Fall 2025
January 11, 2026
planting log, trees, herbaceous, seed collection, wildlife, seasonal review | permalink
Fall was busy, but that's starting to be a refrain. Every season is busy. I feel like there is a lot of work to do, and I want to get as much of it done as soon as possible so there's more time for things to grow. To get bigger, to spread, to produce fruit, to begin to crowd out the grass, to block the view of the road and the gigantic increase in traffic due to a stop sign being put at one end of it (seriously, somewhere between 50% and more than 100% increase, the exact number depending on getting some raw data from the township for a recent count they conducted). I wrote very little about my activities, so much to catch up on here. I may later go back and add posts for a few of these things, mainly so I can link back to them from future posts and the rough map I'm making.
The biggest project of the season was cutting down the Japanese Maple in the front and planting two Eastern Redbuds (Cercis canadensis) in its place.
I planted two additional trees, both of which came free of charge from the township's shade commission: a White Oak (Quercus ruba), in the southern woodland edge, and a Black Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica), in the northern woodland edge.
A few existing trees have become tall enough that I'm no longer worried about the deer topping them, and so cages were removed. However, there's still the risk of rubbing. So I did some research on a way to do protect the trunks with natural materials (rather than, say, plastic guards), and found the suggestion of burlap. I bought a 35-foot roll of 3-foot-wide burlap from a local hardware store, then cut sections of about 3 or 4 feet long. I then placed these around the trunks, pushing open small holes between the threads to put limbs through where I could, and tied the ends together with some twine. It seems to have been a successful - only one showed a little rubbing, but no further after an adjustment. On the other hand, the serviceberry near the road that I planted either the first fall or spring after moving in needed more protection. Deer have been keeping it trimmed, so I finally put a taller cage around it.
Transplanted somewhere around 50 to 75 common blue violets from my vegetable garden, most to front meadow along road but also a few between the tulip tree sapling and elderberry in western woodland edge. I also collected a fair number of their seed pods and spread the seeds in the same area. American plantains and yellow wood sorrel were also moved from the vegetable garden to the same places, though not nearly as many.
Another big project (maybe 15 hours over a few weeks) was planting literally thousands of native seeds, mostly herbaceous but also some shrubs/small trees. I have no idea the exact number, but somewhere between three and five thousand. The vast majority were tiny tiny seeds that you just strew on the open surface (and hope for the best), but many others were ones that I planted into the soil (and hoped for the best). My plan is to do this every fall, for at least the next few years. Most of them I bought, but some I had collected from existing plants in my garden. Here are the species, with the collected ones indicated with an asterisk, along with location:
- Hickory - at end of driveway, in northern woodland edge; these were given to me by MH, via a friend of his
- Lupinus perennis subsp perennis (Sundial Lupines) - front meadow along road
- Antennaria plantaginifolia (Pussytoes) - western woodland edge, in wood chips between rock wall I built and bald cypress; on eastern hillside
- Rhus aromatica (Fragrant Sumac), which first needed to be hot-water stratified and soaked - western woodland edge mostly, but also some by new white oak in southern woodland edge and some by new brushpile on terrace
- Conoclinium coelestinum (Mistflower) - front meadow, in mulched area in front of butterfly milkweeds
- Penstemon hirsutus (Hairy Beardtongue) - southern woodland edge
- *Apocynum cannabinum (Hemp Dogbane) - front meadow, right at edge of road; in front of blueberries on terrace; in front of blackberries and raspberries on terrace
- *Lepidium virginicum (Virginia pepperweed) - front meadow, along road
- *Plantago rugelii (American plaintain) - front meadow, along road
- Geranium maculatum (Wild Geranium) - front meadow, along road
- Iris versicolor (Northern Blue Flag) - front meadow, along road
- Amsonia tabernaemontana (Eastern Bluestar) - front meadow, along road
- Tradescantia ohiensis (Ohio Spiderwort) - front meadow, along road
- Solidago odora (Sweet Goldenrod) - front meadow, along road
- Cornus amomum subsp. obliqua (Silky Dogwood) - southern hillside
- Packera aurea (Golden Ragwort) - at corner of front of house
- Hibiscus moscheutos (Swamp Rose Mallow) - southern hillside, around existing red osier (that's a wet area and both like wet feet)
