Sprouting Off

Nursery Tours: Gordon’s Garden Center

April 3, 2013 in Nursery Tours

My annual slew of nursery tours is in full swing. This season I’ve been to Al’s Garden Center, Bark & Garden Center, Vassey Nursery, Portland Avenue Nursery, Willow Tree Gardens, Watson’s Greenhouse, and most recently Gordon’s Garden Center.

I haven’t been to Gordon’s in many years (probably 7-8). It isn’t located in an easy to reach place. Yelm, WA would be considered BFE in my opinion. I should know. I used to live there. In fact, I lived in Yelm when Gordon’s was still a grocery store. Yes, I’m that old. I remember when Gordon began converting the once hometown grocery into a little garden shop with character (not coincidentally it happened when Thriftway moved into town).

It just so happens I was the manager at Boulevard Nursery in Olympia when Gordon suddenly passed away and Kellie Petersen took over ownership of the shop. Kellie turned Gordon’s into a thriving destination nursery that rivaled locations like Swanson’s Nursery in Seattle. Kellie made regular appearances on Gardening with Ciscoe. She was dubbed “The Rose Queen” with good reason. Gordon’s carried so many roses you’d think Raft Island had moved to Yelm.

At Boulevard we considered Gordon’s our biggest competition. That could have been because both locations had new owners at the time. Jeff had just purchased Boulevard and Kellie had just taken over Gordon’s. They had statements to make since they were taking over for men who were leaders in the garden center industry. That was when I took my leave of the retail garden business. When I last visited Gordon’s it was vibrant, beautiful, and the place to be each Spring.

The weather on Easter Sunday was beautiful. I asked my sister-in-law if she wanted to head out to Gordon’s with me after church. We visited Bark & Garden last year so it wasn’t a stretch. She agreed and after lunch we hopped in the car for the drive.

This was the only photo I took during the whole visit. I didn’t find anything worth photographing besides one plant tag.

We pulled into the small parking lot and it was quite empty despite the gorgeous weather. That wasn’t unusual since it was a holiday. One major new thing about Gordon’s is that the Yelm Food Co-op is now housed in 1/2 of the original gift shop. Of course we had to browse the grocery department. However, it did make me sad. Gordon’s was once known for their amazing gift shop and yearly holiday party complete with wine and snacks. The garden center’s gift shop was small and didn’t have anything particularly special.

Outside the under cover shopping area was sparse. There were a number of employees busy doing, I’m not sure what, but none of them said hello or acknowledged our presence. This area once had displays full of seasonal plants. Now, displays are sparse and the ground covering is fraying in places.

The vegetable start house was the only portion that was full. There were loads of great looking vegetable starts. If I had been in the market for veggies I would have been impressed.

We wandered through the main outdoor display area, but it didn’t take long. There wasn’t much to see. Weeds were popping up everywhere, the ground wasn’t clean and the fountain wasn’t running. There were very little by way of plants and it looked sad. There was a very small selection of perennials that looked nice, but not many. At the back of the nursery is the “shade house.” Normally this house is full to the brim of the most beautiful azaleas and rhododendrons. This year it is full of overwintering perennials, frayed ground cloth, weedy plant areas and the back was full of equipment and a tractor.

The large tree area was also rather sparse. It looked as if their fruit trees had been mostly sold out. The sawdust beds they hold the fruit trees in were not practical. I saw trees at the back of the 15′ bed I wanted to look at, but wasn’t about to climb in with my flip-flops on. Once again, the other areas were full of weeds and it wasn’t full. I kept saying that it just made me sad.

Our last stop was the hard goods area. I wanted to pick up some organic weed killer for my father-in-law. Before we went into the hard goods building we spied containers of seed potatoes. Now I was impressed. They must have had 20 varieties of seed potatoes. They were each labeled and organized. I found many varieties I hadn’t heard of. I was tempted to purchase a few but I didn’t have any spending money with me. I oogled the merchandise, but left empty handed.

