All I want for Christmas is Straw

Bob Bauer

September 25, 2016 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: About 1 minute

September 24, 2016

As the fall garden cleanup continues I start scoping mulch material. So far all I've found is madrone leaves and pine needles. Last year I put a 4" layer of them on some Creeping Jenny that I was trying to eliminate and the mulch was gone before I knew it. I think it would have lasted longer if I had put it on bare ground because the Creeping Jenny was full of slugs that ate it as it was dying, and then they ate my mulch..

All the grass hay that I put down this spring gave the slugs a haven and they left my plants alone. I'll need to be doubly alert this spring because I may have a plethora..

More from Efundies

There Is No Place For Antibacterial Hand Soap In the Garden

Why kill the bacteria before washing them off your hands. They have a job to do wherever they're going.

I've Gotten Tired of Picking Broccolini

It's not crop rotation because cruciferous plants should not be planted in the same spot for two years. My rows get an 18" wide by 2" thick covering of fine compost three to four times a year so the soil I'm planting in is always changing.

It's Time To Pick Out That Perfect Pumpkin

I've not always had pumpkins but I've always been able to find something to decorate. One year it was an old watermelon that refused to ripen.

You Can Mulch With Shavings

I've seen little yellow birds in the spring doing that and named them Chard Birds, but I've never caught sparrows at it before. I cut off all the large outer leaves and covered the plants with the pop up mini greenhouses I got for Christmas.

I Had To Put My Mini Greenhouses Over the Swiss Chard

I Had To Put My Mini Greenhouses Over the Swiss Chard

I Found a Wilted Corn Patch Today

90° temperatures and full sun all day so I shouldn't be surprised. Watering is becoming an every day necessity now, and I'm glad the plants can tell us when they need it.

My Garden Often Feels Like A Dissertation

An extremely complex body of work composed one word at a time. I find myself absorbing it one word at a time and letting sentences unfold.

Hands on a Pile of Dirt

I Keep Hauling My Garden Trimmings

It's much easier to trudge through the mud with the cart than try to burn wet sticks in the rain.

I got to Fish Emulsion my Crucifers Today

Plant asparagus once, and harvest it for 20 years. If everything in the garden was as easy, we'd have nothing left to do except weeding.

I've Never Had Aphids Up In the Florets of Cauliflower

They got up into the tiniest crevasses and sucked the plants juices until they got too fat to get them out. I kept breaking the head into smaller and smaller pieces and spraying them with the hose until I got down to quarter inch florets with aphid still stuck inside.

I've Always Liked Bringing the Cauliflower In

That won't be the case anymore. Each of the four cauliflower heads that I just harvested had between 6 and 10 cabbage moth cattapillers hiding up inside.

January is time to Start Seeds

I had to wear my rubber boots to check the trap in the garden. It was buried.

Try Eating the Leaves of your Broccoli

There was nothing in the water after the first rince. I don't know how long it will be before we eat them because the cook turned her nose up at them.

Green and White Bird on White Flowers

A Flock of Sparrows Dive Bombed

They were everywhere, covering all the plants, and scarifying the ground.

I Got a Fourth Planting of Lettuce

Why so much lettuce you might ask. Well, truth be known, my third planting didn't come up.

December is Time to Think About Next Years Seeds

One of the first things you learn about gardening is the importance of crop rotation, and you will try to follow it, and be destined to failure. I never have enough room to rotate effectively nor do I think it's required in small backyard gardens.

Remember What Peace There May Be In Silence

The fog has replaced the shadows, and gray is in the air. Dormancy abounds and the gardens life is muted.

No Gardening Got Done On Christmas Day

Once you get out of the house and start moving around lots of things will dispel your cabin fever. Being cold makes you want to go back in but a fire keeps you entertained.

Brown Black and Blue Bird Sitting on Brown Tree Twig

I Don't Have the Heart to Cover

The birds are voraciously fighting over them as if they are in a life or death situation.

I Cannot Believe That My Bloomsdale Long Standing Spinach

What it does have are jagged leaves from birds eating it. Either the birds are keeping the fly's that lay the eggs away, or they are eating the maggots that emerge.

The Lettuce That Got Transplanted

Shout out to fish emulsion, which always moves the plants along at top growing speed. I didn't even used to grow lettuce until my son introduced me to Deadline.

The Only Problem With the Incredible Amount of Kale

I'm going to try putting Apple Cider Vinegar on it to kill the taste. It's the jagged leafed purple and green kind that used to taste more like spjnach.

Photography of Leafless Tree Surrounded by Snow

My Youngest Son Got a Pop up Greenhouse

He doesn't want to 'pop it up' until snow is out of the forecast because he doesn't want to start his flower seeds in an igloo.

It's Time To Get Your Winter Squash

Acorn, spaghetti, and butternut squash will start to mold if they sit on the damp ground for too long. Cut them from the vines leaving an inch of stem, wipe them down with a 1% bleach solution, and put them in a cool place that doesn't freeze.

Spring is Right Around the Corner

Broken stems, missing tips, chewed spots, bent, twisted and pathetic. This was not a good year to try and get an early start.

There Are Two Foot Tall Snapdragons Growing

They are too big to transplant so I will either have to make a new trellis or plant my peas on the fence line. If I had a north side of my garden fence, that wasn't covered in grape vines, this would be fine because the majority of the peas would develop on the south side of the vines, and the deer couldn't eat them.

The Double Row of Beets

The answer is yes, but I couldn't find it. It may have gotten too brittle from all the sun exposure and I didn't save it.

Extend Your Artichoke Season

New shoots should come up now and produce a fall harvest. Around them are 4" thick flakes of moldy hay that I put down last winter under which is a teeming mass of earthworms and sow bugs.

It's Time To Make Up Your Christmas List

The stems that came out from your main plants, touched down on the ground and rooted, are called daughters. You can cut the stems and dig up the plants, replant the daughters, and double your strawberry patch.

Leggy Veggie Starts

Sometimes I intentionally "test" one theory against another, and sometimes nature forces that test on me.

Forest and Stream in Winter

I Don't Know Why Weeding

Winter gardening can be an emotional rollercoaster ride.

Merry Christmas Gardeners

I got three cloches and two pop up mini greenhouses. I can extend my gardening earlier in the spring and later into the fall.

I Trapped Another Rat In The Same Place

It was the same size too, and I'm wondering if I got two adults or two adolescents. I guess I'll find out by resetting the trap and waiting.

Snow is a Good Insulator in the Garden

All my "pretty pictures" are gone as if someone wiped the whiteboard clean. It reminds me of a moonscape and it's still coming down.

Yesterday I Discovered Baby Carrots Growing In the Shade

I had planted them in early spring and thought the slugs had gotten them. I forgot about them and some germinated, grew a bit, and then went dormant due to the lack of sunlight.

Now That the Leaves Have Fallen Off

It's much easier to see where you want to cut . I don't think there's a right way or wrong way trim them unless you're a commercial grower.

Winter Tree Pruning

The sap has retreated to the roots so there is less bleeding from the cut. It's also a good excuse to build a burn pile.

The Garlic and Onion Sets Are Already Coming Up

I'll move my mini greenhouses over them when the weather turns cold and see if we can't have chard all winter again like last year. It's been such a warm November that all the cauliflower came to head and the two rows of transplanted Brussels sprouts are forming sprouts.

Gardening Resolutions

Im'a gonna get more exercise. I think we Grampa gardeners could all get on that bandwagon.

Had a Prankster Visit the Garden Last Night

I found the zip lock bag that I keep my bar soap in shredded. Half the bar is missing and what's left is full of teeth marks.