- Amorpha fruticosa (False Indigo) - I mistakenly bought a ton of these seeds so they went just about everyone in heavy doses: northern woodland edge, along border of brushpile on terrace, along the log border in middle of terrace, front meadow in grass next to roadside mulched area, at end of driveway, probably other places
- Viola pedata (Bird's Foot Violet) - around new white oak in southern woodland edge
- Clematis occidentalis var. occidentalis (Purple Clematis) - beneath red or black oak in western woodland edge
- Clematis Virginia (Virgin's Bower) - around lamppost in front meadow and pole on front porch
- *a tall goldenrod, either Solidago altissima or Solidago canadensis
- *asters - on terrace
- Carex eburnea (Ivory Sedge) - in backyard, beneath playset after desodding it
- Asclepias incarnata (Swamp or Rose Milkweed) - southern hillside, terrace
I also planted a few things in pots and put them in my fenced-in vegetable garden for some protection from being dug up, like the eastern redbuds I mentioned above:
- Hickories - ones from friend of MH and also ones given to me by a contractor that did work on our house
- Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England Aster)
- Physocarpus opulifolius (Prairie Ninebark)
- Staphylea trifolia (Bladdernut)
- Swamp Milkweed
- Sundial Lupines
- Silky Dogwood
- *Cornus Florida (Flowering Dogwood)
Stored some seeds I collected paper packets:
- Asters
- Goldenrod
- Eastern Redbud
- American Plantain
- Hemp Dogbane
I finished making the birdbath stump that I'd started in summer, or at least enough for now. Two-thirds of the top is chiseled out. Maybe I'll do the other third sometime. At first I thought it wasn't working, because the first time I filled it, it was empty about 30 minutes later. But it just needs to get water-logged and then it will hold water for a while - possibly a couple days (which is great, because I don't want stagnant water to be around for mosquitoes to lay eggs in, and perhaps it drying out is a good trap for them). Idea came from National Wildlife Federation, David Mizejewski, Attracting Birds, Butterflies, and Other Backyard Wildlife, 2nd edition, 2019 (p. 73).
Other things:
- planted mountain laurel
- bought more elderberry cuttings that will be arriving later this month or early next. Of the dozen I'd planted last year, three or four did not survive.
- bought and put out a "leave the leaves" sign.
- split firewood
- harvested first apples - from the black arkansas tree - with my daughter.
- planted garlic
- put vegetable garden beds to bed
- read A New Garden Ethic: Cultivating Defiant Compassion for an Uncertain Future by Benjamin Vogt
Fox running
January 3, 2026
wildlife, observations | permalink
I happened to be looking out the back windows of the living room and a fox went running by at a decent speed - up the hill, around the dogwood, back towards the compost pile. There's been snow the last several days and there are several sets of tracks along the same path across the patio.
Rest in peace, one of the foxes
December 13, 2025
Today during a playdate for my daughter and a neighbor's daughter, I learned that one of the foxes in the neighborhood met a grim death over the summer. Apparently, the previous owners of their house, which they had just moved in to, had Christmas lights strung up year-round on a tree in their backyard. They came home to see the body of a fox part way up the tree dangling from the wires. She did not go into too many details, but I'm guessing it got the wires caught around its neck and was hung by them. What an awful, absolutely terrible and bullshit way to die. I'm sorry you went like this, fox. I wonder if you were the one that I'd seen so often in our backyard, and that was comfortable with my presence - the one I filmed pulling food out of our compost bin while I sat weeding or doing something in the vegetable garden less than 10 feet away. Or the one I saw be skeptical of a minivan. Or the one that was curious about me, which, I think, was the same one that was also curious about my work on the vegetable garden. Even if you weren't one I'd ever seen before, I'm still sad, and wish you hadn't died a needless death.
I've never decorated the outside with lights - mainly because I have no interest in people thinking I'm Christian and I've only lived in my house a few years - and now I have a new reason not to. It also makes me wonder how many animals are killed by this wasteful cultural practice.
Rest in peace, groundhog
November 12, 2025
I took a short walk around the terrace today to strew some hemp dogbane seeds from their pods, and noticed the remains of an animal in the middle of it. Upon closer inspection, it was a groundhog. I'm not positive, but I think there's only one in the vicinity of our yard this year. So, I assume it was the same groundhog that kept getting into my garden this summer and that had made the tunnel under the rockwall. I have mixed feelings. Mostly, sadness. But on the other hand, it was certainly a fox that did it, and a fox has to eat. I'm also surprised - it had good hiding places, I thought maybe it was too large for a fox to try to hunt, and it was fast. I guess I hope it was a quick death.