Inside the hard goods building, no one was at the register. Probably because there really weren’t any customers. The shelves of remedies and fertilizers were empty. There were holes everywhere. They had 1 organic weed spray (not the one I wanted), they were out of all of the deer spray, there were empty spots all over the place. It was as if they didn’t care. This was the only point where someone actually spoke to us. An employee walked in the building and mentioned how hot it was in there. She opened the door and casually asked us if we needed help. I so badly wanted to stop her and ask what had happened to the store. I refrained.

The whole car ride home I talked with my sister about how the whole visit was a bust and how it made me sad. I felt bad for Kellie. How had it gone so horribly wrong. I understand business. I know we are dealing with a recession. However, I refuse to believe that you can just give up. I know she sold off a piece of the property, but I see that as an opportunity to concentrate your efforts to make your shop better. I hope that at some point Gordon’s can turn it around and revive the once thriving business.

Will I go back? Right now I would have to say no. However, I would like to visit again to see if anything changes.

Tags: nursery tours
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Goodbye Trees

March 27, 2013 in The Sprouting Off Garden, Trees

When we purchased our house, over 9 years ago, one of the first things I said was, “that Photinia has to go.” You see, when I was in school my landscape design professor always mocked the big box shopping landscapers for always putting in a row of Thundercloud Plum trees with a Photinia hedge underneath. It’s a combo that screams “The Queen of the red hat society resides here!” This was my new house.

2004

At the time there was the biggest photinia tree I’d ever seen. It was at least 15′ tall, healthy and rather beautiful. However, said tree was located right next to two Thundercloud Plums. It was a hot mess of color. Red new growth from the Photinia, purple leaves from the plums and then there are two Rhododendrons next to that. One blooms red and one deep fuchsia (at the same time). Egads it looked like a circus tent threw up in my garden.

During the 2010 ice storm the two plums were badly damaged. We removed one last Spring and I’d grown accustomed to having just the one flowering tree. A few years ago the Photinia contracted fungal leaf spot (a disease common to the plant) and it has been slowly defoliating (yet still growing) ever since. It went from a 15′ beauty to a 20′ eyesore. It’s only saving grace was that my Jackmanii clematis grew up into it.

2008

I’ve been saying the Photinia had to go for years because I knew it would eventually succumb to the leaf spot disease, but I wanted to keep one of the plums. Well once the ice storm did it’s work I knew they needed to be removed. We were going to do it last year, but money was tight and we let them be. This year it had to be done. The last leaf fell off of the Photinia last week in the wind and the branches of the plum were creeping down toward the cars. I could see broken limbs and the giant split in a major limb was creating a hazard.

I got a few quotes from tree companies and the guy with the lower quote had an opening yesterday afternoon. I had them call my husband to make sure that was ok and in the afternoon my husband called me at the shop. I could hear a chainsaw in the background.

My trees were coming down. I was sad, my neighbors were sad… all except a few of the neighbor boys who set up lawn chairs across the street to watch.

Neighbors showed up in the evening to check it out. Everyone had to see what we had done to our landscape. It is a giant hole. Much of our taller privacy is gone and the home for the birds is in a pile.

I have a plan to save the shade garden that resides underneath. We are going to build a small 12′ fence that the clematis will be able to grow up again. Then I’m on the hunt for a fast growing flowering tree. Right now a crabapple is in the lead. I’m considering an Empress tree, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find one.

I’m happy that the diseased Photinia is gone. I am, however, noticing that many of the larger shrubs are in need of a good shaping.

The whole thing does make me sit back and say WOW though. Maybe I could prune the rhodies up to be more tree-like.

Tags: the sprouting off garden, trees
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Duckling Update

March 26, 2013 in Duck Farmer

Yesterday afternoon I got a call at the shop from my husband. He said that Gwen, my sweet little blonde duckling, wasn’t doing well. My son had found her laying on her side in the brooder. The night before she fell over and had what I could only describe as a seizure. At the time I thought she just fell over and couldn’t right herself. That happens. Ducklings are clumsy.

Over the past week I’ve noticed that Gertrude has grown much larger than Gwen and Gracie. There is a marked difference, in fact.

