It Was An Honor

Just to be nominated in five categories for the BlogAsheville awards. I didn't win a single one, but it was an honor to be nominated. No really. I swear. It was an honor



Some of the big winners of the night were the ever popular Ashvegas, the political Scrutiny Hooligans, one of my regular reads and My Life in Cake. When you ply the crowd with the most delicious of sugary treats and the sweet personality to go with it, you are bound to be a big winner. Congratulations Jodi.



Frankly I am still a bit puzzled how I even got to be nominated. I am a bit outside the purview of the eclectic brew of Asheville culture and bloggerati and have few readers from the region. The nominations will send some my way to check out this blog for sure. Reading the blog names during the awards, the dissonant sound of Outside Clyde must have had a few people going, who, what, huh?



Far more important than getting increased traffic to this blog, is me making connections to the vibrant culture and people of Asheville. As my new life in WNC continues to unfold, I want that to be a part of it.

Thank you BlogAsheville for helping to make that happen.

It Was Time

The weather diagnosis is calling for rain starting tonight and in to tomorrow. That is good because we continue to be a bit on the dry side. I don't have it as bad at my elevation compared to lower down, but things were beginning to wilt and show stress again in the last few days.

There is still one major item missing in the land of the cozy little cabin and that is a well with water that comes out of it. I find the cooperation of rain very beneficial when planting new things. The closest hose bib is in the roadside vegetable garden and that is a lot of hose to be dragging around to water things with. Rain helps get things off to a good start.

It has been cool all week with highs in the mid sixties and the lows dipping into the forties. Summer is over for sure and time is of the essence to get things in the ground before it is too late.

So today I got started. I would never let a client of mine get away with doing things like this, just planting in the ground without thorough bed definition and soil preparation, but hey they have money. All I have is time and the plants I grew from seeds. It is possible to do things backwards.

In front of two apple trees, I have planted three Beauty Berry, Callicarpa japonica, Lupine, Lupinus perennis and a few Daffodil bulbs. The Beauty Berry seeds came from Hank at A Lake County Point of View, but came originally from Layanee at Ledge and Gardens. Thanks guys! The Callicarpa japonica is more cold hardy than C. americana and should survive in my zone five.



The Lupine seeds came from Client #2's across the street. I need to get back over there it has been a while.

Are 90 King Alfred Daffodil bulbs a few? I think so when compared to Bulbarella's 10,000 next door. It's a start anyway and adds to the bulbs I received last year. They were planted in two drifts, one bag of 45 bulbs to each section.



I have two very different soil types on opposite sides of my section of the sunny utility valley. The cabin side is a lean, super well drained saprolite. No septic drain field allowed. The road side soil is a better aged loam with plenty of organic matter and a touch of clay. Praise be, otherwise no pooping for you, no building permit. The cabin side is full sun and the road side is partial to full shade. I will have many micro climates to work with as a garden begins to grow.



The beginning of a nice wide path that will connect the basement patio to the new road that will lead to the heart of the garden got etched into the slope today. You can see I have already started to use this road to haul mulch and plants with my truck.

Below the path I planted Oenothera berlandieri 'Siskiyou', a pink trailing Primrose and a couple of the Clematis stans grown from seed that Chuck at My Back 40 Feet sent me. Six more of the Clematis were planted on the slope below the lower dry stack stone wall.



Watching over all my gardening activity today was an invader from Tennessee. Is it a spy, someone to check up on my gardening skills and endeavours? I did not notice her there until today.



An unexpected traveler from the generous offerings of Frances at Fairegarden has decided to take up residence on my sunny hillside. I even believe during the Beauty Pageant of the Pansies at the first Faire Garden blog, this contestant was my favorite. If not, it is now.

As The Body Politic

Trembles.

Doing Justice

Maybe this picture does justice to the upper sunny utility valley. Last year it did not seem to reach such a crescendo. I kept waiting. Between the Great Easter Freeze of '07' and the massive chop and drop by the utility company that I cleaned up upon my arrival last June, there must have been less still standing to bloom.

