knoernschild.org » Gardening

Dendrochronology

karl — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:04:27 +0000

May 16, 2008

May 21, 2012

Box of Bees!

karl — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:28:40 +0000

Real estate in our neighborhood is pretty hot right now, at least for the bees. There are at least three separate swarms in our neighborhood today. This particular hive, on their way to a new home, decided to swarm on one of our crabapple trees today. That would be the crabapple tree that is 10 feet away from our playground, conveniently. At least they decided to do this during school hours.

The local beekeeper came out and managed to brush many of the bees (including the queen, apparently) into a box, and the rest followed.

Box-o-bees. Would also make a lovely Christmas present.

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2 Years Later

karl — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:29:27 +0000

2 years ago today, I posted a 360 degree panorama movie of our back yard. Today I created an updated panorama for comparison. It’s amazing how much everything has grown in 2 years.

June 4, 2011
Please ignore that the grass needs to be mowed. We’re just happy it is so much healthier than it was 2 years ago. The beds are finally filling in, and the trees are maturing nicely. Many of the trees and shrubs seem to be twice as big as they were in 2009.
[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

June 4, 2009
I had just installed the playground back then, and hadn’t finished the mulch or edging around it.
[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Here also is the full 2011 panorama as a single image. Click for a larger version.

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More garden pics

karl — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:48:09 +0000

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Garden pics

karl — Sat, 29 May 2010 02:06:06 +0000

Some pictures Katra took of the garden:

Our red, white and blue planter

Bumblebee on the salvia

The plantings around the base of the new Prairiefire Crabapple tree. With the exception of the small zinnias in front, these were all moved in from other locations.

Peonies

The pergola at night

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Spring, at last.

karl — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:37:15 +0000

Some photos from our garden today:

Our robins are back, building their nest in the crabapple tree again

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Our yard, in stunning 3D!

karl — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 03:42:08 +0000

Well, maybe not, but here’s a 360 degree panorama of our back yard as of June 2009. You will need to have QuickTime installed in order to view this QTVR panorama.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Here also is the full panorama as a single image. Click for a larger version.

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The garden grows

karl — Sat, 30 May 2009 17:54:52 +0000

The irises in full bloom

The roses, just beginning to bloom, and the lavender

Katra filled the planter with annuals.

Another view of the iris bed

A white peony, just starting to open

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The yard work never ends

karl — Sat, 09 May 2009 00:19:17 +0000

We started out the day with a delivery of 2-1/2 yards of garden mix soil.

mmmmmm...... manure

Katra brought wheelbarrow loads to the back and began filling in the beds where they were still low. We never had a chance to fill in behind the new garden wall last year.

The flower bed by the pergola, before the new soil

The same bed after Katra moved some plants, installed some other plants, and filled up the beds. We still have to mulch.

During lunch and later in the day, I began widening another bed over against the east fence. We decided to do this to make the bed blend more with the play center area, and because it was too narrow in parts.

After lunch, with the sod cut back part way. If you look closely, you can see the cut line extending towards the back of the yard

The final product, with the whole bed tilled and a few plants moved in from other locations.

The sargentina crabapples are in full bloom. The smell of these flowers fills the entire yard.

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Just because we’re crazy.

karl — Mon, 04 May 2009 00:57:01 +0000

Katra and I realized we were in danger of actually finishing a few of the projects we’re working on, so we decided to add a new project. A BIG new project. For several years now, we have been talking about installing a play center (swings, slides, etc.) for Kyle and Ian in the back yard. With this year’s tax refund, we decided to pull the trigger. Costco has a new set this year made by Rainbow that fit the bill, so yesterday we rented a truck from Lowe’s and hauled home the 7 boxes (4 of which weigh 200-300 pounds each) and installed them in the half of our garage that wasn’t already occupied by miscellaneous detritus from other projects.

More screws than the crew of This Old House has installed over their entire careers

Ship's wheel, telescope, swings, etc.

The play center will be installed in a mulched area of our back yard, so we also bought some concrete blocks to do edging around the mulch.

Today we plotted out the play center area in the back yard, brought in 600 pounds of topsoil to level the area the play center will be sitting on, and dug a small trench around the play area to install the blocks in. I plotted out the play area in the computer, then we transferred the measurements out to the yard. We’re still trying to figure out to do with the sod we dug out of the trenches (anyone need some 4″ wide strips of sod?)

Incidentally, you can also see our redbud and cherry plum trees behind the play area, which are currently in glorious full bloom.

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