Posts in: Gardening

Projects update: F150 and gardening

A few small tasks completed on the F150 this week: Sticky tailgate handle just needed some WD-40. Bolts for the tailgate mechanism access panel are marinating in Evaporust. Door panel clips replaced on the passenger side. Door striker replaced on passenger side. I had hoped that replacing the door striker on the driver side would fix the not-fully-shutting problem. It didn’t. Looks like it may be that the door hinge pin and bushing are worn out, making the door sag.

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Today in the garden

Garden phlox is always one of the first things to bloom: Bleeding Hearts. This is a plant passed down through three generations of women in my wife’s family: Lilacs are just starting to bloom. In the next day or so there will be enough for me to harvest for syrup. Honeysuckle. This was one of my requests for the garden because I associate it with summer in my childhood. We got this gooseberry three years ago but it never seemed to take off for its first two years in our front yard.

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A neighbor cut down what appeared to be a perfectly healthy, mature maple on Tuesday. In response, Rachel is planting three serviceberries and one juniper. Answer foolish destruction with a quadruple investment in future life.

Signs of life all over the yard!

Blooms on the lilac bush:

Native honeysuckle

Rachel transplanted the gooseberry bush last year because it seemed to be struggling. Looks like it survived the move.

Doing some work in the garden today, topping up raised beds with fresh soil. We pulled the last of the overwintered carrots, plus a close-up of those beautiful early crocuses.

We just had a northern flicker at our suet feeder! First time we’ve seen one of those around here. Didn’t get a good picture, unfortunately. I was surprised how big it was. It was standing its ground with the starlings.

One of the highlights of the late season here in the garden is the woods purple. It’s also one of the originals from when we first started in 2020. It almost glows in the sunshine.

One of the best things about our garden this summer has been these galia melons. They’re apparently a cross between honeydew and cantaloupe; they’re straightforwardly sweet, eliminating that slightly off taste of cantaloupe. And they’re so pretty!

Rachel and I have spent much of the day cleaning up around the juniper trees at the back of the garage. Looks much better now. Also, I harvested a lot of berries from the trimmed limbs and I’m currently dehydrating them for incense. Smells so good in here!