Fox
November 9, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Yesterday, I had joined my cat in looking out the window for a few moments. I asked him if there was anything interesting. He didn't answer. I told him it had been a while since I'd seen a fox. Well, while getting a glass of water in the middle of the night (1:45am) today, I looked out another window to see what might be going on outside. I spotted what I initially thought was a small deer in front of neighbor AM's house, but soon realized it was a fox as it trotted in my direction and then took a turn up the driveway into the backyard.
Wrens
October 9, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
The other day I saw a pair of what I thought were Carolina wrens on the terrace. But looking at the Sibley guide now, I'm leaning more toward house wrens, because of their slenderness and color (grayish/brownish on top and somewhat dull yellow on belly and sides). The Merlin bird app has suggested Carolina wrens a number of times from their calls, and I think I've seen them on the hillside in front of the terrace, but I think these were different. So maybe both are here. Or maybe the other ones I've seen are song sparrows, which are of a similar size and stoutness. I'm not good at identifying birds yet. Anyway, they were around and under the asters in front of the older peach tree. When I came up, they went to the large pokeweed.
Groundhog in tunnel
October 3, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I was able to get close enough to take a decent picture of the groundhog. It had been on the other side of the wall, but when I started walking that way it went into the tunnel. I quietly stepped around the other side and got a few pics. As I was taking a video after this picture, I made a too-fast movement and it ducked back the other way. It's really an excellent placement for a little tunnel.
Blue jays in lilac
September 22, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Watching blue jays in front tree, wondering what they’re doing. I either don’t look out that way much or they aren’t there much. But I see: they seem to be grabbing lilac tree seeds, and then holding them against a limb and breaking with their bills. They're capable birds.
Monarch caterpillars
August 23, 2025
wildlife, lepidoptera, observations, milkweed | permalink
I checked (though I can't say too thoroughly) the milkweeds on the patio and in front today and found four monarch caterpillars. Two chunky ones near the patio, this time on the butterfly milkweeds, which is interesting because previously there were 13 on the plants here but 12 were on the common milkweed and only one was on the butterfly. Out front I finally found some (and had once again earlier seen a Monarch butterfly on them, I assume to lay eggs): a small one and a medium one.
A bunch of Monarch caterpillars
August 16, 2025
wildlife, lepidoptera, observations, milkweed | permalink
My daughter alerted me to a butterfly on our back patio and told me to come see it. It was a Monarch, flitting around the milkweeds planted there. I'd also seen it there not too long ago, when I thought it might be laying eggs. I don't know how soon Monarch eggs hatch, but decided to check the plants for any sign of caterpillars, and counted 13 of them, a bit smaller (I'd say between 1/4 and 3/4 of an inch long) than the first one I saw just over a week before. I haven't yet checked the front patch again, where there are many more plants, but so far I haven't found any out there.
Monarch caterpillar
August 7, 2025
wildlife, lepidoptera, observations, milkweed | permalink
I was just about to come inside for the night and I thought I'd check the milkweeds for signs of monarch caterpillars. First I saw what looked like some leaf munching, and then I found the culprit (or one of them at least). Very happy to see the work to get some colonies of milkweed started has begun to pay off. And looks like I was right a couple weeks ago when I thought a butterfly I saw was a monarch.
Possible monarch butterfly
July 26, 2025
wildlife, observations, lepidoptera, milkweed | permalink
One of the things I wrote down to do today was to go out and look for Monarch caterpillars, since I've seen a few people on the fediverse post pictures of them recently. Well, no caterpillars, but I'm about 90% sure I saw a butterfly around the milkweeds in the front yard. There's a slim chance that it was the eastern tiger swallowtail I saw yesterday, but I don't think so: this one seemed more orange than yellow and its behavior was definitely different. I couldn't get within five feet of it to take a picture - it would just flit away, sometimes pretty high in the air, and the circle back around. Hopefully it laid some eggs!
Eastern tiger swallowtail
July 25, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
This is the third summer I've been at my house, and I think the first time I've spotted a non-white butterfly. Maybe I'm paying attention more, maybe wildlife finds the place more welcoming now. Either way, happy to see an eastern tiger swallowtail.
Goldfinch
July 15, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Caught a glimpse of a goldfinch flitting from the hillside to the front of the neighbor's house. For as bright as they are, this is only the second time this year I've seen one.
June beetles
July 7, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I saw two common green June beetles (native) on the terrace today, and identified the white butterflies as small whites (unfortunately non-native).
Lightning bugs
June 28, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Saw lightning bugs somewhere near the middle of the month if not earlier. Still going, more now.
