Well, we got bitty chicks and flowers and such just bustin' out all over around here! It took the bitties about 2 days to get over their fear of the great unknown, once we started opening their hatch door, and venture outside but now they love it. Of course. They are so cute. Sorry for the blurry picture but getting those things to stand still is near impossible.
I was careful not to kill the ants this year so the peonies are in their full glory. I may have to add another color; these are really a wonderful flower. The irises have added a bunch more blooms this year too. May be time to divide these things.
I'm still building on the rock wall for this flower bed but am within about 6 feet of finishing it. I laid the rock in front of the badly deteriorating logs that did hold it up, so that gave me about another foot of space to fill in. I'm still working on that too and moving low growing plants to the front of the bed. I think it's coming together real nice.
The garden is finally coming together too. I have to plant a couple of watermelon today and then I believe it will all be finished. Well, it will if all the seeds come up! We are still continuing this very cool spring and so our nighttime temps have yet to reach above 60 F. I was talking to Daddy Rabbit last night and he said peas, corn, okra and such won't germinate until that happens. So, hopefully things will warm up a little more and soon. I also planted some popcorn and really am eager to see how that does. The tomato plants are just kinda sitting there also. They need some heat too and I need to get all that stuff mulched. I've got my path liners down but that was as far as I got yesterday. On the other hand, all the cool weather stuff I still have planted is doing real well. Lettuce, cabbage etc. and that crazy rhubarb are all growing well with no signs of bolting.
It appears that this will be a crap year for the figs however; hardly a bud on them anywhere. But the other fruits are looking good. In fact, this year may be the first really good strawberry year I've had. Looks like all that chicken poo is finally paying off.
My posting has been a little sparse lately because I've been working in Birmingham a little and will continue to through this next week. Just a little maintenance on a restoration project I did years ago. It's kinda nice to have a little change in routine though.
As you may have noticed I also added that crappin' word verification thing to the comments. I know many of ya'll hate that thing, and I don't like it either, but I started having way too many nasty spams get through the filters and actually post without me knowing it. So, I hate it, but that's the way it goes. If anybody knows of a spam filter I can add that would stop that stuff please let me know.
13 comments:
What do peonies and ants have to do with each other? I am new to peonies, as they were here when we got here, and I just leave them to chance at the moment.
Hey Rachael! If you look carefully at the peony buds you we see quite a number of ants running around on them. Here is an excerpt from a peony site and what they had to say about this:
Do not try to get rid of the ants on your peonies. This is a natural and temporary activity. It is believed that peonies produce small amounts of nectar and other ant attractants to encourage ants to help in opening the dense double flower buds found in many peonies. The ants may be found covering certain varieties and avoiding others, this is totally normal.
Once the buds have opened the ants will disappear - also normal.
Some people think ants are REQUIRED to open the flowers, but this does not to appear to be true.
It seems a debatable question whether ants are beneficial or harmful. I think they are neutral.
Should you spray a pesticide to get rid of the ants? That is a definite no. Since the ants are not harmful and some pesticide residues are harmful, why endanger yourself, the plants or the peony's pollinator (good insects) with poisonous sprays?
Just don't spray.
Instead just enjoy the unique interaction of ants and peonies; an evolutionary effect thousands of years in the making and posing no problems in the long run.
I just love natural stone retaining walls and fences. Unfortunately for me, one could spend a lifetime looking for stones up here and not even have a dozen feet of fence to show for it. I've often thought that if I ever start up a business that ships merchandise to a stone rich state, I will have them haul some back for me on the backhaul.
I don't hate the word verification but I do hate that they have to make it so crappin hard for a human to decipher what letter it is that it sometimes takes me three or four times to successfully comment. Surely someone can make one easier to read that a spam computer still can't figure out.
Hey Ed! well the next time you come through Alabama you ought to bring a trailer and load up! We got any kind of rock you could want. There are 3 rock companies within probably 15 miles of me that run wide open all the time. lol!
I love to build with them too and am very lucky to just go scoop them up for free.
I've thought the same thing about the veri thingy; you would think they could make it a little easier to read.
You do magic with rock walls. Our field stone here is very irregular in shape. We grow enough of them though. The hillside along our drive up to the house became the repository of stone. A convenient ongoing pile of rock.
I would guess we are two weeks behind you on our peonies blooming. Theresa's peonie trees have already bloomed.
One of these days the ground may dry up enough to get the rest of our garden in.
I had peonies when I lived back east...what I liked most about them was the fragrance! You could clip just one and bring it into the house and it would perfume an entire room. If you add a new color, the one I liked best was a creamy white with a raspberry color in the center. "Festiva maxima" I think. Then I had a white one with a fringed yellow center. Miss 'em. --Your flower garden is outstanding!
Hey Woody! thanks! yeah, our rocks are often quite square so it's real easy to stack them. It does still require a little finagling though.
Hey Pam! thank you! the peony I have is actually not terribly fragrant. Those you mentioned sound beautiful though! I'll have to see if I can find one.
walter over at sugarmtn. just posted about his spam issues/solution. although i believe he uses word press.
Annie -
I love peonies! Unfortunatley, I have none here in Texas. This year has been unusually cool, even still in the 60s this am, but usually well into the high 70s at night and 90s by late afternoon. Not this year ~ so far. I'll have to enjoy yours vicariously, so more pictures, please, and thanks!
Hey karl! oh thanks! I'll check it out.
Hey Baby sis! yeah, it has been quite cool here this spring too. I had to put a jacket on this evening on the way home!
I'll certainly try to get some more peony pics up before too long.
Switched the comments posting to registered users/open I'd which does not require word verification and in 2 weeks have not had any anonymous spammers post. You might want to give it a try also. And this is way better than when I had comments set to Anyone...the word verification is difficult to read as Ed stated earlier.
Hey Bea! well, I have a number of commenters that are not registered with accounts and I assume don't want to have an account. I assume with Open ID you still have to set up an account? I don't like limiting things that way; some people are only comfortable commenting anonymously and I don't want to exclude them.
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