Saturday In The Yard/Out Front

Today I planned to go shopping with my sister but plans changed, so I took advantage of free time to get outside. It's cold but absolutely beautiful. Swept leaves, hung the garland and added some pine to the sidewalk planters. The leaves in the yard have been waiting patiently turning from golden yellow to a darker shade and now dry, crunchy, and damp from recent rains. At the end of my raking I collected 2 large bags to hold for leaf mold. Unfortunately neighborhood cats feel that the yard is a litter box. It would be nice if neighbors kept their cats inside. I scooped several piles of poop from the flower beds. Then I realized with horror after planting so many bulbs that squirrels had dug huge holes and eaten many bulbs and left many uncovered. They've even dug in the pots in the yard looking. I payed good money for those bulbs and I'm saddened. My visions of their show in spring is spoiled. I really thought that several inches of leaves would keep the squirrels from digging but, not! They've already eaten bulbs in the window box.

Blood meal has been mentioned in several articles I've read on garden sites. Supposedly animals will stay away if you sprinkle it in beds. It did work out front in the pots I planted for spring. Not any sign of digging in the pots. Squirrels climb the Norway Maple every day and have dug in the pots on many occasions. Not since I applied the blood meal. The only thing is that the thought of how it's made is unsettling to me. The meal is made from blood of slaughtered animals. How horrible. It's supposed to be a soil amendment and make the soil more acidic and provided nitrogen. So, after removing the cat deposits, raking leaves, and adding more soil, I topped off both beds with blood meal. Don't think it would be good to over use it though because I don't want to make the soil too acidic for plants that don't like this type of soil. Wish me luck. I still have a small amount of bulbs left on the porch. Maybe I'll come out tomorrow or on another nice day and plant them. Maybe the nursery has them on sale.

A little pine added.

A beautiful vegetable.

Lambs ear in December.

Heuchera (coral bell) always keeps some color through the winter.

Snapdragons. Full of seeds. I broke them off and dropped them in the soil. It also stays green during the winter here. 

I guess it's time to do something with the pumpkin.

I'm supposed to be making a bow for the garland.

Last call for Swiss chard.

Clean them up a little.

Better

Cleaned out the planter and put a tarp on it.

A lot can be done even in cold weather if you take advantage of nice days. Plans changed, and I decided not remove the leaves from the flower beds. Will keep in bags until they break down for leaf mold. Lets see how it works.

Miniature rose still living and making new growth as cold as it's been. Although our fall hasn't been real bad yet and winter is at the door.

I wasn't sucked into planting like last fall because the flower bed is bear because there are other perennials planted here that are dormant and there really isn't any space for planting except for bulbs.

The carex is really beautiful It's ashamed that it's can't be seen during the summer due to being covered by hosta. Tried to dig a hole in another place for it but tree roots wouldn't allow it. I'll continue to enjoy it in the fall and winter before other plants wake up.

The arborvitae's have done well so far.

That's how the blood meal looks.

Blue hydrangea from summer. I don't know what to do with it. Don't have experience with them. I cut the heads off. There is new growth at the bottom of the plant. Hopefully it'll make it till spring. I read that these types are only grown for one time bloom. Spring will let me know if that's true.

Look at the colors.

Pyracantha from Georgia. It's young, maybe next year it'll get berries.

What am I going to do with that box wood? It has been half dead. Guess I'll wait till spring to see.

Another hydrangea, ornamental grass, and s shrub I bought. Lets see if they make it till spring.

I'm going to guess new growth on the hydrangea for spring.

Looks like they didn't eat some of the bulbs. Lets see what the blood meal does. If it deters squirrels it may also deter cats.

Guess they didn't like the daffodil.