I was thrilled to find cucumbers and squash:
There are also some green tomatoes, which I didn't manage to take any photos of. I ripped out the remaining pea vines and gave up on the beans (I planted some seeds left over from last year, and they never got any taller than about eight inches).
I've also got garlic and lettuce and potatoes that are ready to go or will be soon. Hooray for growing your own food!
Finally, look how cute Logan is:
Awww.
More photos on Flickr.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
I found a few things that work with my front-yard color scheme, including Munstead English Lavender. I was planning to add lavender to this area anyway (I ordered some which will arrive in the fall), so that worked out well.
I also found some Butterfly Blue Pincushion Flower, which will hopefully grow somewhat quickly and add some height interest.
Finally for the front yard, I found some Periwinkle Vinca. Not the most exciting plant ever, but it goes with my plan and should thrive and fill in relatively quickly.
The shrubs I planted between our house and the neighbor's driveway have not thrived (probably due to the neighbor's child ripping them out of the ground repeatedly), so I found another option: ornamental grass. I picked up some Adagio Grass and Maiden Grass and put them in. I am not completely giving up on the shrubs until next year - I hold out the tiniest shred of hope that something underground will survive and sprout in the spring. We shall see. The grasses should hopefully fill in over time, and as you can see, the grapes that sprouted there (one good thing the neighbors have done for us is leave bits of them there) are growing like crazygonuts.
I also found some plants for the bed beside the driveway: Petite Delight Bee Balm, Petite Wonder Bee Balm, and Red Fox Speedwell.
I also found some groundcover for the corridor between the garage and the (other) neighbor's fence. It's Moneywort, which has a striking light green foliage and will theoretically flower in yellow.
I feel really good about getting such great deals! Even if I lose a percentage of these plants, I still come out ahead money-wise, and hopefully I'll learn more about a bunch of new-to-me types of plants and gain experience, too. If anyone has any tips or advice about any of these plants, I'm all ears!
More photos on Flickr.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
The YALSA Board had on their agenda an action item (later changed to a discussion item) proposal to sunset the BBYA committee. There was a lot of talk about what was happening, and a lot of misinformation by word of mouth and online (see this YALSA post and comments for more information). The YALSA Board rearranged their agenda so that most people would be free to come to the meeting at which they would have this discussion, and allowed for concerned YALSA members to make public comment. I live-tweeted it for a few folks who had asked me to let them know what was happening since they could not attend (read this from bottom to top for chronological order):
(my apologies to those folks whose names I misspelled or got wrong)
My personal feeling about what will happen is this: I think that BBYA will continue to exist but with some changes. The suggestions I heard that make most sense to me:
- Limit the potential nominations by leaving adult books to Alex, graphic novels to Great Graphic Novels, and non-fiction to the new YALSA Non-fiction Award.
- Increase the education/awareness of commitment for BBYA committee members. I support the concept of requiring a potential committee member to attend a year's worth of meetings as an observer before even being put on the list of potential appointees (e.g. make 1 year of observation a pre-requisite to volunteering for the committee).
Stay tuned for more updates on what happens next!
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
These three standout librarians are doing truly innovative and interesting programming that has caught the eye of their intended audience and has become hugely successful in their community. They talked about how we think about what we do in libraries - creating relevant programs doesn't have to be difficult. You need to have an open mind and think creatively. For instance, public libraries are almost entirely desktop-PC-based. If people become more comfortable with laptops, how will our libraries respond? We're starting to respond to people''s love of and reliance on mobile phones, but just starting. (What does your library catalog look like on your mobile device?)
Libraries have created solid programming and space for teens - why just as they start to vote in our referendums do we stop providing them preogramming or provide a space that suits them? The most important thing to the folks OPPL serves is to continue to build relationships with each other and with the library staff they've come to know and trust.
The successful programming for twenties and thirties at OPPL started with a book group called Genre X, a play on the Gen X generation, but even before that, the staff did research and a lot of pre-planning. They first identified a demographic. When they looked at the distribution of residents' ages (using census data), they saw a big audience they weren't serving in terms of programming or space. They identified a need and then brainstormed to figure out what that audience might want from the library.