Spring 2025
June 22, 2025
trees, vegetables, fruit, wildlife, herbaceous, shrubs, seasonal review | permalink
It felt like spring was a lot of effort and not too much to show for it. On the other hand, this work of taking a sterile lawn doused in chemicals to something that actually contributes to and supports the local ecosystem does not happen overnight. I think I need to be more mindful of that, especially at moments of setbacks, of which there were several this season.
I'm going to try something a bit different for this reflection of the past season and go by layer. So let's start from the top: one shade tree went in, a black cherry (prunus serotina). It is at the corner of our property, several feet back from the road. After oaks, it is one of the best trees to plant to support a wide range of wildlife.1
I also planted a few understory trees: an American hophornbeam (ostrya virginiana) and two American hazelnuts (corylus americana).
The black cherry and the hophornbeam came from the township's Shade Commission, while the hazelnuts came from MH.
There was also some work on existing trees: at the end of April, I cut about three feet off the American hornbeam I planted last spring, so now it's about two feet tall. Last year, it dropped nearly all of its leaves during the summer, but then regrew some of them towards fall. I didn't have high hopes that it was going to make it, but then the bottom of it leafed out. Aside from being much shorter, it now looks as healthy as it was when I planted it. I think it probably gets too much sun, so hopefully the black cherry in front of it puts on a few feet in the next couple years to give it a bit of shade. I also extended the fencing on the pear tree and apple tree I put in last season, after removing the top I'd placed on them as a temporary measure. The fencing is now six feet tall rather than four, and so is sufficient for deer protection. I'm not sure how many more trees I'll be putting in, but I'm going to find and use six-foot fencing going forward so I don't have to do that again. Live and learn.
I identified the tree - now about five feet tall - growing in the vegetable garden. It's a northern capalta (catalpa speciosa), which is great luck because I wanted to get one of them. I have not yet decided whether I'm going to do the work to transplant it or just let it go and garden around it. On the one hand, moving it will be a decent amount of work (and it might not survive) and perhaps it could act as a good pole for a pumpkin to climb? On the other, it will probably shade too much of the garden. I'm torn. But I can't be torn for too long, because late fall/early winter will be the best time to move it if I'm going to.
I also have a tentative identification of another tree, which somehow has survived unprotected to about four feet tall in the mulched area in the backyard. It may be an ash - I need to look more closely at it.
So that's the good news on trees. Unfortunately, though, the oak I transplanted last fall did not survive - or at least not as a eight-foot-tall tree. The only sign of life was one shoot coming from its base, which was eaten by some animal within a couple days. I'm reluctant to cut it down, mainly because of how much work it was putting it in but also because I still want to believe it will come back. But I will probably do so between now and next spring. I would like an oak in that spot, so in the meantime I'll probably dig up one of the little saplings I frequently find in the lawn and put it there, under some protection.
The second attempt at a holly hedge failed. I'm going to continue trying, but on a much smaller scale. I'm going to take a cutting or two from one of the existing hollies and see if I can get them to root in water. I think I'm also going to have to protect them from wildlife - while some simply didn't root, others were eaten.
A few shrubs went in: another northern spicebush (lindera benzoin) and two red-osier dogwoods (swida sericea). I put the spicebush between the other two I'd planted in May 2023. I did not cage this one, mainly because it's rather large and probably needed to be pruned after the transplant anyway. I'll watch how much it gets eaten (so far fairly minimal) and then perhaps just cage all three of them together if necessary. I think I need to get one more in that area, opposite the others, to make it too thick for the deer to reach the middle so they'll do better. I did cage the dogwoods. Fucking deer.
I ordered and planted four bearberries (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi), which are doing well. I also tried to propagate several more by root and stem cuttings, but only one may have been successful. It seemed like it was alive the last time I checked.
I spent a lot of time preparing various native seeds for planting outside and then planting either them or the resulting seedlings. None of them developed into full plants, if they grew at all. I knew that would be the case for the milkweeds and blue wild indigo (baptisa australis), but I thought I'd get some decent-looking sundial lupines (lupinus perennis) or literally anything else (black-eyed susans, columbines, purple love grass, little bluestem, buttonbush, blue vervain), but nothing is taller than four inches, except maybe the butterfly milkweeds. I haven't seen a sign of the black-eyed susans, purple love grass (eragrostis spectabilis), little bluestem (schizachyrium scoparium), buttonbush (cephalanthus occidentalis), or blue vervain (verbena hastata). I'm hoping some are just putting down roots and will come up next year. Even if not, I suppose it's ok. I have double that number of species that I'm going to plant in the fall. Seeds are relatively inexpensive (and sometimes free); I'm going to load the ground with them every spring and fall, with the occasional season off to give myself a break.
