For the past week or so we've been hearing noises in the house, noises that suspiciously sounded like rodent noises. Friday as I was standing in the kitchen rolling up egg rolls I caught a glimpse in my peripheral vision of a little mouse as it ran past me, out from under the stove and into the dining/living room. Dammit. We had mice last winter too. I still had two traps (I've never had luck catching mice with a live trap and I think glue pads are cruel, if I have to kill them to rid the house of them I want the death to be instant) so I baited the traps and set them out in the little paper bags, one beside the stove and one under the secretary in the living room. Caught one Friday night and another Saturday night.
Sunday was much warmer, high 50˚s, partly cloudy but I got out there and dug up the clump of dietes iris and moved it to its new location on the other side of the driveway where I hope it will get enough sun to bloom. When I say I moved it to its new location what I didn't do was dig a hole and settle it in, I just dragged it over to where I want it and left it like that. Maybe next week I'll dig a hole for it, maybe not. This is the second time I have dug it up to move it. The first time it was crowding two rose bushes so I dug it up and dragged it over about 5' and left it there. Didn't phase it a bit, it settled right in and kept growing. I divided a section off it for one of my neighbors and have another handful of loose ones that I'll plant over at the shop.
after
And I uncovered everything and it all looks good, even the porterweed which I think is still green at the ground.
Years ago, before Harvey and the flood, back when I had great plans for a food garden and fruit trees over at the shop yard I bought three blueberry bushes, dug up a triangular section of grass and lined it with bricks and laid down weed cloth, cut holes in it at the points of the triangle and planted my bushes then covered the whole thing with mulch. They did great for a couple of years, then the flood and eventually neglect. Haven't gotten any blueberries in years, one of them died and the other two have been struggling and may also be dead. The grass has taken over the triangle, my bricks buried.
Today I excavated the bricks. As you can see, it's a sunny day.
Now I need the truck to pile them into to bring them back over to the house where I'll use them in the front. Before I can do that I have to torch the burn pile so that I can empty the truck of the previous weekend's tree trimming.
Off to yoga which I desperately need as I still have not started back on my home routine.
I am looking forward to some warm days ahead to start planting here I brought lots of bulb and tubers and even dug up an entire peony. I am so content playing in dirt!
ReplyDeleteAt this point here, still with ice and today snow flurries, planting and hauling stuff around outside is still a future thought. A nice one. I'll keep up my exercises do ss to be ready.
ReplyDeleteYou have such a big yard, a lot of work.
Yes, when the snow melts...
ReplyDeleteSuch a bummer to see a mouse in the kitchen. When we lived in the Sierra foothills we would have a few interactions with those furry beasts. We tried a "have a heart trap" for catch and release. It worked pretty well. Our kitty cat would catch them as well and not release them until they were good and dead. I hope you don't see anymore of those critters there.
ReplyDeleteHope that yoga was perfect in every way.
By this afternoon, I was working in a cotton shirt and jeans. Good heavens, it felt so nice! My earliest memory is of my mother dealing with a mouse under the kitchen sink. I still was in my high chair, but when I described the kitchen, and all the details later, I was exactly right. I could "see" it all, like a photograph -- even the clock, which showed 8:15 in the morning, and the red-rimmed dishpan mom threw over the mouse!
ReplyDeleteMy word! That's one determined plant!! If all plants had that determination, I wouldn't have a dead rose bush in the pot out front. :/ I overfed the three rose bushes and two survived. I'll need to head to Home Depot while it's still bare root rose season.
ReplyDeleteI have plants like that too. Many of the things I pull up I have to burn or they'd take over from where I dumped them.
ReplyDeleteI know we have mice too. Two cats and we have mice! We gave the cats a little lecture last night about their poor job performance but I don't think they were paying attention.
Glad the porterweed and the other plants apparently survived. (Well, except the blueberries!) Sorry about the mice. We haven't had any rodents in a couple of years, knock on wood, but I know what a nightmare they can be.
ReplyDeleteYou & Steve Reed working out in the yard - I watch curiously but am not motivated to do the same. We did take down our Christmas decorations though!
ReplyDeleteGive your blueberries another chance. They like bit of attention as in compost and company as in at least two plants together. I have moved ours around a lot and they seem to be happiest in semi shade.
ReplyDeleteI think mice will survive us humans
My mother was good at moving plants and throwing them where she figured they would live better. She hardly ever planted anything in the ground. She was born in Hawaii so she's good at that. Just throw seeds or plants where you want them to be and they will grow. If you dig a hole and throw nutrients and fertilizer in the hole and then gently put the plant into the hole and cover around it with soil, the bitch dies.
ReplyDeleteAll that physical gardening work and yoga, too! My hat's off to you.
ReplyDeleteI'm coming back because I forgot to thank you for pointing out that glue traps are hideously cruel and you won't use them.
ReplyDeleteYes! Yoga. I like being a tree and a mountain and a flamingo and a lotus and a dog and a lion and a child and even a corpse.
ReplyDeleteYou move on a grander scale- I have house plants out of control, Today i said fock it and tossed the really ragged ones, trying to keep them alive in the dark is just not working.
ReplyDelete