Blogging in Myrtle Glen

Rainwater barrels do not need to be ugly, we turned ours into garden art:

rain barrel

One of the projects was adding rainwater barrels to the yard. The four we have are enough to water the container plantings and the very thirsty plants between automatic sprinkler days.

old-fashioned well

Comments we received ( and I take those with humor )

‘So, you clean your BBQ dishes in those barrels from now on?’

‘You come out here for washing your hair?’

‘Won’t the water be really dirty from coming down off the roof?’

‘Now you are watering your plants with acid rain’

‘ You can even bathe the dogs.  rain water is a whole lot better than chlorinated water’

See how we did them on the blog’s page ‘Rainbarrels’

Wildlife had to make room for us, for our subdivision. Before it was all built up I found beautiful pine lilies, native orchids, pitcher plants…. all gone now, bulldozed over and under. And then there are the animals, turtles, snakes, birds, insects…

young raccoon munching palm fruits

We can try to help those animals to accept us humans, to reach out and offer friendship (Thanksgiving comes to mind) by keeping the needs of the local wildlife in mind when creating our gardens.

And yes, there are those animals that take advantage of us  like the deer, munching the rose buds, or the armadillos digging burrows, and not to mention the squirrels…. but there are options for us, plants the deer won’t like, extra corn for the squirrels, and black pepper to evict the armadillo…

Cooper Hawk eyeing the Mourning Doves

To read more, go to the page ‘create a Wildlife Habitat’

October, Fall…. it’s this time of year, the fish want to be fed again. I learned that some time in late spring/early summer the fish aren’t interested in the dried fish food any longer. They come and check it out but don’t want to eat it. There is better stuff around, frog eggs, young fish and snails, tender water lily shoots…. but in fall the pickings are getting slim and my fishies start to notice me again when I come to the edge of the pond.

Drizzt and Das Boot

Daily feeding makes for happy fishies. We have two koi, the pond is not large enough for more of those big fish

hungry

I buy the small cheap feeder goldfish since frogs and snakes and what ever other creatures feed on them. And there are some smart feeder fish surviving long enough to become large enough so they no longer have to worry about being a frog’s dinner.

goldfish