Pollenatrix

Raccoon Rant no. 18

The battles with the raccoon continue. He paid another destructive visit to the deck just after my last post, pulling out orchids and chewing on the roots, upturning ivy and rooting around in the soil. Two mornings later, I woke up to find the dog food container knocked over on to the floor, and more of the orchids pulled out...except they were in the enclosed back porch, where I had placed some of them to protect them from the cold spell. I scratched my head a bit, and blamed it on the cat. On awaking, Laird asked me what the heck I was doing getting up in the middle of the night to watch TV. He told me he was wakened at 6AM by the blaring sound, and had to get up to turn it off. Unless I had been sleepwalking, it wasn't me. The next morning, all became clear. I walked into the kitchen to find dog food all over the floor, again. More plants uprooted in the back porch. Little muddy footprints that went from the porch, to the dog food container, to the window sill, to another window sill.....to the living room. In behind the TV, all the plugs were pulled out from the wall. The little fountain beside the TV was askew, water splashed all around it. Muddy little hand-like foot prints on the upholstered chairs. At least this time, he hadn't stopped to watch TV. For a few moments I panicked as I thought the coon was still in the house, until the grumbling and sleepy Laird finally pointed out the tear at the bottom of the screen in the sliding doors leading to the deck. We had been victims of a clever four-legged bandit for the past two nights. The real puzzle was, what's up with the dog, or even the cat? Neither of them made a peep. I figure that Jake probably even met him at the door, showed him around, and poured him a drink. Fine watchdog he is. The Wildlife Service Guy on the phone couldn't get over it either. "What kind of dog is it?", he kept asking. Anyway, he informed that the rascal will now be a very determined repeat visitor, a smart one and strong at that. He told me to lock up tight -- windows, doors, everything. The critter will be able to slide the glass door open if it's not bolted. Ironic that in the middle of the largest city in Canada, I've never even thought twice about locking my doors to human bandits. He gave me a few more tips. Bright lights, motion sensors, and plastic bags filled with ammonia soaked rags, with holes poked in the bags so the odour comes through. If all else fails, rent a humane trap and scare the sucker. I can even relocate him up to 1KM away, which makes High Park within striking distance. Nowhere is safe from nature. In a weird way, I'm secretly pleased about that.

Catch up time, it's been

Catch up time, it's been a while since I last posted. Lots of news. Over the weekend our fantastic landlord and his uncle finished off the roof on the deck. When I first heard of the roof idea, I wasn't too pleased -- I imagined that would be the end of growing vegetables, since the sun would be cut off. Fortunately, "Uncle" is an avid gardener too. They put up clear plexiglass panels, and as Uncle explained, the light will come through, but the worst of the UV rays and any frost would be warded off (not to mention the rain). I was completely won over as I barbequed chicken on the deck tonight, and listened to the rain pelt the roof over my head. Such a comforting sound, and air smelled clean and sweet (well, except for the smoke from my chicken leg flambe). Uncle shared more of his hard-won garden wisdom. Together we inspected my fledgling vegetable crop, and in very broken English, he explained that rather than cut off the entire head of lettuce for a salad, I could simply pick off the leaves as I needed them. The plant will continue to grow. Why didn't I think of that?? He also explained how to propagate rose bushes, and made it sound very easy. He told me to break (not cut) a good sized branch, plunge 3/4 of it into soil, and by spring the new plant would be rooted and budding. Easier said than done, I think. I may be giving it a try, in any event. On Sunday we took a hike up Walker's Line, and dropped into a very old graveyard near the trail head. In years past the blooms on a magnificent old rose have always caught my eye...double pink blooms and very fragant, and huge. Over the years the bush, which was probably originally planted on a grave, has taken over an entire section of the graveyard and has reseeded freely in a neighbouring meadow. I figured if I could find the original grave marker, I would learn approximately how old the rose really was. It took some courage, more than a few scratches, and some determined rooting to find it -- an old white stone marker buried deep in the rose bush, dated 1895. I dug up a couple of seedlings and hope that I can get them to grow on my deck garden, at least for a while. Yesterday was a warm day, and with the deck finally finished (and a whopping hydro bill waiting to be paid), I decided it was time to move all my orchids and indoor plants outside, and turn off the 1000W grow light and humidifier. It took hours of work to arrange everything to my liking, and to clean up the mess left over in the grow room. By late evening I was very satisfied with my efforts, and dragged Laird outside to admire the new decor. Alas, I'm off to a bad start. Mr. Racoon paid an inspection visit last night, and apparently didn't like what he saw. He knocked pots off shelves, dug plants out of pots and flung them around the deck, tromped carelessly in my big planters, and washed something disgusting in my fairy fountain. He managed to get into the garbage cans, and showed his displeasure at not being able to get into the worm bins by knocking everything around it to the ground. The bugger. I can't wait until the vegetables start coming out. It could be war. The only consolation is that I wasn't singled out. This morning, as I grumbled in my nightie and started picking up after the bastard, I heard my neighbour on the deck below doing the same thing. Now, it's turned cold again and the high later this week will only be 10C. I don't know if my orchids will stand up to all the stress. They're going to have to -- I'm not dragging them all back inside two days after taking them out! If they die I may switch to cactus plants. That'll even the score with that racoon.

