What's Happening in Our Yard Today?

Amazingly, the asparagus have gotten really tall and are turning into ferns. I couldn't have anticipated how weird this vegetable is...

Our neighbor up the hill looks like he's trying to trap a critter. He has complained about groundhogs, so we think our little raccoon friends are not the target of this trap. We've seen a very large groundhog hanging around the big rock for a couple of years, so I think he's winning this battle...

This is a lovely bunny I saw hanging out on the hill (thankfully, far away from the trap) right before both of me feet flew out from underneath me and I landed flat on my back. The bunny took off and I'm fine, but will not go running around the back yard in my dress flats ever again.

Monkey's Fluff...

....Runneth Over

Cozy Ducklings

It was a rainy morning in Wayne County today and Momma Duck tried to keep her babies dry and warm. Will she get all 13 ducklings under her warm feathers? Watch to find out!

Duck Babies

This is the second year that we a duck family in the courtyard at Wayne College. At any point in the day you'll find a bunch of Wayne College staff hanging out in the hallway watching the family walk around. We're all pretty enchanted...

Portrait of Princess Buttercup

It's the amazing Buttercup!

Happy 10th Birthday, Wilson Duda!

On Sunday the Duda clan gathered to wish Wil a happy 10th birthday.

C.S.A. Salad

Okay, most folks who know me know that one of my new passions is for supporting locally grown produce and community supported agriculture (CSA). If you weren't believers before, take a look at my salad below:

I challenge anyone to walk into a grocery store and find such lovely produce. Basically, you need to either grow it yourself, or know someone who will grow it for you. Thankfully, Working Gardens is right down the street on Hankins Road. Mixed greens, herbs, radishes in a rainbow of colors, and edible flowers... Priceless!

Spring Landscaping Project

I have a few ongoing gardening / landscaping projects and it seems like they evolve every year. The slope in front of the house is still a work in progress as the phlox and other ground covers start to fill in, and we're adding some of the larger rocks that were found when the deck was being built.

Earlier this year I added a couple of hardy dedicuous azaleas and moved the more tender azaleas behind the deck where they seem much happier. Below is the slope in the front of the house:

Here are the azaleas I moved earlier this year. This picture doesn't do them justice. The color is really striking in real life:

In the front of the deck the plants I transferred in the fall seem to be making themselves at home. The hostas I planted here were all split from two very large plants where the deck extension now is:

I'm also replacing the plants that were trampled during the deck project and adding some shade-loving plants. Today we stopped by the Sandbrink's plant sale and picked up a few very nice plants. I know this spot looks fairly sunny, but once the oak tree's leaves fill in it's a nice shady spot.
One of my bleeding hearts made it through the trampling of the deck construction, so I added another bleeding heart, black cohosh (hey, aren't you supposed to use that for hot flashes?), and a very pretty little Solomon's seal plant. I also couldn't resist picking up a small peony plant, but I planted that one in full sun out front.

Back in the front of the house the little island garden seems to be settled in nicely. If I only knew a few years ago that lamb's ear spread this well I never would have bought so much!

Next project... Mulch. Hey isn't the gift for the 5 year anniversary decomposing tree bark? Very romantic.

Spring veggies

The onions I planted a while back are coming in nicely...

And the potatoes are also sprouting.

Looks like the season is off to a good start! My radishes are also starting to break the surface, but still have a while to go.

I also got an early first installment from my CSA this season. This week I received a nice bunch of radishes, salad greens, cilantro, and some lovely edible flowers. Scott still has three shares left over for this year's CSA as of this morning if anyone is interested.

A couple of finches have made a nice cozy home of the birdhouse in the back yard.

I can't imagine why any bird would think this was a good place to live...

While I was exploring the nest, mom and dad were keeping a watchful eye on me...

I didn't see any babies, but there's quite a substantial nest started. I'm sure babies will be in there soon...

So Very Proud...

It's so hard to believe... I actually have asparagus growing!!! I can't believe those alien-looking crowns are actually turning into asparagus.

Below is our little patch, which doesn't look like much is going on:

Until you look really closely:

(Yeah, it's really hard to see, but it's there!)

Okay, it's not much. And I can't harvest any of them until next year... But it really made my day today!

So proud…

I don’t know what it is about growing something from seed, but it really makes me happy. Probably because it just seems so impossible...