Their first step was to create Genre X: an unusual take on the traditional library book discussion. Their second step was to develop online presence to promote Genre X and start to build a community. When they thought about what this demographic wanted, they decided to bring the book club to them - at the bar. By meeting them where they are already, the library took an uncommon leap which helped participants automatically feel more comfortable (many often go to the bar after coming home from work anyway, the bar is louder and has drinks, etc). This demographic is busy, with lots of other social obligations. Meeting at the bar means they can make time for the library, and it also carries library exposure to where this demographic already spends time. The group started small and built a following.
Genre X also uses a GoodReads book group for marketing, program notification, discussion, and so on. Lots of people from elsewhere participate through GoodReads.
After the book group was established, they expanded Genre X programming beyond the book club with such programs as Hi-Lo Tech (board games in one room, Wii open play in another, DJs in the middle), a Scrabble tournament, and Hop On Pop (pub quiz style trivia - NOTE: the staff solicited old trophies from coworkers and re-purposed them into some mega fabulous prizes).
So what have they learned? Themes or gimmicks for the book discussion were not successful or appealing to their audience. The initial investment in staff time for many of these programs is significant, but subsequent instances don't require nearly as much. Other staff (other than those regularly assigned to do programming) have talents you may be able to use (the DJs at Hi-Lo Tech were staff members who volunteered their time).
Concluding this session was a list of 40 ideas for programs that might appeal to twenties and thirties (of course, talk to people in your community! Interests vary):
- Resume help
- Entry-level job fair
- Mock interview workshop
- Financial literacy wksp
- Health care support and info
- Intro to wedding planning
- Buying your first home wksp
- Photoshop class
- Podcasting class
- E-business classes
- Building a blog
- Be your own boss
- DIY business
- Interior design for small spaces
- Sustainability
- Organic gardening
- Exploring ink: history of tattoo
- Getting to know graffiti
- Cooking classes
- Nutrition
- Menu planning
- Smart shopping
- Get crafty
- Book swap
- NaNoWriMo meetup
- Real life/secondlife meetup
- Grqphic design show'n'tell
- Home cure/conquer clutter meetup
- Bring in an author they love
- Movie and TV screenings
- Spoken word
- Diary reading
- Speed dating in the stacks
- Board game night
- Prom/dance party in the stacks
- Live band karaoke
- Sponsor a scavenger hunt
- Host a walking tour of your community
- Rock Band/Guitar Hero world tour tourney
- Poker/texas hold 'em tourney
- Wimbeldon toruney
- Bingo - bad movie bingo (get online)
- Spelling Bee
- Project Runway style sewing competition
- Top chef competition
- Poster design competition
- Bibs/playlist contest
As I said, this program was awesome. I am so inspired to create some really cool programs for an audience we don't typically see library events (outside of those attending children's programs with their kids). Ever since we moved to Canton, I've been wishing for more things where I myself can connect with other people my age, and I think the library could be the catalyst to make that happen.
You can read more about this program on the PLA Blog.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
There are still some on the vines, but I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, so I stopped with these, which turned out to be more than enough for the two of us.
I wasn't sure how to cook them, but my tweeps came through for me, and my instinct to cook them in butter with a tiny bit of salt turned out to be right on.
They were delicious!
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
They were left on the doorstep, so they definitely experienced some not-cool temperatures, but everything inside seemed okay.
There were a LOT of ladybugs in that bag! They quickly grabbed onto the potatoes, hyssop, and plenty of other plants in the veg beds. Hopefully they'll hang out in the area and not stray too far. One little lady found the aphids right away!
Hopefully she (or he) ate a big ol' post-travel meal.
Then I unpacked the mantis eggs, which were slightly less exciting but still kind of neat.
They sure don't look like much at this point, but hopefully they'll hatch and make a home in the garden.
More photos at Flickr.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
Hooray! There are lots of buds looking ready to bust open any day, and I'm ready for the glorious color!
More photos at Flickr.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
It stretches all the way along this side of the yard, so hopefully it will be effective. We could theoretically fence off the other edges, too, but I'm not convinced that's necessary. As you can see, I also planted three new bushes there - blueberry, black raspberry, and red raspberry. I usually like to get edible plants from heirloom seed or from the farmers market (or other reputable organic sources), but I gave in and got these from Lowe's - the farmers market had nothing to offer and the seeds I'd planted here got trampled to death. I'm guessing that I'll need to protect these from the birds once they start fruiting. Anyone have suggestions of effective ways of doing that?