In the right light it is quite stunning.



The gathering of the rocks has begun over in my neck of the woods. Can a person be gleeful gathering and tossing stones? I think there may be a shorter bed defining dry stack stone wall in my new garden. Hardscape can give a garden a strong presence.



In time I will do this ground justice.

More Voting

Assuming this would be a subject matter of interest to you, which image would you most like to receive as a framed 8x10 piece of art?

#1



#2



#3



#4



#5



#6



Cast your vote or critique with a comment.

Walk Around

Viburnum Berries



Orb In Passing



Apple Grounds



Hydrangea Heads



The County Line



Around The Ridge Top Garden.

It's A Wrap

This week it was a challenge to know what day it was. Even concentrating did not definitively convince me that I knew where in the week I was. One day moved seamlessly in to the next. With no need, I have not left the mountain since I think last Sunday, when I locked myself out of my truck and had to pay $50 bucks to get back in.

Each day a little more gets done. There is plenty to do. Six hours with a chainsaw began the cleanup of the butchered trees, felled and mangled so that I can do in the woods what bears do.

I wear no watch. The owls tell me when it is 4:30 each afternoon. A rhythm becomes perceptible despite the fact I do not know what day of the week it is.

The Japanese Anemone tell me it is fall. September 22nd at 3:40 pm is the Autumnal equinox. I now know to watch for the Anemone. I must have these purest of white blooms in my own gardens, a great end to the season.



Seven hours on a ladder ended with more of the cozy cabin wrapped and two more windows in. I ran out of the Lowes house wrap and didn't quite get to the end, but that little bit is all that is left of wrapping the entire first floor level. The loft is way way up there on the back and downhill sides. It gets a little scary way way up there on a ladder. That will have to wait for the scaffolding.



Tomorrow I will go to town to work for Client #1 and stock up on supplies. I may not leave this mountain again until BlogAsheville's Extravablogiversapaloozathonamado. Voting is open until Thursday at 11:59 for the awards. Even if you don't vote, there are a lot of great bloggers in the Asheville area worth checking out. The whole list is in the left sidebar.

Let The Garden Begin

Tomorrow.



The turd box, drain line and drain field panels are in and covered. The physical parts and the gravity fed system passed muster with the county just fine. There was one potential problem I saw. Not with the system itself, that looked great. I won't say for the world wide web what it was, but a slight of hand may have resolved the potential problem. I'm not good at slight of hand, so I made myself disappear when the inspector man came.



There was way more disruption than I had imagined. The trenches for the drain field panels were much bigger than I expected. I had in my head french drain type pipe that would fit in skinny trenches. The interlocking panels used in this method are a good 24 inches wide. They sit at the bottom of an 18 to 20 inch deep level trench.

Just being able to maneuver the trackhoe through the forest caused collateral damage. About half a dozen small trees were lost.

When the monster Black Cherry by the turd box came down, so did a few innocent bystanders. That slope will have a bit more sun now. Sun is good for gardening.

I now have a nice stack of Black Cherry lumber I need to find a buyer for. A little bulb money perhaps.



The ground that will be my garden is still pretty rough in spots. There are broken roots and piles of brush and tree tops that need to be gathered and burned. There are plenty rocks to gather into to piles to let the weather begin the cleaning process. They can talk amongst themselves and let me know what they want to be.



Soon enough the killing frosts will come and all the bare ground will reveal itself to me again.



In reality I have the fall and winter to prepare the ground, lay out the shape of beds and the direction and flow of paths. This should come first and I have put pencil to paper to see with my eyes what the memory in my feet is from a year of walking this ground.

There are sacks of bulbs and perennials grown from seed ready to be planted now. Some planting will be done too.



A garden for a small cabin to nestle in can begin.



Tomorrow.