Unlike most Hollywood sequels, the sequel to our first greenhouse is far superior to the first one, which would have rated 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. First a quick review of version 1 of our greenhouse. In the summer of 2006, …
In 1994, Ferndale was the main location for filming the movie Outbreak, a story about a virus that takes over a small town. 25 years later, we’re experiencing a real outbreak, although with less catastrophic results than the movie virus. …
Apparently the saying is true, “build it and they will come”. No sooner did we put plants in the pond, the frogs moved in and started laying their eggs. But even earlier some unwanted guests moved in, mosquitoes. Since I …
I forgot to mention in the garden tour one special plant that is blooming right now. This plant involves my entire family with the exception of my brother Derek. It has a long history and it doesn’t look like much …
The winters in Ferndale can be long and wet, so wet that it makes getting any gardening done nearly impossible at times. Even mowing the lawn becomes a challenge, and unlike what I was used to in San Jose, the …
One of the true eyesores of our yard was our driveway. Our yard to the south is bordered by our neighbor’s cow pasture, and it had a fence that was practical for keeping the cows in their yard most of …
One of the first things Lori and I did upon moving into our 1888 Victorian on Rose Ave was to plant some roses along the avenue. Logical right? We went to Miller’s Farm Nursery and selected enough Cécile Brünner and …
Most people who have lived in California any amount of time have become familiar with Eschscholzia californica, whether they know it or not. It is after all the state flower, and it grows almost everywhere, both natively and cultivated. Yep, …
We finally got around to planting some of the ferns and hostas that we had in buckets for way too long. The baby tears are also going strong on the north side, and they’re starting to take over the house. …
Last year we were gifted a few rose bushes from a friend who received them from a friend who was pulling them out. In the transfer it was lost what types or even colors they were. So we were pleasantly …
It’s quite a rarity when we get more than one or two roses at a time in our garden due to the diligent pruning that our local deer population performs. So when I saw a cluster of Gertrude Jekyll roses …
While at Nielsens I saw that they had gazing balls so I bought one as a surprise for Lori so we could finally put the pedestal to use in the garden. In case you didn’t hear the story, when I …
I finally had to resort to caging my little escalonia starts because the deer were determined to make a bonsai garden out of them. I think they realized that some day these shrubs were going to grow up to become …
Saw this slug hanging from the remains of the greenhouse and it reminded me of that slug sex video I linked to awhile back. As much as I hate slugs, it was just too tempting to use this one for …
hile I was out playing fireman, Lori decided to hunt for our rose bushes that had disappeared beneath the horsetails in the back yard. We now have a huge pile of weeds that we’re going to have to find something …
With the parlor on hold until I get my graining lesson, and the weather turning nice, my attention got focused on outdoor projects. First on the list is to get the fence arbor brackets up that I’ve been working on. …
It’s been a long time since we”ve had enought flowers in our yard blooming at once to make a bouquet. With the deer eating most everything before it blooms, it’s rare that we actually get to enjoy our flowers. But …
The first season with new plants can sometimes be a trial. Last year we bought three rhododendrons and one azalea at the end of the season when prices were better. That meant they had already flowered so we bought them …
One plant I really miss from San Jose is the beautiful and fragrant wisteria that we had growing on the arbor I made. So after erecting our deer fence the poles looks unfinished, kind of like my unfinished fence in …
The crocus don’t care that the front yard is buried under a few inches of silt. They decided to pop up their little golden heads anyways. That was very nice of them because I always look forward to this moment …
We kept kidding with Artie that he needed to get the mole, but he kept hearing it as vole so that’s what he keeps coming back with. As I mentioned last month, we called in for help to get rid …
The day after Christmas I cut up the cuttings from the Taboo rose and rooted 6 tips and then saved the rest of the canes to root at home. We then spent some time with Carol and John and on …
We’ve tried to tell Artie that instead of attacking the pretty birds in the neighborhood he should be ridding our yard of the moles. He mostly is successful with voles, I guess he’s not hearing us correctly. So after several …
The morning that our yard flooded I told Lori that I was going to be optimistic about it and hope that the flood took care of our mole problem. When the water receeded yesterday, sure enough we found a dead …
My efforts to strengthen the green house for our violent winter storms came to naught also. It is passed the point of repairing, and sadly, we’re going to have to give up on it. We’ll look into better built alternatives …
Even with all the work we did this fall trying to prevent this from happening again, we were greeted this morning with a totally flooded yard. Power was off when we awoke, and when it finally got light enough to …
Mention that you’re from Humboldt County and you have a weed problem and people are bound to think of something other than this. This is just one of my weed piles and they’re piling up faster than they’re decomposing. I’m …
Lori and I spent the day putting in the posts for the beginning of our deer fence on the north side of the house. We’re still waiting for the baseboards to arrive which will also act as a flood diverter, …
Another plant that I had tried growing from seed several times in San Jose was hollyhocks. It took me awhile to figure out that they look like a very common weed when they start, and I would usually end up …