My Bougainvillea is having a

My Bougainvillea is having a good spring. It's been around my house under lights for several years, throwing off unenthusiastic blooms every once in a while, but really spending most of it time dropping leaves. A month ago I repotted it in a clay pot (which it seems to prefer over plastic -- dries out faster), and I wound the new growths around a really cool contraption I found at Lee Valley Tools. There are many wondrous contraptions at Lee Valley, this particular one is called a Grow Spiral. You wind the new growth around the spiral, and can pack 9 feet of growth into 3 feet in height. This is the best show of flowers I've had in a long time, so the Bougainvillea must approve.

My Streptocarpus plants have made

My Streptocarpus plants have made an amazing recovery since I moved them from the light stand to the grow room, which is more humid. Even the tiny mystery one has bloomed, and it's a lovely white flower with a yellow throat and a faint pink racing stripe.

My finickity African Violets, on the other hand, seem to making a slow recovery from whatever has ailed them. This lovely white one, "Frosted Whisper", has a number of blooms. Few of them have the tell-tale brown spots (trouble!), but I removed a couple of sickly brown buds. I'm hoping that the fuss I'm making will encourage the rest of the gang to get back to work.

Today some interesting mail arrived

Today some interesting mail arrived for a change -- which means, it was neither junk nor a bill. It was my membership package for Seeds of Diversity, a non-profit group made up of gardeners who save and trade heritage or endangered varieties of of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. Inside was a thick catalogue called the "Seed Exchange Directory", listing member contact information and the varieties of seed each member has available. All you have to do is send someone who has the seeds you want a self-addressed envelope and $1 for each type of seed. Some member will even accept Canadian Tire money. The deal is that you have to save some of the seeds from your own harvest, and offer them in the directory next year. Knowing this, I spent $8 for another booklet, also enclosed, entitled "How to Save Your Own Vegetable Seeds". It may sound straightforward in principle to save seed, but I've never actually tried to collect it from carrot or lettuce or spinach. I don't think I even know what the flowers look like!! Actually, the booklet is quite interesting. It shows you how to pollinate your own vegetables, and how to prevent accidental cross-pollination so that you can keep the varieties pure. Of course, I don't suppose I'll have any accidental cross-pollination of vegetables on my second storey deck in the middle of downtown Toronto. Unless an intrepid bumblebee makes the trek straight from the community garden in High Park to my door. Doubt it. Even I can't make that trip without stopping to smell the flowers a couple of times along the way. In keeping with my active fantasy life (or more optimistically, to prepare me for the future), I also ordered (and received) a booklet called "Selling Heritage Crops". You never know....maybe I could set up a fruit and vegetable stand in front of the movie theatre next door. The January 2003 edition of the Seeds of Diversity magazine was also enclosed. Plenty of reading material for a warm Saturday afternoon on the deck, while I wait for my seeds to grow.