We’ve done some research and we believe that she (and Gracie) are suffering from Niacin deficiency. This is common in young ducklings especially when they are raised on chick starter. I was aware of the possibility since it is clearly talked about in my duck raising book. I am a bad duck owner and disregarded the information to an extent. I was putting niacin into their water and had intentions of getting brewer’s yeast to add to the food, but time got away from me and that didn’t happen.

I saw that Gertrude was getting larger than the others and for a moment I suspected that she might be a drake, but that is highly unlikely since Welsh Harlequins are nearly sex-linked. Then my inner chick raiser kicked in and I told myself that she was bigger because animals all grow at different rates.

When Gwen showed signs of not doing well we most certainly intervened. I’ve since switched them to a different brand of chick starter (that contains niacin), I’ve added niacin to their water and I’ve put chopped up carrot peels into their open water. The girls got to go for a little swim last night and Gwen had another swim this morning. The swimming is supposed to take some stress off of their legs. They are on their own this afternoon since both of us are working today, but I’m hoping the rest and added vitamins will do her good.

It is absolutely breaking my heart to know that one of my animals could be sick. I just love this ducky. She is quite sweet, but looks just a hot mess right now. Ducklings that have nutrition issues tend to not preen themselves well. She has a bit of a crust on her from the feed (which they like much better than the other feed).

Gertrude is doing her best to care for her sisters. She pushes Gwen toward the water and preens her a bit. She doesn’t like to let them out of her sight. Yesterday when we had Gwen isolated (because we didn’t know what was going on) Gert peeped and peeped and peeped.

Get better Gwenny. Hang in there sweetie.

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Starting Spring

March 22, 2013 in Duck Farmer, Out and About, The Sprouting Off Garden

Last weekend was a total bust when it came to garden projects. I got stuff accomplished on Friday, but Saturday’s rain and Sunday’s holiday made the rest of the weekend worthless. This weekend I’m totally making up for it. I have a long list of things I need/want to finish. So much so that I filled my car with stuff from the shop and vowed that I wouldn’t be back on my days off.

Did I mention I currently have weekends off? I haven’t had Saturdays off in 4 years! Whee!

The list of things I would like to finish include

Visiting the new H-Mart in Lakewood (I love me a giant Asian grocery)
Purchase a new pair of Keens so I have Spring work shoes
Finishing the duck run
Fertilizing and Liming the lawn
Plant the trunk-full of plants I’ve taken home
Plant potatoes
Shoveling gravel
Shoveling compost

The only thing I have to do this weekend is teach 2 chicken classes. I teach Chickens 101 as a joint venture between the shop and the City of Tacoma. The classes are held at EnviroHouse and are FREE! My 10:30 a.m. class is full, but I believe there is still space in the 1:30 p.m. class. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about backyard chicken keeping and have about an hour of time tomorrow afternoon join me. Like I said, the class is free, but you have to sign up on the EnviroHouse website since space is limited.

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Peat is still bad

March 21, 2013 in Soil

I am going to repost something I wrote about a year ago. It is a very valid case against peat moss. I have a few new visitors who have come here from Mavis’s post about making your own potting soil.

For the most part I purchase my potting soil from GardenSphere. We carry the Gardener & Bloom brand. It is peat free and absolutely fantastic. This year I came into a free, very large block of coir for my worm bin. I only needed a small bit for my worm bin so I put the rest into a large bucket in my greenhouse. I mixed it with sand to create a light weight excellent seed starting mix (after I had already purchased an excess of peat laden seed starting mix). Once I’m done starting seeds I will use the leftover coir to make potting soil. I’ll mix the coir with compost to make regular potting soil. In my opinion vermiculite or perlite aren’t worth the amount you spend on them.

——————————

When a customer walks through the doors of GardenSphere and asks for a specific product 9 times out of 10 I can figure out what project they are undertaking. If you’ve worked in a garden center for any length of time you can too. In the past few years there is a combination of items that I get right every time.

It is peat moss, vermiculite and compost. If you walk into my shop and ask for those 3 times I guarantee you are trying square foot gardening. You are also doing so with the assistance to Mel Bartholomew’s book Square Foot Gardening (SFG).

When I first started at GardenSphere I was impressed that in my interview Travis mentioned that the store only carried one product that contained peat moss. It was seed starting mix. Our composts and potting soils are peat free. In the years since I’ve worked in the store we now carry very small bags of straight peat moss, but we only do so because of a request from a customer. Once we’ve sold out of it we won’t order it again.

So when a customer comes in and asks for peat, compost and vermiculite I do my best to talk them out of the peat. Sorry Mel.

I own a copy of SFG and have read the chapter on “Mel’s Mix.” I will say that he is responsible and does only want you to use a small amount of it and it is only used when first filling your beds. After that you’ll only use compost. I commend Mr. Bartholomew for understanding what is going on with peat.

Peat Moss has been a long standing garden staple. No one really thought of where it came from or the impact the use of of it, or harvest of it would have on the environment. Potting soil was peat, mulch was peat, soil amendments were peat. Then one day someone stood up and said woah, wait a minute.

You see, peat is not all that it’s cracked up to be. It isn’t sustainable and harvesting it is rather bad for the environment.

Let’s back up and talk about what peat is first. First and foremost peat is NOT compost. Peat moss is formerly living sphagnum moss that is found in bogs (a special kind of wetland). A plant called Sphagnum moss grows on top of the bogs and the product that is harvested is the decaying matter underneath the live plant. To get to the peat the top layer of sphagnum moss is scraped off along with the rest of the ecosystem therein.

So why is this bad?

First and foremost it takes hundreds of years for the removed ecosystem to be restored. The Canadian and US governments claim that within 5-10 years the area will be a “functioning wetland” gain and that in 25 years 90% of the flora will return. 25 years. That is a long time. The governments also maintain the don’t harvest faster than the peat grows. With the amount the US horticulture industry consumes I find that very hard to believe. There are 40,000 acres of peat being harvested in Canada. 90% of that is then shipped to US markets.

In addition peat is virtually unbeatable once it is dried out. Therefore it is shipped wet from location to location. The product is heavy and as you can imagine it takes quite a bit of fuel to ship tons of product from place to place.

If non-sustainability weren’t enough there is another impact to the environment. When it is harvested the peat releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. It is estimated that 630,000 tons of carbon emissions are emitted each year. That is the equivalent to 10,000 cars.

I understand that Mr. Bartholomew has gone to great lengths to formulate a soil mix that grows the best produce. I appreciate that. However, I can’t ignore the fact that a component in that mix does so much damage, especially when there are alternatives.

The best alternative, good old fashioned compost. It’s free, sustainable, creates no emissions and uses no fossil fuels to transport it. I am well aware that compost is a major component in Mel’s Mix. In fact, he has a great section in the book that explains how to make fantastic compost.

Another alternative is Coir. Coir is the fibery part of a coconut. Have you ever purchased a coconut in the store? It’s brown and has an almost hairy quality to it. Before that coconut arrived in the store there was an outer covering that was peeled off to expose the inner nut. The stuff that was peeled off went to make your door mat and the little bits that fell on the ground after they made that door mat are packaged up and sold as a peat alternative. The drawback of this product is that it is produced in SE Asia and is then shipped to the US. The most common manufacturer of this peat alternative is PlantBest and they are committed to fair trade practices.

I understand that Mr. Bartholomew’s book and gardening practice are centered around this particular mix that he’s created. I will also say that if you are a new vegetable gardener and you ask me what book you should purchase first I will always recommend his. What I wish is that he would reconsider the use of peat moss in his formula. I would also encourage you to think about what products you are using that could possibly contain peat. Where did you buy your potting soil? Odds are if you didn’t buy it at a garden center and ask the sales people about it, it contains peat.

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Duck Run

March 18, 2013 in Duck Farmer

I realize this is the 3rd duck post in a row, but right now we’re living all ducks all the time. We’ve moved the duckling brooder inside the back bathroom because the garage was just too cold for them. I’m hoping the wind will stop and the temperatures will come back up so they can go back to the garage.

According to my book ducklings don’t need to be under a heat lamp as long as chicks do, but they still need to be warm. My plan is to move the ducklings out to their coop with the heat lamp in about 2-3 weeks. I’ll keep the door closed to keep the heat in and then they’ll have plenty of room to grow and roam. We will also be able to let them out to wander the yard when we’re home and supervising them. The chickens have no clue what is in store for them.

It just so happens that we have an extra coop in our yard. A few years ago we raised broiler chickens. Since then the extra coop has been used as a broody hen container, new chicken run and a space to grow grass. It has always been intended to hold further hatches of broiler hens, but since the butcher closed and I’m certain that my neighbor would be pushed over the edge if I started butchering chickens in my back yard, the coop has sat vacant. Part of the deal with us getting the ducklings was that I would use the broiler coop as the new duck coop. It was perfect. It is a good size for 3 ducks, it sat on the ground, it only needed minor modifications (a larger run).

The coop and run were originally designed to fit on top of one of our raised beds. The run was constructed of UV resistant PVC pipe and chicken wire and the coop from recycled fence boards. The whole thing cost me roughly $50. I wanted a better and bigger run for the ducks so on Friday I set out to expand the run.

The first step was to disassemble the old run. I saved the PVC and the chicken wire for future use elsewhere in the garden. The chickens were in heaven since they haven’t been able to access this last bastion of green in their play yard.

You’ll be shocked at how quickly they can decimate this little patch of grass.

The space I’m working with is about 12′ long and only about 8′ at it’s widest. It narrows to roughly 5ish’. I wanted to maximize as much space as possible. I sketched out a plan and set off for BIG orange and loaded up my car with lumber (at only a 30% cost over run). I laid 12′ long 4x4s along the fence and the garden and made sure they were nice and level and then cut pieces for the front and back of the run.

I used 2x4s for the corners (the run is 6′ tall to allow my tall husband to walk into) and I used 2x3s for the side studs and cross bits. I should mention that I was doing the majority of this project along and that I’m only 5’4″ tall. It is a pretty big feat to construct something that is much taller than you are. Trust me I know.

By the end of Friday I had the whole thing framed, but had to call it a night since my family likes to eat dinner and all. We planned on working on the project on Saturday afternoon, but could only do so in fits and starts. The rain kept driving us back inside the house. Here’s how I finished up Friday night.

Saturday we got a little bit of chicken wire up on the run before the heavy rain started. I’ll have to wait until Friday to complete the project. I’m happy with the way it is turning out. It is way more thought out than the chicken coop ever was.

Tags: duck coop, ducks
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Ducklings 101

March 14, 2013 in Duck Farmer

I’ve taught Chickens 101 about 40 times over the past 3 years. I’ve gained a reputation as “the chicken lady” around town. I like chickens and I know chickens. So when I knew we would be getting ducklings I thought I should do some research into raising ducks. You know, just in case ducks are totally different than chickens.

Hey! Come to find out… ducks ARE totally different than chickens. Imagine that. Good thing I did my research. That’s using my noggin.

We ordered the ducklings from a hatchery and they arrived in the mail yesterday morning. If you order from a hatchery the post office will call you bright and early in the morning to pick up your package of peeping babies.

Brooder

Have a brooder set up in a protected location (mine is in my garage). I’m using a large rubbermaid tote with a top fashioned out of chicken wire and duct tape. Rig up a heat lamp above the brooder and line the brooder with wood shavings. The book says you can use cedar shavings, but I’m using pine 1) because that’s what I have and 2) because cedar and birds scare me. The temperature in the brooder should be less that that for chicks. 80-90 degrees is sufficient and lower the temperature 5 degrees each week.

Water

When you get your baby chicks home give them a dish of water (no food at first) with bits of tender young grass on top. Dip their bills in the water to show them where the water is. Keep the food out of the brooder for the first hour or so. They’ll eat the grass and drink the water. Make sure the water dish isn’t too large. They’ll walk through the water dish, but you don’t want it so big that they can drown. Make sure they could easily get in and out of it, but that it’s deep enough that they can dunk their whole bills into it. I’m going to switch the waterer to a chick waterer tonight since my girls really really like to get in their water. I’m concerned that they’ll get too wet and cold.

Feed

A 18-20% chick starter works for the ducklings if duck starter is not available. Make sure you DO NOT use medicated chick feed. I’m using Scratch n’ Peck chick starter for the first 2-3 weeks. After that I’ll switch to grower feed until they begin to lay. Ideally pelletized feed for older ducks is a better choice, but Scratch n’ Peck does not make a pelletized feed and there is too much calcium in the layer feed for growing ducklings.

Ten baby ducklings arrived in the shop yesterday and the person that originally ordered the ducks came in to pick up her babies. That left me with 6 ducklings to choose from. As I was closing the shop I grabbed my box and carefully picked out 3 ducklings. I wanted 3 ducklings that looked different than each other so we could tell them apart. There was a tiny little duckie that looked rather subdued so I took pity on her and placed her in my box.

I asked my son what name he wanted to name a duckie. ”Gracie,” he said. Consequently, the meek little duckling ended up being the most vocal. Meet Miss Gracie the Loud.

Then I selected a name for one of the girls (I wanted to name them all Welsh names and really liked Mariwen, but got out voted). I went with Gwendolyn. Meet Gwendolyn the Beautiful.

Since Gracie & Gwen had G names my husband thought we should go with another G name, just to be consistent. He went with Gertrude. It is not my son’s favorite name, but we each got a choice so Gertie it is. Meet Miss Gertrude the Clutzy.

I can’t tell you how much I love these little girls. We haven’t had much time to spend with them, but first thing this morning we all went out to the garage to check on them. They peep and peep and peep and splash in their water and peep some more. I’m very excited to watch them grow.

I will be updating and giving more information about raising ducks as I go along. We have some modifications to make to our duck coop so that will be the next step in the process.

Tags: chickens, ducks
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Baby Duckies!

March 13, 2013 in Duck Farmer

About a month or two ago we had a “scare” and started to suspect that I might be allergic to eggs. I say scare because when you have 6 chickens and only 2 people in your household eat eggs and you think that 1 of those people might be allergic to eggs… that puts a lot of pressure on the 8 year old to consume 5-6 eggs a day. Then we figured out that I probably just had a minor stomach virus. But in that week or so I was feverishly googling “allergic to chicken eggs, but not duck eggs.” I wouldn’t get rid of my chickens. I love the ladies, but I also love eggs. I was all set to order ducks and expand our zoo.

Hey, some people can have children… I have animals. *cough – animal hoarder – cough*

Two days after we ruled out getting ducks on account of me not being allergic to them a customer came into the shop and wanted us to order her some ducks. I was totally jealous. You see, I didn’t want the ducks just because I thought I was allergic to chicken eggs. I wanted the ducks because let’s face it. Ducks are so disgustingly cute.

I called the hatchery to add the ducks to my order and the nice lady told me no ducks were available the week I requested, but she could do Welsh Harlequins the next week. The customer just wanted a large breed flightless duck so we went with the harlequins. Of course shipping on 4 ducks is $40, but shipping on 10 ducks is $10. So I ordered 10.

That meant there would be 6 extra duckies in the shop. Extra duckies. EXTRA DUCKIES!

I just so happen to have a coop that would be perfect for duckies. It only needs a little minor run modification. Somehow it wasn’t difficult to convince my husband to agree to the duckies.

Guess what arrived today? DUCKIES!!!!

The are so horribly cute I could die. At breakfast this morning my son declared that today was BABY DUCKIE DAY!

Since I knew nothing about duck raising I purchased a book to learn more on the subject. I’m working with Storey’s Guide to Raising Ducks.

So far it has been most useful. I’ll take the babies home tonight and we’ll get better acquainted with our new family members. I’ll start sharing tips and what I learn as the girls grow (they were ordered sexed females).

They don’t have names yet, but I’m open to suggestions.

Tags: animals, ducks
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Across America

March 12, 2013 in Other Stuff

I have a confession to make. For the most part I am not a “proud American.” The American political system, food system, media, obesity problem, sense of entitlement all have me living here, but not loving it. To be really honest I’ve even explored the idea of relinquishing my citizenship and moving elsewhere. My husband on the other hand would never give up his citizenship so that means I’m stuck. This isn’t to say that we wouldn’t pack up and join the thousands of ex-pats living abroad, but we will remain forever American citizens.

Despite the fact that I’m not thrilled with many parts of America, I’ve traveled enough to know there is something truly special about this place. First of all, there is no where else in the world that I could have the complete freedom to say whatever I want and not get in trouble. The freedom of speech makes this country great. Seeing as I’m quite opinionated that is a huge bonus.

I have had the luxury of traveling and living all over the United States. We have lived in Washington, Nevada and Kansas. I have visited: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Alaska, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Montana, Iowa, Illinois, Florida and New York. I have seen some of the most incredible sights in the US. There is nothing like visiting the Grand Canyon for the first time. You drive along expecting the road to end at this giant hole and you’re talking to your friend waiting… All of a sudden you realize that you are driving along the edge of said giant hole and it is more incredible than any photograph could ever make it seem.

America may have problems that make us feel ugly or embarrassed, but there is so much good about her that it makes me thankful to be part of it.

New York photographer Brian DeFrees set out to capture what makes America great (in my opinion). He spent 55 days, traveled 12,225 and visited 32 states, all the while capturing a photograph every 5 seconds. He compiled the 200,000 photos into a 5 minute video and, if you ask me, it is incredible. Things like this make me sit back and say, “wow, I’m lucky enough to live here.” Have a look.

Tags: america, travel
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Notes from the Nursery: 3/8/13

March 8, 2013 in Notes from the Nursery

I haven’t given you an update on what is happening at the nursery in a while. I’m been so busy with my own garden I totally forgot about it.

Yesterday the potatoes arrived! That is HUGE news. We purchase our seed potatoes from a small farm in Ferndale, WA. Each year Travis makes the drive North to pick them up. This year we are carrying Yukon Gem, Russet Burbank, German Butterball, French Fingerling, Red Sunset, Yukon Gold and likely another that I can’t remember the name of. Banana Fingerlings are unavailable this year so we have French Fingerlings instead. We were also unable to get All Blues this year either. We were sad about that since this is our second year without the blues, but they’re only a novelty potato and if you ask me they aren’t all that tasty.

Today I will set the last 2 benches in place on the patio and we’ll be good to go with creating displays. If you’ve visited us this Winter you know our patio has been in a constant state of flux. In January we cleaned and stained the patio surface and did a little bit of painting. Then we built the new chicken brooder. We have new tables and a few new fixtures. The bare root fruit trees needed to be housed and then potted. The new stuff and constant moving of plants and tables has caused confusion and a huge headache. We’ve finally gotten to the point where we can make a final choice on our bench arrangement for the Spring.

Earlier this week the boys brought in some decomposed granite to fill in the spaces between the big rocks in the perennial yard. Last year we put down new rock for the area and while we used a compactor to set the rock bits and pieces have popped up and made the area quite difficult to walk on. The idea was to use the granite to filter in between the larger rocks and set it all to make the area easier to walk on. Our landscape crew didn’t do it exactly like we asked, but after some finessing they’ve gotten it to where we like it. The first thing I did yesterday morning was to dance around on it. My Dansko shoes and those big rocks were a twisted ankle waiting to happen. Now it is easy to walk on and I LOVE it!

3 tons of chicken feed arrive today. Annual color arrives today. VEGGIE STARTS! arrive today. Our first shipment of veggie starts makes its appearance. We’ve had artichoke starts and a few herbs here and there, but this is real veggie starts.

I have lots of work ahead of me today. That’s ok, the weather is supposed to be fantastic today so I’m looking forward to it.