In other front garden news, a number of the other plants I put in are doing pretty well! The dark lord geranium is looking good:
I also noticed that something is sprouting up through the mulch on the side of the house - I think it might be grapes. Can anyone confirm or deny?
In the back gardens, the daylilies and asiatic lilies are budding and getting ready to bloom.
The lilies beside the garage are really, really tall! Some of them are approaching the point of being taller than I am!
The golden sweet snow peas are still blossoming, with a gorgeous purple color:
There are also scads of pea pods! I've been eating them right off the vine while I wander through the veg garden. They are so sweet and the texture is divine!
So the other day, after I finished hosing off the aphids that were hanging out on the potato plant blossoms, I noticed what I thought was an odd-looking ladybug. It wasn't a ladybug, it was a colorado potato beetle. Yipes! I picked it off and killed it, and found, picked, and destroyed the leaf under which it had laid eggs. I searched but didn't find any others, but then a day later, I found these!
They're larval colorado potato beetles, and they were chomping the hell out of the potato leaves, as you can see above. Ugh! I think I've gotten rid of all of them now, so hopefully we're done with that. I did order some ladybugs and praying mantis eggs which should arrive soon. I fully expect them to fly away, but hopefully a few will hang out and make a home in my garden (and a meal of any other pests). We already have some good pest-eaters in the garden, one of whom made an appearance this week:
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
What are these things, and how do I get rid of them? They don't appear to have done a ton of damage - yet! - but I don't want to give them the chance. All advice and suggestions will be appreciated!
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
These are some of my favorites to eat right off the vine. They are crunchy and sweet and the pods are not at all stringy or fibrous. They've got a very delicate, sweet flavor and a pleasing texture. Mmm! I also love the beautiful blossoms and the variegated foliage. A real winner all around!
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
The wintercreeper is slowly growing up the back fence - I can't wait until the fence is hidden behind plant-green instead of icky old green paint. It was all I could do not to just yank this iceberg lettuce out of the ground and eat it right on the spot.
One of the beans I planted is flowering already! They haven't grown very high and I'm wondering if they should be flowering at this height. They were seeds leftover from last year and I'm not sure if they were still 100%.
The sugar snap peas are also blossoming.
As are the golden sweet snow peas, which are also already making pea pods!
I can't wait till the peas grow more and I can eat some of these off the vine. So, so delicious. The hyssop is starting to flower, too, and will hopefully be attracting pollinators like crazy pretty soon. I love how the purple flowers set off the slight silver-y-ness of the foliage.
More photos on Flickr, of course.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
This little guy was hanging out on the front garden today, eating maple tree whirligigs. I say, eat up! Just go poo somewhere else so the seeds don't take - we already have an army of seedlings growing out there.
Life's been really busy the past couple weeks! I haven't posted nearly as much as I'd planned to, so here's to catching up.
The common mullen that I've let go next to the front door has gotten huge and is starting to flower:
I realize that mullen is generally thought of as a weed, but it's helping keep the yucky yucca at bay (not entirely, of course, but somewhat) and I was kind of curious to see how big it might get. From what I've read online, it is a biennial, so it'll die after it blooms this year anyway. Apparently if you crush the leaves, you can use the sap to treat insect bites. I haven't tried that yet.
This week I came home from work one day to find that the twelve purple leaf plum hedge shrubs I planted had been pulled out of the ground and were scattered on the neighbor's driveway. I suspect, though the adult neighbor denies it, that their evil spawn did it. They leave him unattended all the time and the whole family seems to be lacking in the smarts department. I would not put it past them to lie to my face. Anyway, I soaked the roots and replanted them. Hopefully they'll still survive.
In happier news, a bunch of the things I planted from seed up front are sprouting! We've got black hollyhock:
(thanks to Charli for those seeds!), a large area where I mixed several kinds of seeds - white swan echinacea, creeping baby's breath, a white flower mixture (thanks to Charli for all three of those!) and purple dark opal basil:
borage:
and bee's friend:
The edibles I planted up front are also sprouting. I've got alternating red velvet lettuce:
and mammoth red rock cabbage along the front walkway:
I also planted some Sunberry seeds along the neighbor's driveway, but I haven't seen any evidence of them sprouting yet. We'll see.
