The Compost Bin

With all the garden chores (and indoor chores too) that I have to get done, I don't have a lot of time to relax. But every so often it's great to just take some time to lie on the ground and look up at the sky.

That reminds me, I have to bring the kids' toys inside before it rains. :)

This duck is pissed off at me. Why? Well every spring him and his wife spend a few weeks in my pool. They have a standing reservation for the time between the ice melting and before I open the pool. They swim, they sit in the sun, they order pina coladas and enjoy my hospitality. Last year we never opened the pool so they enjoyed an extended visit. This year though, the pool is a mess and that means that their little New Jersey vacation spot is closed for renovations. Sorry ducks, no refunds. While your here though, feel free to enjoy the last patch of grass that the construction crew didn't rip out.

Behold the Russian Mammoth Sunflower. Not that mammoth yet but getting there.

Yikes, those sticks that I put in the ground last year have turned into Blackberries. I'm a big fan of the Blackberry so I picked up one of those boxes from Costco that had 2 Raspberry and 2 Blackberries in it. It sat around for a month or two before I got it into the ground. I figured it was too late at that point and cursed my garden procrastination (always too much to do). But at the end of the season one blackberry plant had a couple of green leaves on it.

This year is a different story. These cane are shooting up all over the place. Since berries only grow on old wood, I'm already excited about next year's berries.

But I must build a trellis quickly before the thing is crawling on the ground and into my neighbors yard.

Nope, it doesn't quite look ready to swim in yet. :(

For the past 4 weeks we have been waiting for the pool guys to put in a new liner. It was ordered over a month ago and was delivered once already but it didn't fit properly. They said they didn't measure the stairs properly so they had to measure again and send the liner back to be adjusted. Every single day, they've said it'll be in "any day now".

It's too bad because the contractor who's doing the stone work has done a fantastic job so far but he can't finish until the pool guys put the liner in. Once the liner is done, they can install the paving stone coping and then put down the tumbled paving stone pool deck.

So to review, pool guy = no good, landscape contractor = awesome. He's gone out of his way to make the job turn out great.

Thinning Seedlings is one of the most depressing garden chores that I do. These poor little guys have to be sacrificed so that their brothers can thrive.

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the marigold seedling.

Sometimes you have to destroy your yard to make it look better. When we bought our home 5 years ago, the 1/2 acre suburban property was made up of giant overgrown hedges, shrubs, trees and lots of other wild looking things. No one had lived in the house for the previous 6 months but I don't think that anyone ventured into the yard even when people were living there. The nicest part of our property at the time were these giant rhododendrons.

Unfortunately, this is one of the few remaining rhododendrons that we kept. The pool/patio work caused us to lose a giant section of rhodo shrubs that grew into a hedge shape and were about 10-12 feet tall. It's really a shame that we had to get rid of them but the hedge was made up of about 5 shrubs that grew together and against a fence. If we separated them, we would have been left with 10 foot sticks with some leaves on top. The whole side growing against the fence was bare too.

We did move one large one that was separate from the hedge and it's doing great in it's new home across the yard. The pool contractor used a Bobcat to scoop up a root ball that must have weighed about 600 pounds. It never even showed any transplant shock.

This rhodo in the picture is the sole survivor around the pool and it has a huge bare spot (that I hope will fill out in a few years with some careful pruning).

With a yard full of critters and pests that try to eat my vegetable garden every chance they get, I was very happy to notice this new visitor.

The sun is making a special guest appearance today. After almost a full week of rain everything is sprouting, growing and flowering but I'm glad to see the sun.

After my recent experience with Beer Composting, I've decided to try composting something a little more upscale. This time I have some leftover champagne from Mother's Day so into the compost bin it goes. Cheers!

This is the year that my climbing hydrangea really takes off. I say that every year but this time I really mean it. I planted it about 3 years ago and they say that it takes a few years to get some good root development before the plant starts climbing high. So I'm hoping that this is the year. So far with all the rain it's doing great and I see about two or three inches of new growth already.

Wow, what a mess! I guess I had better start weeding my raised beds. Right now my garden plan says that this is going to be the pumpkin bed but we'll see what actually gets in there.

Here's the last of of my tulips. The daffodils are long gone too. It was a great spring for my bulbs. See you next year guys.

This Rhododendron is just starting to open. Within a week or two, all of my rhodos should be blooming. And not only will the yard will look great but that also means it’s time to get my tomato plants in the ground.

I always wait until the rhododendron bloom before setting my seed starts outside. Nighttime lows have been in the 50ies lately so I think they should be fine.

