My theory that the early gardener gets the groundhog has paid off — look what was in the live trap this morning! Hello Mr. Groundhog! This healthy specimen was released where he won’t bother anyone.

Groundhog Problems

For the past couple years there has been somewhat of a groundhog problem at Meadowwood (Meadowwood is the entire property, Meadowwood Garden is just the vegetable garden…). One or more families have taken up residence in the woods next to the house. There are several holes under the shed there, and just last week I found a large colony of holes further down the treeline.

Two years ago one enterprising fellow even dug a hole under the back deck directly at the back door! And late last year another hole appeared under the front porch. Basically these little furry creatures are getting a little too close for comfort!

I’ve been asked why I don’t just let the little critters live wherever they want. A couple reasons come to mind: property damage and disease. A good example of the former is the hole I found under the front porch. As rain enters this hole it will erode the den and eventually could lead to a collapse of my entire front porch! Same with the holes under the shed.

As for disease, I’m mostly concerned about rabies or diseases Zoe can contract from feces, such as heartworms. Last year a groundhog ran straight at me! A couple that I’ve trapped were mangy and looked very unhealthy, so one never knows what they could be a carrier for.

The Plan this Year

One of the problems with groundhogs is where there are one, there are many! They are very fertile and have large litters. Once the babies grow up they tend to move to an area close by and dig their own burrows. This leads to more damage, etc.

Over the past two years I have trapped about 15 groundhogs total (and about as many raccoons — which are another story!). In spite of my efforts they keep getting closer and closer to the house — and that is simply not an acceptable place for them to be. So this year I decided to trap early, and trap often. My idea is to trap as many as possible just as they wake up from winter hibernation and before they have a chance to breed.

How to Trap Groundhogs

This has turned out to be the easy part. I purchased a live trap a couple years ago — they are made of wire and are easy to set up (you can see it in the photo above). Turns out groundhogs like apples, so for bait I buy old apples from the grocery store. Cut the apple in half, place it in the trap, put the trap next to a hole and usually the next morning you will have something in it.

As the season wears on they seem to become wary of the traps. When that happens I stop placing them for a week or so and often as soon as I start up again I will get one or two.

At some point I want to write-up a more extensive post about how to control these furry fellows. Until then I will keep everyone updated as to my eradication efforts!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

First Groundhog of the Season

My good friend Pam at PurrfectPlay has teamed up with three other green-friendly businesses to offer a school fund raising option called EcoSimpleFundraising. They offer environmentally-friendly sustainable products you will love integrating into your everyday life.

If you are looking for a unique fund raising option please visit EcoSimpleFundraising today!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

EcoSimpleFundraising Offers Green School Fund Raising

About a week ago I ran a red light downtown while picking up my brother. This wasn’t a case of it being a close call or anything like that – I sailed through a light that had probably been solid red for a minute! I had no idea it happened until my brother shrieked, “RED LIGHT!” at the top of his lungs as I sailed through the intersection without looking.

The story gets better. I had borrowed my mother’s brand-new Jeep for the trip downtown. The Jeep has something like 600 miles on it – literally brand-spanking-new and boy is she proud of it! That Jeep almost gets treated better than I did when I was a child!

Now, my poor driving is legendary in my family. It started with an accident and a couple speeding tickets when I was younger. To this day when we go somewhere as a family everyone volunteers to drive just so I won’t.

For the past several months I’ve been lobbying hard to convince them that I’m a better driver now. It is true – I don’t speed, don’t take risks and drive defensively like they teach you at driving school. There have been no tickets or incidents of any kind for the past decade or so.

So you can understand if I tried to forget the incident ever happened. My brother might have nightmares for years, but I’m fine with it. Nobody was hurt, the Jeep is good as new and life goes on.

Today I got a phone call from Mom, and she was laughing so hard she was crying.

“Hey Speed Racer, I just saw the funniest video I have ever seen in my life!” she exclaimed.

Speed Racer?!? What is that all about?

“What is in the video?” I asked even though I had a sneaking suspicion where the call was headed.

“I got this letter in the mail from the city that referred me to their website. I just watched my brand-new Jeep go flying through a red light downtown without even pausing. At the end it even zoomed in on my license plate. It was hysterical!”

My face turned red. No point in trying to hide it. “I guess I missed that light when I borrowed the Jeep last week,” I explained sheepishly. “So how much is this costing me?”

