WiseAcre Gardens

 I realized today that I should start a roadside wildflower ‘guide’. Far more wildflowers can be found along north country roads than one would imagine. Today was a good start with four wildflowers spotted in bloom.

 The first wildflower to be found was Marsh Marigold. It’s a common sight and can be found along most roads in St. Lawrence County. Today I was headed to pick up some crushed stone and took the Russel Turnpike. For me it’s a shortcut that passes through the West Parishville State Forest.  But it’s not exactly what most people would call a Turnpike.

 I finally got a decent photo of the Marsh Marigold flowers. In the bright sunlight I didn’t notice the veins in the petals. Seems these days I need things magnified in order to really see them.

 You can’t tell by the photo but these Marsh Marigolds were growing in running water.  The water will dry up soon enough and so will the plants. It’s an early bloomer and Marsh Marigold seems to go dormant far too quickly.  

 Now I have to remember to go down the hill and dig some up.  I might have a hard time digging them out of the muck with all the willow roots entangling everything but my pond garden would appreciate having something so cheerful this time of year.

Quick tip:

 -  Large trays/planter bottoms and cardboard boxes are good to place plants in and use a plastic sled to haul things you dig up but have to hike back with.

 Just down the road a bit I came across the second find of the day. The little hint of yellow I spotted turned out to be Coltsfoot. Flowers first - foliage later is the motto here. It won’t be too long before the large leaves show up.

And so ends the wildflower hunt in the State Forest. I cheated with the other two discoveries of the day. They were spotted while driving but it was from my driveway.

Scattered all through the woods in front of the house are Trout Lilies.

Last but not least is the Bloodroot I have to be careful not to step on. I had to put a log in front of the spreading patch since it’s right where I park the truck. They have gone past their prime now but a few flowers remain. Those shown are have closed for the night. I expect most will open tomorrow for the last time.

 All in all April 25, 2008 was a good wildflower kind of day. I’m only sorry I didn’t stop to photograph the wild cherry trees in bloom. But there’s always tomorrow. I need to drive in the opposite direction to pick up some sandstone and if nothing else I should be able to get a few good photos of Black Lake on my way. I’ll just try not to think about the good fishing there as I drive by.

 When I first saw the “vegetable garden” I thought it would make a perfect skating rink in winter. The previous owners had a good 12 years practicing chemical gardening. From the road their gardens always looked great. Seeing it one would wish it for themselves. That is until you got a close look. The soil had seemed to evaporate. The whole garden sat at least four inches below grade. It was in fact a rocky mess of thin mud with the subsoil only a couple inches down.

Over the last 10 years I’ve been building up the soil. Dug up sod, composted horse bedding and even foot deep layers of leaves have been piled and tilled in. In the photo you can see part of last years pile of sod left to ‘compost’ itself back to soil. (upper left)

 I may have gained 5 inches by now but the area remains a cold wet muddy mess usually well into May. Lucky for me this year everything dried out fast and I was able to get in and do some digging. After a couple of days the ‘project’ is starting to take shape. The rows run slightly downhill and will empty into a catch basin that’s not much more than a wide ditch with drain pipe covered with crushed stone. The ditch will be lined with landscape fabric and the stone will also be covered with a double layer. The pipe will eventually extend to a low spot to discharge all the runoff.

 Of course I say I’m doing this because of the poor drainage but really my wife needed a place to plant strawberries. I at least managed to get a row finished enough for her to plant. I haven’t measured it but it’s long enough to have planted 60 some plants in the fabric covered row with plenty of room for runners. If I had to guess I’d say the row was about 30 feet long. On the outside holding everything in place are 120 pots.  I figure next year they can be pulled and a new strawberry bed easily established. It might be an odd combination but this year’s plan is to plant peppers in the center of the strawberry bed.

  Who knows what the ‘front’ half of the garden is going to turn out like. I don’t but I am making steady progress. I at least got away with putting some curves into the garden.

 The Woodpeckers and Sapsuckers have returned to the area. They’ve been busy and some of the trees in the yard are showing signs of constant attention.

The sound of Sapsucker romance is in the air.  All week I’ve been listening to the steady tapping of the males sending messages of love and territory. This week the sound went from an organic woody drumbeat to a heavy metal percussion.

 The mystery of why the mailbox is always open has been solved. One bright bird brain has taken his courtship to the next level by using my mailbox. Now it’s rap, tap - bang! All day long, every day this week this courtship drummer has been pouring his heart out by beating his head against steel.

All week I’ve tried to get close enough to take a photo. Everytime I tried to get close enough he would fly off. He must have gotten used to me since I was able to get fairly close yesterday. I didn’t push to hard and took nearly a half hour to approach a little bit at a time.

As best as I can make out this is a Red-Naped Sapsucker. There are quite a few around my property. They seem to like the Basswood trees I hate so much. The soft wood must be easier to work. I know if I had to bang my head up against something for a living I’d pick something softer too. But when it comes time for love and finding a mate I guess theres nothing better than head banging a steel ‘drum’.

At this point I was only 15 - 20 feet away and moving closer every so often by inches afraid I’d scare the drummer away. I must have been standing nearly motionless for 20 minutes snapping these photos when suddenly the bird took flight. I was puzzled only for a second. Following the flight I spotted the reason right behind me. Black Jax had to come see what I was so intersted in.

I’m not sure but that looks like an evil grin on her face. I don’t know if she was thinking how tasty a sapsucker would be or if she was just pleased with herself for interfering with my photo shoot.

We hung out together but she wasn’t interested in posing so we ended up going off on our own ways. I went back to garden clean up chores and Jax had some kitty business that still needed attention. Once we left the mailbox it only took a few minutes before the sound of romance filled the air once again.

Rap, tap - bang bang bang! I sure hope it pays off for the little guy. He does have the loudest beat going on in the neighborhood. His heart is in the right spot but his head must be ringing by now. I can’t imagine any girl wouldn’t be interested by such devotion.