Removing lawn continued, but at a slower pace than I would have liked. Aside from areas where trees went in, it amounted to maybe 20 square feet.
In the vegetable garden, now nearly double the size it was last year, most things that I planted came up. The things that didn't: about half the corn, most of the Detroit Bull's Blood beets, and none of the handful of cucumbers. Those only accounted for a very small amount of the space, though, and I moved other things that were too thick into their spaces. So everything else came up and grew well, until deer (I assume) got into the raised bed and destroyed the 130 pea plants that were over four feet tall. I was able to save maybe a quart of peas. I'd wanted to keep saving them to replant year after year, but will have to buy some next spring now. Something has also been getting in and eating the green bean leaves. I'm not sure if that's also deer (maybe a rabbit?), but soon I'm going to extend the fencing from four feet to six feet tall. If the green beans are still being eaten, I guess I'll have to put in better protection at the ground level.
I was doing more weeding (mostly grass of one sort or another) than I wanted to, in both the vegetable garden and in the areas where I've removed grass and mulched/planted other things. It's frustrating because one of the reasons I'm trying to remove the lawn is to lower the amount of maintenance needed. And things I've planted are either growing extremely slow or being eaten by deer, allowing room for weeds. It's doubly frustrating because some of it is coming from my compost. I'm hoping that by next year, after another round of native seed planting in the fall, the good things will begin to out-compete the bad things. In the vegetable garden, I think it's now mostly under control from grass clippings I put down, which will have the added benefit of keeping soil more cool and more moist during the hot summer months that are now upon us.
One thing that I did that I had not planned on doing was creating a small rock wall on the western edge of property. I was originally just digging out some rocks so I could plant one of the bearberries, and got carried away, digging up giant rock after giant rock with the help of a neighbor's pry-bar he calls "the persuader". It certainly persuaded the rocks out of the ground much easier than any tool I have. I like how it turned out, and that makes a clear distinction between the grass and the mulched/wildflower area. (Eventually I also intend to start removing the lawn on this side of it, but that's probably at least several years off.)
Other tasks completed:
- fill small sinkhole next to driveway with mulch
- identify groundcover with yellow flowers in space between us and neighbors (lesser celandine)
- empty rotating compost barrel
- transplant blue violets from hillside with grass to new rock wall and hillside with apples
- transplant some of the pussytoes - I don't want to lose them when I eventually get around to removing grass on hillside below flowering dogwood
- plant white hyacinths from MH&DW
- plant sunflowers from MH
- weed and spread woodchips around chestnuts, oak, and maple
- do soil test in vegetable garden
- sharpen mower blades
- Read Chris Baines's How to Make a Wildlife Garden
1. According to Doug Tallamy. I saw this once before but the most recent place was on the May 15, 2021 episode of the Native Plant Podcast.
Hawks
June 19, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I saw two of the hawks, which I think are bald eagles, flying pretty high up around 1:30pm.
Hummingbird
June 13, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Just saw a hummingbird while sitting on the patio. It checked out the red handle on the rain barrel drain, then a couple flowers, and flew off. Iridescent green on its back, bright red around its neck.
Bald eagle
June 2, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Bald eagle flying overhead (1:30 pm).
Bald eagle
June 1, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Bald eagle flying overhead (11:22 am).
Goldfinches
June 1, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
Spotted goldfinches for the first time this year - two flying from AM's backyard heading through our front yard.
Fox and minivan
May 8, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I saw the fox for the first time in a while, at least in our yard. A week or so ago, I saw it, or one of its family [side note: I need to learn how to identify male and female foxes so I can stop calling them "it"] a few blocks towards town running in our direction. Tonight, as I was doing dishes, I saw it slowly trotting along the edge of our driveway toward the road. I moved to the front window to watch it. It spotted me, but didn't really seem to care. It then continued a few feet, but stopped to investigate something in the grass. Then I saw a minivan driving very slowly on the road, which then came to full stop about ten or fifteen feet before our driveway. It was very nice, and unfortunately unusual, to see. So kudos to that person for both paying attention and also stopping. But the fox did not trust it: rather than continue on its path across the road in front of the minivan, it cut through the neighbor's yard and then crossed about ten feet behind it. The minivan then also continued on. I wish more animal-driver interactions were like this.