So those are today's photos. On to older ones. Last weekend K hung the bat house on the side of the garage - it only took us a year to actually put it up!
We painted it black last year, so hopefully it will get nice and toasty and attract plenty of bats. We hung it high (it's actually over a window - which K repaired the screen in before hanging the house - he was able to insert some 2x4 pieces into the window cavity so we had a nice solid place to mount it), which bats will apparently be attracted to as well. Our neighbors have about six hundred bird baths and other surfaces in which they allow water to stand so it would be awesome to have some bats in the 'hood to eat up all the mosquitoes that breed next door.
Lots of the veggies in the back garden are growing like mad, which you can check out on Flickr. I'm mildly concerned that something is snacking on some of my potato leaves
Ants, maybe? There's not a lot of damage yet, but if anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them.
In totally non-garden-related news, we're doing a kind of neat project for the summer at the 'brary. Our theme for summer reading is Get Creative @ Your Library, and staff members can volunteer to create something which will then be raffled off to patrons who participate in summer reading. I decided to make a Grumpasaurus, who I have dubbed Grumpasaurus II: Electric Grumpaloo
I made him a little bigger than the original Grumpasaurus, who still lives in my office:
I tried to make G II a little less sinister-looking than the original, and I also played around with his spikes a little, making them bigger at the top. Hopefully someone will want him!
more photos at Flickr
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
Salvia Plumosa:
Snow in Summer:
Purple Verbena:
White Creeping Phlox:
Blue Girl Rose:
Black Knight Butterfly Bush:
Snowdrift Aster:
I also finished mulching the area in between the neighbor's driveway and our house, and planted some Purple Leaf Plum Hedge (they're the nearly invisible sticks along the left edge):
I'm also very excited because the veggies I planted along the front walk are sprouting!
Red Velvet Lettuce (you can tell the poplars are shedding):
Mammoth Red Rock Cabbage:
All in all, it'll be awhile before the front garden really looks like a garden, but it's progress, so I'm happy!
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
The mulch and newspaper had spread out quite a bit onto the sidewalk over the last year, and the composted grass underneath with it. I spent a few hours out there today (hooray for NPR podcasts on the iPod!) and got things looking pretty tidy.
The first plants I ordered also arrived this week. The first plants are officially in the ground up front!
This is dalmation bellflower, which will have purple flowers when it is in bloom (and more established). I got two of these tiny little plantings, which should spread over time. I'd been hoping that more of the plants I ordered would already be here, but hopefully most of them will arrive shortly. A few of them won't be here until fall, since that's when they should be planted. I think this weekend I'll plant the seeds for the edibles I ordered for the front, and I'm going to look at the farmers market tomorrow morning to see if any of the vendors have small berry bushes.
more photos at Flickr
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
We had pruned the lower branches but it was definitely growing back in full form. The photo above is older (I show it because it illustrates the bushy lower branches that grow in every summer), but here's what it looked like a little over a month ago:
Today I got motivated, dragged K out with me, and we took that motherfucker out!
Nice stump, eh?
Another day soon, when this has dried out a bit and we have more energy, we'll take the Sawsall to it again and get it down even closer to the ground. I'm also planning to spray it with pruning seal, so it can't continue to grow.
Here's a view of the entire area, including the existing compost bins. We'll also take out those branches and chop them up sometime soon. I just didn't have the energy after doing all the other work today.
I need to come up with a plan for how to use this area now that it's more accessible. I'm toying with the idea of making new compost bins farther in (perhaps using these? A bit pricey but cool) and then extending the existing veg garden into this area, but I'd also like to do something to hide this ugly fence. Oh, and to keep people from hopping over the fence, which they seem to like to do (on the far end - they go through on the other side of the garage). We hung a No Trespassing sign on the fence today after clearing out the brush, but I'm wondering if there are any quick-growing plants that would climb up the fence and be thorny/otherwise discouraging to potential fence-hoppers. The other factor is that there's a manhole cover at the far end (that dirty, smudgy looking area), which obviously can't be covered up or made completely inaccessible. Anyone have any ideas? What would you do it if it were your area?
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
I am totally digging these variegated tulips. I can't remember when I planted them or where I got them, but they are really pretty.
My lone allium is getting ready to bloom. It looks neat with rainwater on it.