After mentioning Dandelion Wine in a recent post I received a few comments wanting to know more about it. So I asked my Dad to explain how he makes it and give a little background into how he came up with his recipe. This is what he sent me:

A while ago I went to a High School class reunion and a class mate had made some dandelion wine. He brought it in a few sauce bottles and poured a little into everyone’s glass for a taste. This was my first experience with any home made wine other than grape wine. It was delicious. I remarked so much about it he gave what was left in the bottle to take home. When I asked for the recipe, to my surprise, he said “NO”. Well being the kind of person I am I took it upon myself to produce an even better dandelion wine.

After some trial and error, and quite a of bit of reading I have come up with my own recipe and it goes like this.

Dandelion Wine Recipe
11 ounces Dandelion Flower (Petals Only)
1 Gallon and 2 cups of water
1 lb Golden Raisins
3 lbs Granulated Sugar
2 Lemons
2 Oranges
1 Banana
1 tsp Yeast Nutrient
Champagne Wine Yeast

I have found that the best way to pick dandelion flowers is with my wife or with many friends. What you can do is pick as many flowers as you can and freeze them. When you are ready to start your brew take them out of the freezer and pluck the yellow petals from the green stalk. Be sure not to use any of the green. Put the petals in either a nylon bag or a hops sack which you can get at a wine and beer making supply store. While you’re there pick up the yeast nutrient, the Champagne yeast, a one gallon jug, a fermentation trap and a food grade plastic pail. I have used both nylon bag and hops sack and they both work well. Tie the bags closed. Chop the raisins and place them in a bag or a sack also. The lemons and oranges must be peeled well with no pith (the white part) remaining on the fruit or the peel. Put all the fruit in the bags or sacks. Put the peels in a different sack. Chop the banana and guess what…put it in a sack. Just incase you’re wondering the raisins add body to the wine and the banana is for smoothness.

Place the dandelion petals the banana and the peels from the lemons and oranges into the food grade plastic pail. Boil the water and dissolve the sugar in the water. Pour the boiling water into the pail and stir. Hold aside a half cup of the liquid. Cover the pail with plastic wrap and let sit until the temperature is 70 degrees. Add the lemons and oranges squeezing them and dropping them into the must. When the half cup of liquid is also cool add to it the yeast nutrient and the yeast according to the directions on the package. When this starts bubbling add it to the pail, recover and place in a warm place for four days.

After four days rack into the one gallon jug and fit with the fermentation trap. You noticed that all the liquid did not fit. Hold this aside in a similar jug or jar. When the wine clears, in approximately 40 to 60 days, rack it to another jug leaving the lees at the bottom of the first jug. You should never rack the wine that is not clear. Use the liquid that was left over to top off the jug. Try to keep the wine full to about an inch and a half from the top of the jug. You should rack two more times before putting the wine into bottles and capping. Be sure that fermentation has completely stopped before bottling.

You should let the wine age about five to six months before tasting. In a year it will taste even better if you can wait that long.

I can not emphasize enough that all the components used in this procedure must be sterilized. The food grade plastic pail, the one gallon jug and any other containers you use.

Good Luck and enjoy.

It's been about 2 or 3 weeks since I received my Musa Basjoo (hardy non-fruiting banana) from Plant Delights and it's making good progress.

I choose the biggest pot I had as a temporary home. Once the pool contractors are done with their work I will not only have a pool that actually works but also a lot more places to plant things. At that point the musa basjoo will have a permanent home pool side for that tropical feel.

Since all banana trees are heavy feeders I filled the pot with a mixture of manure and compost. I also mulched the top to help retain some moisture. I guess this musa is enjoying his new home because there's been some growth.

It's really amazing how a few weeks ago I planted what looked like a stick into a pot and was happy about it. Even more puzzling is how much happier I am now that my stick in a pot has a leaf on it. And even better than the leaf, there is also what looks like a leader growing out of the stick now.

Hopefully by mid summer I should have a 6 foot tall banana tree by my pool. I will create some more Musa Basjoo Update posts to track it's progress.

While I'm not looking forward to digging them up every fall, these Dahlia sure are nice looking. My basement is quickly becoming a winter vacation spot all of my non hardy plants.

When most people see a dandelion, they think "weed". But ever since I bought a wine making kit as a gift for my father a few years ago, I now think "wine". He makes the greatest dandelion wine I've ever tasted. It's actually the only dandelion wine I've ever tasted but that really doesn't matter.

You take one sip and instantly you have that warm feeling inside like you just took a swig of gasoline. And none of that regular gasoline, either. I'm talking high octane. Yup, that's the good stuff.

Was there a party in my compost bin? Nope, I just found some skunked beer in my garage. I think it was leftover from our Christmas party and I must have put it in there while cleaning up. The garage got so messy this winter that the beer was buried under some junk and I didn't notice it until some recent spring cleaning.

Since my compost bin is in serious need of greens, I figured why not put the beer to good use. Now I just need some onion dip...