a little bit of a maze but on a much looser scale. with vegetation growing you could make several nice private places, a sunny spot or a shady spot depending in the weather.

Or am I imagining on too large a scale?

@Kelejan wrote:We have similar ides then.  I look forward to the results of your ideas. it should be very interesting.  Perhaps a plan/map. not set in stone, of course.