And I think this tulip looks like a baby bird beak does poking up out of a nest.
More photos at Flickr, n'est-ce pas.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
The sun came out after, which meant I got to snap some nice pics. The pollen was puddled in a bunch of the black tulips like the one above. On the photo below, you can see a wee spider hanging out.
The irises I was having trouble identifying last month are now getting ready to bloom and they look like they'll be a gorgeous color!
I've seen some posts lately about people's opinions of violets - are they weedy and should be removed, or are they pretty and should be embraced? I'm of the latter school. They volunteer and have pretty flowers and relatively attractive foliage, so why not?
The red maple outside our front window is a strange shape (it has three main trunks, none of which is particularly dominant) but it's leafing out like crazy and is sort of stunning in the sunlight.
More photos at Flickr.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
There are more tulips than last year, so they're spreading a little, but I would love for them to multiply even faster. I may end up investing in more bulbs in the fall - we'll see.
I also spent a little time removing the handful of dandelions that had sprouted in the front mulch (former front lawn). I've pretty much decided that there's no need to till the front and that it'll be easier to keep weeds out if I just dig holes for the perennials I'll be planting. It will avoid disturbing any latent weed seeds, at least. I did pick out a number of maple seedlings that had fallen from the red and silver maple trees out front. That's a battle that won't be ending anytime soon.
In the primary veg bed, I was doing some weeding and discovered that there are a bunch of what I believe are tomato seedlings sprouting up from where I let a couple of errant tomatoes lie over the winter.
There are several of these little clumps. I had no idea the seeds would even have the possibility of germinating, especially after the semi-harsh winter we had. This will change the layout of the garden slightly, but I'm going with it!
Lastly, I noticed two awesome things: (1) the blueberry bush I planted last year is sprouting!
It never really thrived last year, and the birds ate most of the few berries it produced before I could get to them. I thought it was a goner and didn't expect it to come back. I saw these leaves budding out and could almost hear it pleading, "I'm not dead yet!"
And (2): the purple wintercreeper on the back fence is taking!
I put in a ton of cuttings last year and had pretty much given up hope of any of them actually growing, but several of the ones I put in the back corner have a bunch of new growth. Woot! I haven't picked out the rest of the cuttings from last fall, just in case they end up growing, and today I trimmed some of the uber-exuberant growth on the main planting bed of wintercreeper and put some more cuttings by the back fence. I will not give up on covering up the ugly fence with something!
More photos at Flickr, of course.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
Made From Scratch: Discovering the Pleasures of a Handmade Life by Jenna Woginrich is another 'how I did it' book about a DIY sustainable lifestyle, but it takes a slightly different approach: Woginrich didn't quit her day job or move to a remote corner of the world. Instead, she found some property within a reasonable commute of her workplace and figured out what she wanted to and could do bit by bit. The book covers a wide variety of activities (a number of which may not even occur to you as particularly unusual): keeping chickens, bees, working dogs, and rabbits; growing food; baking bread; thrifting; sewing and knitting, and playing music on traditional instruments like dulcimer and banjo. (Speaking of the banjo, it's an instrument I've long wanted to learn how to play and I'm keeping an eye out for a used one - if you see one, give me a heads-up!) Woginrich isn't a zealot or strict "my way or the highway" DIYer, but she's definitely hardcore: anyone who keeps animals and has to deal with the death that naturally comes along with them has to be. This book is an easy one to read as you wish - choose the chapters that interest you, or read the whole thing front-to-back, you'll get a lot out of it either way. Recommended.| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
The tulips out front have also been benefiting from the good weather.
Finally, we've had a few people out to give us estimates on tilling the front yard. I still see value in doing that, but I've been reading up on a few websites that recommend not tilling - just leaving the mulch in place and digging holes to plant things and letting the mulch keep out the weeds until the perennials fill in. I took a peek and the grass is totally composted/smothered/gone underneath the mulch! I was sort of afraid that there would be a bunch of matted grass under there, but hooray, there's totally not! Which means that tilling may be much less important than I previously anticipated. It would definitely be nice to save that money for other purposes. Most of the plants I've ordered for the front yard haven't arrived yet, but my Seed Savers order for the front yard came today.
I can't wait to start planting, but I will, because I want to be able to really see the whole big picture when I'm placing things.
| Originally published at LibrariAnne. |
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