Dirt Therapy

A few months ago I was one of the winners of a photography contest held by Fine Gardening . I was really excited about the prize - a Wingscapes Timelapse PlantCam . It arrived Friday and after reading the instruction manual, I was even more excited about using it. The weather has been fantastic this weekend - our warmest since Thanksgiving - so even though more pressing chores needed to be done, I had to try out the camera. The instructions sounded a bit complicated but then, you have to know me. I'm not good at putting things together and I'm terrible at deciphering instructions. Michael says that I don't have common sense. I'm not going to argue with that! Anyway, it turned out to be much easier than I expected with one exception (and after hearing it, you'll know Michael is right). You go through a menu and set various things for the camera to do - the most important being the time lapse interval. There are 11 different time lapse settings, from 30 seconds to 1 d...

Today was our "winter break" holiday so I had the day off. Fortunately, for a change, the weather was really nice. It was sunny and temperatures got up into the 50s. I worked on installing the last bit of edging around the dwarf mondo grass beds in the front garden. Before... and after... I also transplanted a rose. Beautiful Marie Pavie has always been quite beautiful along the fence on the north side of the property. However, things change. You can see how it looked a few years ago in the link but the past few years, she has suffered from less sunlight and crowding from the evergreens planted nearby. I decided to move her to the front border outside the fence in front of the house. When transplanting, dig as much of the rootball up as you can and try to keep it intact. If the rootball crumbles and falls apart (which often happens), just mound a cone of soil in the planting hole and spread the roots down over it, like you would when planting a bareroot rose. Dig your hole i...

Last September, I posted an entry about a situation with our hydrangeas where entire stems were dying mysteriously. I thought I had identified the problem as mushroom root rot after reading the Alabama Extension Agency's fact sheet on hydrangea diseases. Well, it turns out, I was wrong! I am a blogger (and librarian for heaven's sake), not a professional botanist, but it pains me to disseminate false information. I'm here to correct the situation! Earlier in the week, our local Master Gardener's association held their monthly meeting and featured a wonderful speaker, Lisa Barnett , from the American Hydrangea Society . She had the same problem with her hydrangeas and a colleague sent a sample to an expert at the University of Georgia who identified the culprit as a borer - the Black Twig borer, Xylosandrus compactus (a cousin of Ambrosia beetle, Xylosandrus crassiusculus). Lisa thinks the droughts of previous years contributed to the problem and weakened the shrubs, ma...

I've written before about how much I've enjoyed the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. I've tried many of the recipes in the book and I've loved them all. The recipe that I've made the most is the "Lemon Lemon Loaf" that appears on page 41. It is infused with a lemon syrup and either with or without the glaze, it is heavenly. Lemon Lemon Loaf (from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito) Makes 2 loaves For the cake: 1 1/2 cups cake flour 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp baking soda 1 tsp salt 2 1/4 cups sugar 8 large eggs, at room temperature 1/4 cups grated lemon zest, from about 4 lemons 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature 2 tsp pure vanilla extract For the syrup: 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice 1/3 cup sugar For the glaze: 2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted 4 to 6 Tablespoons fresh l...

This weekend is the Great Backyard Bird Count , an event sponsored by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Audubon Society. Participants are asked to take 15 minutes or more any day from Feb. 12 - 14 and observe what species of birds are in your garden (or whatever location you choose). You submit your report to them online and they use the data to study where the birds are located, migration patterns, etc. It is easy, fun and really only takes a few minutes to submit the report. There is still a day left if you haven't done it yet! I took about 40 minutes this morning and observed birds from every window in the house and walked around the garden for about 15 minutes. In all, I observed the following birds: Sparrow (not sure what kind!) - 21 Goldfinch - 12 House Finch - 7 Tufted Titmouse - 4 Dark Eyed Junco - 4 Mourning Dove - 4 Robin - 3 Carolina Chickadee - 2 Mockingbird - 2 Cardinal - 1 That is a total of 60 birds and 10 different species. I also saw a new bird this year, the dark...

I've been counting birds for the Bird Count and I don't know who this little fellow is. I know some of you out there can tell me. :) Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Snow is an event that is hard to predict here in north Alabama. When the weather people forecast it, nine times out of ten it doesn't happen. When they don't mention it and you are unprepared for it, watch out. This morning was a perfect example. The only snow in the forecast is for Friday. No mention whatsoever for a possibility today. This morning it started sleeting and snowing before I headed to work. I skidded several times driving to work, a scary experience. It was too late for the University to close the school so they just sent out a caution to be careful. The snow came down in buckets. Michael was at home and he took these photos. I thought he did a great job. We got around 3 inches! The University closed at 11am because "another wave" was expected this afternoon. Now the weathermen say it will just be rain! Too funny but I guess better safe than sorry. Michael loves it and says it is an early birthday present for him (his birthday is tomorrow). Text and pho...