Bear, moose and owl...oh my! (and some gardening.)

May 26, 2024

 Look who ...Whoo whoo... landed in front of the "bird" trail camera..

And did a little dance....

That sturdy branch is a good spot for the owl to peruse the clearing for snacks. Elsewhere on the cameras....Momma moose and twins! They were busting along, startled by something, maybe by us, coming along the trail.....

And a bruin...

The date and time stamp on the last two pictures is obviously wrong. 

It has been a busy few days. The garden is mostly in and leaf mulch spread around the transplants right after a total of over two and a half inches of rain fell. One batch of moisture came in a torrential downpour, a little hail mixed in, with seemingly constant lightening and thunder. 

In the field garden....

In the foreground, four, four foot wide beds hold a double row of different varieties of spuds.  They took no time at all to pop up, as the soil was warm from the early heat we experienced this spring. The plan is to hill them mostly from the soil in the middle, thereby leaving a depression to put the hose in if things get too dry later in the season. Down the far side are 10 squash hills, the middle of each hill holding a couple of good shovels full of compost, and the top lightly depressed. In the middle of each one I've put a tall bamboo stake, so I'll know where to put the hose nozzle when/if watering is needed. The plan is to guide the vines off onto the grass on the far side. There are 5 tomato plants across the far end, still awaiting their mulch and supports. A bare patch in the middle is for a later planting of beans.

The raised beds are pretty much all planted, with spaces left for later plantings of carrots and greens. The bed in the foreground has a couple of rows of old bean seeds that obviously were still quite viable, and there is a row of gladioli along the side.

The pea barrels have been poking along, the willow cuttings actually trying to root, little sprouts emerging all along the stems. I keep pulling off all the sprouts, and several times have twisted and pulled the cuttings slightly, to discourage the rooting.                           

Quite a few packets of lettuce and other greens seeds are getting old, as I discovered after planting them in their planned space...and waiting and waiting...so I've planted them all out in marked rows wherever there was a bit of empty space in the raised beds, and we'll see what emerges. Next time to town, new seeds. Radishes and the overwintered spinach are keeping us in greens for now.

The bush is burgeoning with life, leaves are mostly fully out, and lady slipper orchids, star flowers and lots of other plants are blooming. The first Monarch butterfly floated across the clearing this morning, and the milkweed plants are up a good foot or so. Along the road in sunny spots, wild columbines are blooming.

All the moisture has encouraged Pheasant Back mushrooms to grow, and it seems I'm always too late for the young, tender ones.

In the fruit department, the apple trees have set fruit, choke cherry bushes are almost finished blooming, and blackberry canes are loaded with buds.

If we continue to get sufficient moisture, hopefully there will be some wild harvesting to be done.