At this point I think Mom was watching the video again because she could barely talk through sobs of laughter. “The ticket was $95. No points or anything.”

Sigh. “I’ll be over this week to pick up the paperwork so I can pay it. I’m really sorry.”

More laughing. “I already paid it online,” she said, “We’ll settle up later Speed Racer – it was worth $95 to see your ‘excellent’ driving skills in action!”

Running a red light is no joke, but apparently being filmed doing so in a borrowed Jeep is!

I won’t live this down for years…

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

The Entertainment Value of Running a Red Light

Just a quick heads-up: over time you should notice a slight shift in the topics I write about here at Meadowwood Garden.  I’ll still be writing about gardening, both how-to and how-not-to!  I will continue to share recipes and stories about Zoe and the rest of my crazy life in the country.  That part isn’t changing.
I’ve decided to broaden the topic list a bit to further show my (and I hope your) interests.  I may post about saving money on groceries, or some incredible coupon deals I come across.  Product reviews, both sponsored and not, are in the works.  This whole green movement interests me, so I’d like to explore ways we can “go green” easily.  Nutrition and healthy living is a topic that ties in well with gardening, so expect to see those areas explored.

The best way to describe the change is that I want to focus more on the “Meadowwood” and keep the “Garden” part roughly the same.  Hopefully these changes will make Meadowwood Garden an even more valuable information source on a variety of topics!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

A Brief Editorial Note

Yesterday I came across a post by Susan Harris at Garden Rant titled You don’t have to hike into the wilderness to experience nature. Just garden. She writes about a column in yesterday’s New York Times titled How to Lick a Slug.  In it the columnist laments about how nature is not as much a part of our lives as it used to be, and he urges us to change that.  Please follow the link and read it yourself — it is a good read.

I agree in general with the premise of the NYT column.  My exception to it is that the columnist makes it seem like the only way to experience nature is to go to a national park or out in the woods on a trail somewhere.  Yes, that is certainly one way to get out and experience nature, but the reality is that nature is a lot closer to all of us than we realize.

I like Susan’s point about gardening to experience nature.  So true.  I’ve always felt more people should garden, but doing that requires an investment of time and effort that a lot of people aren’t willing to make.

After giving it some thought I decided to leave a comment about the column on the columnist’s blog.  This sums up my feelings on the subject pretty well:

You write as if nature is something you need to gear up for and seek out. In reality, nature is everywhere around you already!

For many people nature is as close as outside their own back door! The average suburban yard is FULL of natural things to be discovered and appreciated. Don’t have a yard? The park down the street will suffice.

Planting a garden, or even a handful of flowers will bring nature to you. A container of flowers on my deck attracts bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and all sorts of other interesting things. Have you ever had a hummingbird hover inches from your head while you were mere feet from your back door? I have, and THAT is an amazing experience one doesn’t easily forget!

So while I applaud your overall message, I hope people realize that getting out into nature doesn’t require planning and a trip in the family car. Nature really is all around you, just slow down and look close and you will find it.

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

Nature is Everywhere

Two months into the growing season and there is a lot going on at MWG.  The freaky weather that had caused everything to grow slow is long gone and the garden is booming at the moment!

Tomatoes are just starting to come on in force.  Tons of green ones and a handful of ripe ones each day.  Soon there will be more than I can use, which is a very good thing.

The single surviving yellow squash has so far provided over 25 large squashes and counting.  I used the same seeds from last year but they were not nearly as prolific as this!  Good thing too, because the two zucchini plants have been disappointing.

The peppers are the story of the season so far.  Last year I had the leafiest pepper plants I’ve ever seen but had very few fruits.  This year they are still quite leafy but there are huge numbers of peppers on each plant!  They are early this year too.  I am researching recipes to pickle the pepperoncini’s and make bird seed/hot sauce out of the cayennes.

Eggplants continue to grow (finally) and there are several flowers on each.  Second batch of carrots are ready to be pulled.  Onions are large.  Potatoes are doing very well.  Third batch of lettuce is simply amazing — I spaced it out better and I can’t believe how much better they are doing.

Speaking of lettuce — the first two batches are taking their sweet time going to seed.  The first batch was in the ground March 15.  It finally started bolting about 5 weeks or so ago.  Over 2 weeks ago the flower heads appeared, but the little flowers are still closed.  Hopefully soon I’ll be seeing the little white tufts that signal the seed is ready.

