Wildlife and Gardens - March 10, 2020 @goldenoakfarm

Tuesday my helper friend was here and we took the covers off the trays that had come up. Above are the storage onions, half of them up.

Storage onion seedlings just up, there are 3 plants/pot

In foreground, the Dakota Tears onions are half up, and the mesclun in back is doing very well.

These 2 trays are kale seedlings in back, heliotrope on right, the white rose on left. We took the covers off because the kale had stretched to the (much) poorer T12 lights, even though they were at the correct height.

The heliotrope had 5 of the 6 up but nothing yet on the rose. We took the heat mats out as most everything was up. I will have to budget for more T5 lights next year. The difference is marked!

Then we went outside and my helper friend started on his weeding. He got this much done.

While he was doing this, I took the stones off the hardware cloth over the bulbs. He moved them for me, out behind the wood shed. I was just in time getting the wire off, as they had just started to grow through it.

This bed was all tulips and some had grown through the cloth and gotten big. They tore as I pulled it off, but I hope they keep growing.

This bed was not quite as far along, being shaded from the neighbor’s trees more. But it looks like most of the bulbs survived in the pots and the rodents didn’t dine on them. So the cloth and rocks worked!

Near the tulip bed, this rose campion has started to come back. There was another smaller one not doing as well.

In the afternoon I managed 2 more hours and got another 5’ cleaned out. That leaves 3 more feet to do in this section, and 43 more feet to do overall, before I can put up the fence.

I’ve figured out where the azalea is going to go, but it can’t move until the siding is done. I probably won’t put the fence up until I can move the azalea, as that’s going to be a hard job.

My husband found this Chiondoxa sardensis in the South garden on Tuesday afternoon.

He sees deer on the back 40 most nights when he does chores. Last week he and my helper friend saw several redwing blackbirds under the bird feeders. My helper friend and I took down the feeders on Tuesday, as I had run out of seed and the bears were out of hibernation.

On Wednesday morning on the way back from the gym, we saw hundreds of robins along our road and I saw my first flicker. We long ago saw the first woodchuck, back in mid February. And we’ve been smelling skunks at night for several weeks.

The chipmunks are far more active and the one that lives under the front steps is much in evidence these days. He’s one bold bugger!

On Wednesday my intern and I will check for more onion seedlings. It’s turned cold again until the weekend so on Thursday my helper friend and I will be putting up more lights and tray shelves in the kitchen windows. My intern and I will be starting seeds on Sunday, I hope.