New England's Narrow Road

Re-purposing Window Grilles For the Garden

flower vine — Recycled window dividers used as a trellis.

When I bought my house the sliding door and another glass door had white dividers, or grilles, in them. I don’t like that look. I like my windows to be clear and open – free of dividers to block my view outside. I was happy to find that the dividers could be unsnapped and removed, so I took them all off and stored them in the garage. I thought they would make good trellises for the vegetables.

Well, they do, if you don’t try to put anything too heavy on them. They are a bit flimsy and won’t hold up without breaking but the one I used for my morning glory vine is doing a nice job. The vine isn’t very large yet, but they don’t get big and heavy. I have it next to the deck so the vines can grow up and wrap around the deck railings.

It’s just one way you can use junk in the garden. I hate to spend money on expensive trellises, and truthfully, I couldn’t find any I liked. All my new windows are grille free too – you can find my grilles in the garden.

My Kitty and The Birdbath

Skittle is my water-loving cat. She has decided that she must drink out of the birdbath each time she goes out front and especially if I am out there and spraying water to fill it.

She has a bowl of clean water right inside the garage, which I leave open a bit all day for the cats to hide from dogs if they have to, but this is more fun I suppose.

She also drinks from the hose if I have it turned on low to deep-water the shrubs, and inside the house she drinks from the sink. She is one of those needy cats who wants attention all the time and she goes in and out all day long.

I used to leave the back screen open just a bit for her until she decided that bringing a chipmunk into the house would be fun. After spending most of one day shooing it outside, I can’t do that any more.

cat drinking from birdbath — Skittle is my water-loving Kitty

Eventually she pulled the top of the birdbath over and it broke. That thing was heavy and could have hurt her, so she was lucky.

Adding a Stone Wall Barrier to the Front Yard

My front yard slopes down toward the house and for the most part that doesn’t bother me, except when it rains hard and all the sediment and sand from the road washes into my yard.
The only real option was to put up a barrier of some kind to keep the water running off down the swale at the side of the yard.
Back in May I had someone out to give me an estimate to build a stone wall. Wow, it was gonna cost me! And then it rained, and they got busy, and the job kept getting delayed. A few weeks ago we had a torrential rain, which is unusual for this area, and I went out in my raincoat to pile some small rocks along the edge of the waterline to keep the water out.
I was getting ticked off at the landscapers who didn’t call, but finally one morning I got the call at 7:30 AM that they were coming to build my wall. Halleluiah!
They added a straight line of large rocks (the rocks in front were already there) to make a natural-looking wall. After about four hours of shifting the big rocks around I had my wall. It really needed to be longer, but I didn’t dare change anything with these people. I won’t use them again just because they were unprofessional as far as keeping me informed.

Now I will need to get the dirt moved to the garden area in back of the wall and find some good shade plants to add along the wall. The big part, and expense, is done.

The Jack-In-The-Pulpit Plant I Found (newenglandsnarrowroad.wordpress.com)
Our Own Backyards And Beyond (newenglandsnarrowroad.wordpress.com)

So That’s A Garlic Scape!

Okay I am going to show my ignorance here, but I honestly did not know what a garlic scape was.
Yesterday I was out back checking on my tiny garden and saw these interesting pointy things on the tops of my garlic that I had planted last fall.
I’ve heard of garlic scapes, but have never seen one. In fact the other day at the organic grocery store, a lady in front of me mentioned them. I didn’t pay much attention, but put 2 and 2 together and looked them up this morning. Sure enough – it’s what I have in my garden!
So now I guess I need to cut them and use them in my cooking.
Can’t tell you too much more, as this is all new to me. But I love garlic in any form and leaving the scapes on the garlic means they will flower and go to seed. That isn’t good for the growing bulb, so I’ll be out cutting them today.