Deer
April 21, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I just watched a doe and what I assume is her kid from last year walk through the front yard, about 6:15 in the morning. The mother was in front by about 20 feet, and heading the opposite way than they do at night - from east to west. The yearling nibbled on the new spice bush and then spent some time reaching up to eat some of the non-native cherry blossoms. Then they crossed the road at their usual spot to go back to wherever exactly it is that they spend their day (I assume).
Crows
April 21, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I just saw two pairs of crows flying overhead while I was in the backyard. Mainly of note because I thought there was only one pair regularly around here, because I only ever saw one at a time before.
Groundhog
March 25, 2025
wildlife, observations | permalink
I spotted the groundhog for the first time this year, as I went to plant some beet seeds in the new raised bed. It was surprisingly fast - took a flying leap from the direction of the last blueberry, over the pile of rocks to behind the compost bins, and was gone when I checked just 30 seconds later. I assume through the hole at the bottom of the rock wall it dug rather than into the brush pile. I'm not sure if that hole is just a tunnel to the hillside or if there's also a borrow within it, but no sign of it in the yard.
Puttering
January 29, 2025
"Puttering" to me means walking around your garden and/or yard, often with some kind of beverage in hand - maybe coffee in the morning, maybe beer in the afternoon - and doing the occasional work you hadn't necessarily planned to do but figured why the hell not. This at least is the definition that was handed down to me by my parents. I recently learned that it's "pottering" in the UK, and I'm kind of surprised it took me this long to hear the UK-English version of the word.
So I puttered for a bit around the yard today, between the end of work and nearly sundown. It was very relaxing and I think needed. First it was dumping the compost and filling the birdfeeder, dropping an ear of corn for deer. Then I noticed just how much deer poop (and some rabbit, I think) was around and so I grabbed a shovel and slid the little pellets onto it, dumping them into a bucket I was carrying around, and then dumped that on the spot where I'll be building a second raised bed for vegetables this spring. Grabbed a package that was delivered off the front porch. Then decided to get a start on making small cages for the elderberry cuttings that I'll be planting soon. I think I already have nine that will work, at least for the first year, so just three more to go. I had a portion of chickenwire left over from other caging needs, and so cut out three pieces, got two of them twisted up into little columns.
Then it was getting a bit dark, so I left the last one and the tops to do another time. The motion-detector light was on in the side yard, but I didn't see any deer out as I went inside. They either spotted me and left, or it was just set off by the holly being blown around by the gusts of wind. Or a fox did a quick round looking for something to eat.
Pumpkin and the fox
June 7, 2024
wildlife, trees, vegetables | permalink
This pumpkin is currently my favorite plant. Look at it! It was about six inches tall two weeks ago. I'm training it up the wooden stake so it will have more room; we'll see how it survives once I get it up over the side. Deer snack? Maybe. Though I have another growing outside the raised bed and it has been untouched so far, knock on wood.
Speaking of wildlife, a bit earlier I had finished putting protection around the two newly planted hickories (because they've already been nibbled by deer), and then ran into the fox. Not sure if it's always the same fox I see, but likely? We had been walking towards each other from two different paths on the terrace. I was unaware of it until I turned onto the path it was on, which was coming from the raised bed and compost area. I'm sure the fox had already noticed me, though I think both of us were surprised. I backed up and it slowly but fairly nonchalantly continued on its way, marked its territory on a juniper I had planted, and then ended up where I took these pics a couple minutes later. First curious, then indifferent.
Raised bed deer protection finished
May 28, 2024
wildlife, vegetables | permalink
Around 8pm, I finally finished putting up the fencing to protect the raised bed from deer. For now, they are the main issue, trimming off the tops of some of the vegetables I planted. Later, I'll probably have an issue with chipmunks and squirrels since they can still easily get in. My first step for dealing with that is to plant some rosemary at the obvious entries - we'll see if that works. (And if not, oh well, it's the first year so I'm kind of expecting the worst.)
Anyway, after ten hours over the past month, it's complete. Two of the four sides of the fencing act as doors and seem to be functioning well. We'll see how long they hold up, but it's easy enough (though a little too difficult and awkward) to open and close them. I nailed the fencing to the structure and then to 1x1s that then connect to the frame by a hook. It's probably not the final version, but it works for now.
Here it is on May 11, when I'd completed the frame and put up the first portion of fencing:
One of the foxes came to investigate right when I was wrapping up on May 28:
A view inside the garden a few days after completing the fencing, on June 1:
