Mole digging outside of the hardware treated raised beds
It appears as though the hardware treatment we did to two of our raised beds is working! The moles have been digging like crazy around the beds, but they don’t appear able to get in. Now I just have six more beds to dig out to treat with hardware cloth. Who wants to come help dig?
Tubes filled with orchard mason bee eggs
Now on to critters I actually like and want in my yard. On warm days, the orchard mason bees can be seen coming and going from the bee house. In between pollinating trees, they come back to the bee house, lay eggs in the tubes, and then “cement” the eggs in with mud. So far, nine of the tubes are completely filled with eggs. The bees will keep at it through June or so and I hope that all the tubes will be full by the time they die off for the season.
There are plenty of blossoms in the garden to interest the bees. Although most of the fruit trees have finished blooming for the year, the blueberry bushes are full of blossoms as are the strawberries. We also have a number of ornamental flowers in bloom right now. Let’s take a look.
Alpine strawberries in bloom
Dianthus flowers
Siberian iris
Blueberry blossoms
Shasta daisies
Daphne 'Carol Mackie'
Self-sewing pansy
Chives
It is much more fun to wander around the garden than it is to think about all the things I haven’t done yet. Again, I find myself falling behind on a variety of garden tasks. I blame softball. We’re in the thick of Lily’s first softball season and with practices and games it is keeping us pretty busy. A few things I need to do soon: Plant bean seeds, do something with my squash and cucumber seedlings, repot tomato and pepper seedlings (and find loving new homes for the extras), plant the flats of marigold and petunias I ordered from the PTA fundraiser, plant the geraniums, oh, and the list goes on. I’m going to try to remain zen about the whole thing. Gardening should be fun and a stress reliever, not a stress inducer. I’ll get done what I get done and whatever doesn’t happen will be OK.
Happy gardening!
Sandy
The 10 Year Challenge 
I noticed the little note above the picture header and was wondering how goat keeping was coming. I think I might like to get a nanny and try goat keeping, but haven’t a clue how to begin…I make my own yogurt and just might like to make a bit of cheese. Suppose my first adventure should be getting milk regularly from one of our goat dairies in the area and see if I even like making the cheese…maybe someday.
Good Zen attitude! Slow and steady wins the race and it is far more pleasurable to soak in the time you do spend in the garden rather than race about on “must do” tasks. That’s great that the hardware cloth is really working!
Admirable attitude — always let gardening reduce not induce stress! A timely reminder….
Hi Nancy,
The goats are purely pets at this point. I don’t have time to commit to a milking schedule so we haven’t done that. Maybe someday though!
Sandy
I know what you mean about the gardening to-do list. I’m going to late-sow another round of shelling peas since the first ones never came up. I’m determined to have peas. Need to weed the entire garden before anything can go in–like potatoes, cucs, tomatoes, carrots, beans, well…everything. Tonight we may get frost so there’s no planting anything outside today. The good news is that my berries are also flowering, my cherry trees are PACKED with cherries (first time in four years) and my herb gardens are doing well. I’ll have to celebrate with those and just work on the to-do list tomorrow!
I’m happy to learn that you’ve foiled your moles – for now! I think the hardware cloth did the trick.
Pingback: Gardening zen part 2, just one thing | The 10 Year Challenge