This year I invested in some new seed starting materials from Gardeners Supply Company. I purchased eight APS-12 seed starting kits along with germinating mix. Last year I purchased a tabletop grow light system, but unfortunately only one of the bulbs works now. (Yes, we tried putting in a new bulb, it’s really dead.) Thankfully, the one bulb seems to be doing the trick.

Here’s what the kits look like before they are filled with the soil:

And here they are after I’ve planted my seeds:

And here they are today:

I now have seedlings started for several tomato varieties, cucumbers, red sweet peppers, Brussels sprouts, and herbs. I started them a bit late this year, but they seem to be coming along fine. A few couple more weeks inside then I will be starting the hardening off process. I’m pretty sure we’ll have at least one more freeze, so I’ll wait until the middle of May to plant these guys out.

Earth Day Surprise!

When I came home from work this afternoon, look what was waiting for me on the front porch!

It's a box of asparagus roots I ordered over the winter. I'm so happy they have finally arrived and we should have wonderful weather this weekend. What a way to celebrate Earth Day!

Here's what they look like:

There are 25 plants in the box, which will fill out my new bed nicely. In about two years I'll hopefully have plenty to share.

Dad's truck...

This past Tuesday Dad hit a patch of ice on Rt. 30, and probably would have driven away with some mud splattered on the truck, but unfortunately another car decided to follow him into the median, obviously at a high rate of speed.

We are so grateful that Dad is home today after several intense days at the hospital. The folks in the Emergency Room and the ICU department at Affinity Massillon Hospital are top notch. Also, we're so grateful for the Perry Township Fire Department and their fantastic EMTs. We hear that they thoroughly enjoy using the jaws of life. So, Dad's truck quickly turned into a convertible. Or does his truck now have a sun roof? Either way, they were able to get my Dad out of the truck and to the hospital and we're so thankful that this is a crash that ultimately he was able to walk away from (after 4 days and with the assistance of a walker, but who's judging?)

This was at one time a very nice 2003 Ford Ranger. We'll miss it very much...

Dad ended up trapped in the truck, laying on the passenger side door after the truck flipped onto its side. His feet were up toward the driver's side door when they got to him. (Fortunately he doesn't remember the impact). The EMTs cut open the roof and peeled it back to get him out.


We can't really figure out what happened during the accident... The damage really doesn't add up with just one other car, but there was a guardrail involved, too, so maybe that caused some of the damage.


Jen and I went to the tow company lot to get Dad's belongings out of the truck. Since both doors were not operable, my only option was going through the bed and then through the back window.

The air bags didn't deploy until the other car hit the truck. Looks like they worked as they should, but there's lots of extra bruises.

Lots of glass everywhere... and I mean everywhere! We were able to find almost all of Dad's personal belongings, but I wish we could have found his glasses. For now he's stuck wearing his safety glasses from work. Not very stylish, but they work in a pinch.


So can anyone blame me for breaking into hysterical laughter when I think about the insurance company asking me about which parts of the truck could be salvaged? Eventually all parties involved agreed that the truck was a total loss.

And of course the best news of all, Dad's expected to be fine after some time. Thanks to everyone who wished him well and prayed for him this week. It will be a while before Dad's back to his normal self, so we appreciate everyone's support through this stressful week.

Oh, and did I mention that it appears the other driver was uninsured? (More hysterical laughter is ensuing... Yes, we're all a little punchy.) "1-800.... Safe auto... Pick up the phone... The call is free..." Come on, everyone! Sing along....

Working on the Gardens

This weekend we purchased a small cultivator to get to work on the new portions of the gardens. We thought that we would probably need to rent a tiller a couple times a year, so it made more sense to get a small one, and we were able to find a little electric model that won't take up too much precious space in the garage.

Last fall I covered the area between the existing garden and the shrubs along the side of the garage with newspapers (about three big stacks of Buchtelite newspapers from the college) and soil from my container gardens, adding about another 100 square feet. We also created a new patch up the hill for the asparagus patch. Then all was covered with chopped up leaves. (We had plenty of leaves for the project!)

Below is the start of the asparagus patch before Richard tilled it today.

Here's what the extended garden looks like from the top of the hill behind our house:

Richard used the cultivator to turn the new section over. The newspaper really did the trick to kill the grass so we didn't need to pull up the sod this year.

Here's Richard totally over-acting. He wanted the world to know that he worked very hard today!

But really, it was quite a job. We now have lots of buckets of rocks. As we found out last year, our soil is primarily clay and rocks. Really big rocks.

Our next project is to spread the cow manure on the new portions of the gardens, but we'll spare you all the pictures of that!