Hi friends! How is your weekend going so far? Whatcha doing? What’s on the docket for tomorrow?
I spent a solid 2 hours doing yard work earlier, so that was pretty exhausting. Also I went to Lowes and got several bags of potting soil for some new planters and that’s always fun to wrangle around.
Anyone got experience using blood meal or bone meal to discourage rabbits? I have some real chunks in the back yard and the actual warren is on the neighbor’s property and based on how much they don’t care about their fucking invasive honeysuckle going everywhere (including my back yard) I don’t think they care about bunnies.
I planted some tulips today in the front yard. This will be summer #3 in this house. Asshole who bought the house from the old lady before me and flipped it sodded over her garden area, so summer #1 was “oh fuck there’s plants coming up??! YES FREE PLANTS!!!” and I planted a few perennials (after the few bulbs came up, before I realized there were a few stubborn perennials she had left behind, too). Summer #2 was “oh fuck some more stuff came up over there???” and I dug up and moved it to the front area, too. I would love it if just a ton of crocuses, hyacinth, tulips, and lilies bloomed in the front garden area. Then the coral bells and rose mallow and the swirly green stalk things that I can’t figure out all come in after the bulbs are done!
Tomorrow I’m gonna sow radishes and plant the lettuce, spinach, and pak choy I bought last weekend.
I’m in awe of anyone who knows a thing or two about gardening. I wish I learned from my mom (she lives on the other side of the continent). I didn’t think it was cool when I was a teen. My loss.
I went on a 2hr urban hike with my 3yr old. She is highly food motivated and was promised her first ever waffle if she walked the whole way. This might become our Saturday morning routine.
Wow! Good for you! No way could I get my 3 yr old to cooperate with a 2 hr walk. Even for a waffle.
I did have to carry her for the last 20min of the hike. Her waffle was done and I had no more treats left to bribe her with.
How did she like the waffle?
She loved it! I was totes jelly because I’m on a restricted diet again due to kiddo #2 developing eczema and requiring us to do an elimination diet.
We drove 5 hours today to check out schools for my daughter. Walked one today & very impressed but official tour not til Monday. Beautiful city around the school but pretty much Trump country off campus & mostly unmasked individuals walking the parks but everyone on campus masked up. Long weekend ahead, lots of driving & walking
Never dealt with bloodmeal to discourage rabbits. Just used rabbit guard fencing and that always worked for us.
Today I did just a little more than diddly squat. I need to get as many lazy Saturdays in as I can before the planting season starts in earnest.
Tomorrow I will keep plugging away at editing the family cookbook while watching the X-Files.
What an awesome routine! I love it!
The only effective thing my parents used to keep out rabbits was getting a Doxie. She hated rabbits and once in a while caught one. My mom was upset when the Doxie proudly brought her a dead rabbit. My dad called her (the Doxie) Killer after that.
As for my weekend routine… dealing with going from nights to afternoons which is a hard transition to deal with as my sleep is completely screwed up for the next 4 days. Hard to do much except laundry and some cleaning.
I just need stuff to get taller than about 8 inches. Then they can nibble if they want but I need things to grow enough first!
I think dogs or physical barriers like butcher talks about are the only reliable option. Scent based stuff might slow them down a bit, but when they’re hungry they’ll still go to town.
Well the neighbor’s dog ain’t scaring them away and I’ve got no clue how to lay a fence to keep rabbits out.
It’s actually pretty simple–and I say that as someone with zero sense for building shit. All you need is a roll of rabbit guard fence (the kind that has lots of smaller holes at the bottom with the holes gradually getting larger near the top) and enough sturdy wooden stakes to hammer into the ground (I recommend using a one-handed sledge, or getting a friend to help who might have a two-handed sledge). For one of our gardens, we actually just used a bunch of relatively straight tree branches. Once your perimeter of stakes is buried at least 7-9 inches in the ground, then run the fencing around them, with the bottom of the fence flush with the ground, using a staple gun to fasten the fence to the stakes as you go.
If you’re having woodchuck problems, then I suggest actually using something more like chicken wire, and bend the bottom 7 inches or so to make an L shape with the fencing. Put the bottom of the L shape along the outside of the perimeter, stapling to the stakes as you go, and then lay cinderblocks on the fencing all around the perimeter. We did that with one of our gardens and never had another problem with the woodchucks.
You don’t need to bury it? I thought you would need to bury it down a few inches at least because rabbits can dig?
We’ve never had a problem with it just being flush with the ground. If your garden is an open square, then you can put the fence just inside the dug-out part of the ground to get it below the grass line.
I got my first ever covid test today. I don’t think I have it… But my husband and I both have mildly sore throats and I figure better safe than sorry. The test was quick and easy, and not the brain-swabbing type I used to hear so much about. I opted for the highest sensitivity sent-to-a-lab PCR test, so now we have to wait…
Other than that, we spent a good deal of the day playing with play doh. Lil needed to make all the planets and dwarf planets. Yesterday was spent making all the planets and dwarf planets from felt. He’s also starting to show some interest in dinosaurs, which is a nice reprieve from the constant planet talk of the last month.
If the kid is getting into dinosaurs, search for fossil hunting opportunities in the area. When my kids were younger we used to go on day trips where it was easy to find fossil shells and coral and the occasional fossil shark tooth. It’s a good way to spend a day even when the fossils are from a completely different era.
Great idea! I did a quick search and found a few sites not far from us, where people have found trilobytes and such. Cool, we might try that once the snow all melts.
An easy indoor fossil activity:
Make salt dough and portion them into small cookies (salt, flour, water)
Use dino figurines to make foot prints and full body prints
Bake them
Put them in a low rimmed tray and cover in oatmeal
Provide kiddo with a basting brush/paint brush and the dino figurines and have them search for fossils, dust them off, and match them with the toys
seconding what @bluedogcollar suggested. especially with the help of the internet, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a reasonably local spot for amateur fossil-hunting. Even if it is just brachiopods or crinoid stems, it’s still pretty cool
Did laundry and a few chores. After Fanny’s play time with the wandering dog last evening I decided to risk the dog park this morning. Where she promptly crashed another pup’s birthday party, lol. She played and ate whipped cream and treats. I got my vaccine appointments next month and maybe I can get back to regular dog park outings. She’s such a social dog.
Quiet weekend here…had to dodge a panicked deer yesterday that managed to get itself stuck in the garden…so that was fun
Currently having coffee and pistachios for breakfast then I’ll probably wander off in to the woods…see if the hermits little hut is still out there
(Dude died about twenty years ago but things change slow out here)
Lazy Saturday here, hoping to get some stuff done today. Yesterday I watched all ‘The Investigation’ episodes to date. Monday is the final episode, usually I am knitting and not really paying much attention when I watch TV, yesterday I really watched and found myself crying. Watch if you have the chance but it is very unsettling.