They're up! (sort of)

I counted 46 Fava bean sprouts -- that's about a 50% yield. This isn't balmy San Francisco so germination has been much slower.


I've found a few casualties. I'm not sure of the predators -- but jays and squirrels "handle" everything in the ground. This was the first sprout. It's been nibbled on for the past week and now it's been cut clean in half.


I planted alternating rows of 3 and 4 seeds. It's rare to find more than 2 sprouts to a row.


I'll broadcast red clover to fill in the gaps. They're very hardy and easy to plant. Here are the sprouts from about 10 days ago.


Now I read that folks are starting the Fava beans indoors and planting the seedlings!!

Meanwhile the colors continue. The Parrotia Perska is the yellow tree in front of the maple with the red burning bush underneath.


The maple is a Red Sunset maple. How appropriate.

Better than TV

Today's project was to enlarge the "circle" under my infamous tree in the front yard -- that everyone admires, but nobody knows what it is.


With a lot of bending and crawling and shoveling I laid down a layer of newspaper, a layer of wood chips and a layer of compose. It's called lasagna gardening. We'll see.


The blue jays thought I did it just for them! After all that work I could hardly move. I took a shower and then brought out my camera, blankets and my La Fuma recliner. I felt like I was in my own personal park.


The last rays of evening sunlight warmed me and lit up the orange-red barberry shrubs while the chickadees flitted in the branches and supped from the bird bath.

Here are two Black-capped Chickadees and an Oregon Dark-eyed Junco:. (this is the better than TV part)

Compost!

A few months ago I got myself a garden chipper/shredder from Craig's List. I'd read that shredded leaves compost a lot faster. (It also greatly reduces their volume!)

Here's my little 5HP MTD "Yard Machine" shredder.


It was quite messy. The shredded material BLASTS out with great force and has to be captured and contained. I used a tarp and a large shipping box. About 60% went where I wanted. I was able to rake up the rest.

Here's my compost pile:


It's just a pile now -- that I cover with a tarp. I may eventually build an actual bin.

Uh, about that garage ...

OK, I always knew this but ... upon closer examination, it's pretty discouraging.

When a hot car motor cools off, those vapors from the engine contain all kinds of carcinogens - most notably benzene. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our gasoline comes from the Alaskan North Slope and "has double the benzene content of gasoline sold in other parts of the country and three times the amount allowed in California". Yikes! Oregon Toxics Alliance ; Wired

An attached garage can be a cesspool of toxic fumes that enter your home and are absorbed by the interior carpets and wood. Nature, March 9, 2000, Grist

Yuck! Looks like my car's gonna be back on the driveway and the door between my house and garage thoroughly weather-stripped and the common walls and outlets thoroughly sealed.

Just Add Wind ...

sunrise: 7:45 AM
sunset: 6:00 PM

My dogwood was the first to go. All the leaves were on the tree in the morning, but by afternoon ... 90% were on the ground. It was a breezy day.

This picture was taken AFTER I'd raked up the gutters and my neighbor's lawn -- both of which were solid red.


When it comes to raking leaves there are no boundaries. The leaves on your lawn may be from the next block.

Frosty Mornings - Toasty Car

This is what greeted me when I came home from my morning walk.


The temps have been dropping down to freezing at night. But there's no frost on my windshield because my car's in my NEW GARAGE!

The painters came back last Monday and had the whole place primed, painted and cleaned up in about 5 hours. (If I'd done it (by myself of course) it would have taken a week!)


Now all I have to do is whittle away at the pile of STUFF in the middle. A few dump runs, Craig's List postings and some shelving should do the trick


Like the parting of the red sea, I've hollowed out a channel for night-time and rainy-day housing of my car.


You get a star if you noticed the WASHINGTON plates! (got a license too -- no test required)

Fall's a-happening

sunrise: 7:39 AM
sunset: 6:10 PM

We lose 92 minutes of daily sunlight between October 1 and October 31. There are great web resources for sun and moon rise/set and all sorts of twilight times.

Too bad smells can't be transmitted over the web. It is intoxicating to be outside this time of year!


It's kind of like spring in reverse. Folks talk about sitings of especially splashy colors.


My dogwood is just beginning to drop its leaves.


I can't resist raking them up ... even though I know there's a whole tree-full yet to drop.


This Witch Hazel Arnold Promise is still in the pot, but putting on quite a show.


The birch are nearly entirely yellow now.


Even the hostas (pronounced like 'hostages' - not 'hostess' as was my inclination) are turning.