Garlic has been harvested and is drying.  I messed up last year when I planted it so the bulbs are very small except for a handful.  Come September I’ll plant the largest bulbs and use up the rest over the winter.

All of the walkways are covered in landscape fabric and at some point before winter I plan to cover the fabric with gravel.  That is the final large project of the year.

August is shaping up to be bountiful and interesting.  Keep checking in, I have several other things to share soon including the greenhouse possibility, the arboretum trip and much more!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

End of July Garden Updates

Tomato of the season!  Yeppers — yesterday I finally picked the first delicious, amazingly scrumptious tomato of this growing season!  Huzzah!

That poor tomato didn’t stand a chance, within seconds of picking it I had tomato juice and seeds dribbling down my chin as I savored every amazing bite.

To me home gardening is defined by two things:  Zucchini that grows like kudzu on steroids and the incredible taste of a fresh-picked tomato.  In fact, the taste of a home-grown tomato differs so much from whatever it is they sell in the grocery store that I feel they need to rename the grocery store stuff.  Blahmato?  Cardboardmato? Blandmato?  All good descriptions that I offer freely to the grocery stores of America!

The tomato season has begun, and for me that means Summer is officially here!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

You Always Remember your First…

Look at the surprise that was waiting for me under the yellow squash plant today.  One yellow squash plant!  Two days ago all I noticed was a couple baby ones.  Either I’m not that observant or these things are mutating fast!

Squash and zucchini can be picked at any size.  For best taste it is usually a good rule to pick them on the small side.  I like to pick my zucchini at about 8 inches and the yellow squash at about 6 inches, so this harvest is a little past my preference.  Still will all be good though.

Tomorrow I’ll grill these up for a tasty and healthy supper!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

Attack of the Yellow Squash

Going into a long holiday weekend here is where the garden stands:

The peas petered out and I pulled them two days ago.  Next year I will definitely plant more because fresh peas are YUM!

The lettuce is finally beginning to bolt.  The first bed was planted on March 17 I think, so it has taken forever due to colder-than-normal temperatures and lots of rain this year.  I grew the lettuce as an experiment just to see how it grows and basically to learn about it for the future.  My understanding is that lettuce reproduces true from seed so I am letting two beds go to seed to see how much I can collect for next year.

Carrots were another experiment with a happy ending.  Most have been 5-6 inches so far, which is about right for the type I planted.  Next year I plan to have a deeper bed available to try to grow some grocery store sized ones!  They are delicious too — I’m not a big carrot fan but the ones from the garden disappear fast.

Garlic is yet another very  happy experiment.  Talk about easy!  A friend of the family donated some bulbs last year and told us to plant them in September.  Around October I remembered them and spent all of two minutes shoving them into the ground.  I had no idea what I was doing, and one big mistake was that I planted the entire bulb instead of separating them into individual cloves…  Live and learn.

All winter I’d look where I planted the garlic and see snow and dirt.  I remember thinking I had blown it.  But come spring these emerald green leaves sprouted out of the ground very early and BOOM they were off and growing.  So far they have received zero care other than watering when the entire garden needs it.  Now they are about a week or two from harvest.  I can see where 4-6 stalks shot out of each bulb, so who knows what kind of monster deformed garlic lies underneath my soil?  At any rate, I have enjoyed growing garlic so much that I might try to obtain some heirloom varieties and see what happens with them.

There are about 4-5 yellow squash ready to pick this weekend.  The zucchini is behind because the first sowing failed to grow.  I’m keeping a close eye on the underside of the leaves for egg clusters.

Green beans didn’t germinate well at all in spite of using innoculant.  Not happy at all with the green beans this year.

Out of 6 cucumber seed planted 4 germinated and only 2 lived to maturity.  Those two are growing several inches a day and I can see yellow flowers underneath the leaves so they are doing just fine!

Tomatoes have been a challenge.  About half developed Tomato Leaf Curl several weeks ago.  Research indicated it was probably due to overwatering.  We have had steady rain all year and between times I was doing supplemental watering.  So I stopped the supplemental watering a couple weeks ago and the tomatoes are growing like weeds!

The eggplants are finally recovering from the bugs that ate the leaves as soon as I put them in the ground.  That is good, but I’d say they are about 3 weeks behind where they should be.

In fact, the entire garden seems to be about 2-3 weeks behind where it was last year.  It has been unseasonably cool for the most part with rain showers every 2-3 days for the past two months.

That’s where MWG stands as of today.  Have a safe and happy Independence Day!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

State of the Garden — Holiday Edition

I’m so excited!  One year ago today MeadowwoodGarden.com was born!  Happy Birthday to MWG!!!!

This first year has been so much more successful and rewarding than I ever imagined.  I thought it might be interesting to some of you to share a little of the history of MWG and some stats if you are interested in websites and that sort of thing. This will probably be a very long post, so please settle in and journey with us into a year in the life of a gardening blog.

First of all, some thank you’s are in order.  Websites exist for people to visit and read and hopefully learn from.  Thank you to everyone who has visited MWG this past year — all of our success is because of you!

A special thank you is in order for everyone who has taken the time to leave a comment this past year.  Your contribution to MWG is very much appreciated.

Thank you Nan Ondra and Fran and the rest of the fine folks at Gardening Gone Wild.  Back when MWG was struggling along with very few visitors Nan generously featured a small trellis how-to article I did on her much larger and very popular website.  Little did Nan or I know that this action would literally kickstart MWG!

Thank you Tatiana for being my first guest writer and a patient reader of those “wall of texts” I e-mail you!  Tatiana blogs over at Coldprairie.  Her Coldprairie Chronicles column brings a fresh voice and unique perspective to MWG.

Thank you Cindy from Small Homestead.  Cindy ran the first blog carnival MWG participated in.  Because it went so smoothly we agreed to host one and that was an experience we are glad we have had.

And a special thank you to my family for all of the support and encouragement and listening to me talk about MWG constantly all year!

Now on with the recap!

Year One by the Numbers:

• Over 7000 people visited MWG.
• They came from 65 nations,
• And all 50 states,
• To read the 97 pages we published,
• They read those pages over 16,000 times,
• And left 109 comments.
• The #1 article was Super Sturdy Trellis,
• which almost 6000 have read!
• Cost to bring you MWG this year: $160
• Revenue from ads: $40
• Value of helping thousands to garden successfully: absolutely priceless!

Brief History of MWG

MWG started as a vehicle to communicate about my garden and life in general to my family.  If you look back in the archives you will see articles about a new truck, or a new kitchen appliance.  Back then I was new to blogging and was just experimenting with it to be honest.  No promotion was done.  I simply sent the link to about 10 family members and told them to stay tuned.

Beginning with the Zucchini Wilt article I began to realize that maybe there could be something more to this than just a family newsletter.  Somehow Google and Yahoo found that article and subsequently began sending people to read it.  MWG slowly began to get traffic that wasn’t family — just a few people a day at that point.

The breakthrough came when I submitted the Super Sturdy Trellis article to Nan at Gardening Gone Wild.  They must have a ton of readers (and rightly so as it is an excellent blog!) because they are by far our #1 referrer after Google and Yahoo and have sent literally hundreds of people to visit MWG and read about trellises.

So for a while we were getting a handful of visits a day and through fall and winter not much changed.  I didn’t post much during that time.  January came around and I began to post again and traffic started to slowly increase.

Somewhere in here I learned that the Super Sturdy Trellis Article was ranking very high in the search engines.  Basically how it works is the higher you rank in the search engines the more visitors you get, so this was a happy accident to be sure!  And over time we went from a handful of visitors a day to hundreds!

Visits peaked in May and are slowly dropping.  Some research and common sense tells us that is precisely what should be happening.  You get the seed catalogs starting in December, and interest grows until planting time around April-June.  Then summer hits and everyone gets focused elsewhere and the garden is in maintenance mode.  And in the fall after the last harvest we focus in on the holidays and the cold weather for a lot of us and gardening becomes a happy thought — until the first seed catalog arrives in the mailbox!

Future of MWG

So what lies in the future for MWG?  Good question.

To be honest I’m still searching for that answer personally.  MWG has been successful beyond my wildest dreams in terms of how many people visit and such.  I’d like to publish more helpful articles and eventually be a resource for the first-time vegetable gardener. I am actively trying to recruit more guest writers and am working on other ways to bring unique and interesting content to MWG.

Whatever happens I’m sure it will be a wild and interesting ride!  Stay tuned next year at this time for my report on Year Two of MWG!!!

Post from: Meadowwood Garden © 2010 All Rights Reserved.

MWG.com Year One in Review