Practical advice for the War On Cat Poop

How to stop cats from fouling in your garden

 My garden is frequently visited by my neighbour’s cats. (I like cats. My sister has 4 cats and my cousins like putting hers in cute fancy dresses!) Last year, one of them started to poo in my garden. I embarked on a battle to stop him from doing so. I have tried many techniques; some based on the principles of sound, smell, novelty andcontact and failed most of the time. It was a bit like the movie Catch Me If You Can, except that I was no Leonardo DiCaprio (Frank). I was more like ’Carl’, the FBI bank fraud agent (Tom Hanks), who kept trying to catch Frank, the Conman, but was always a step behind. Every morning, the first thing I did was to roll up the blind and check if the set up has worked. Sometimes, I was amused by how clever the little cat was! A year on, I am happy to declare that I have won the battle! Here is how I found the ultimate solution against cats fouling in my garden. [...]

The author goes through each one of the many typical recommendations that one finds on the internet, and tells you (from experience!) why each one fails. That is, until the final one, that we are told works. Read on to find out!    

L.E.D. lights for growing plants? Really?

Apparently, it's true:

LED Plant Lights for Indoor Gardens

Advantages:

Less Energy Use- Conventional grow lights consume between 100 watts and 1,000 watts of power to operate. Each LED Grow Master grow light uses less than 10 watts making them the most efficient plant lighting product available in the market place today. Perfect for solar or wind power.

Less Watering- Using the LED Grow Master light bars your plants will transpire less, letting you extend the time between watering cycles. If plants must be left unattended for a few days they’ll have a better chance of survival if their grow lights are not drying them out.

Longer Bulb Life- Our LED light bars are rated to last ten to 20 times longer than typical glass grow light bulb life expectations and twice as long as high wattage LED grow lights. The expected LED Grow Master bulb life is 100,000 hours or over 11 years of 24/7 operation with minimal light degradation in quality or quantity. Eliminate disposal fees associated with HID and fluorescent lamps. When the LEDs finally burn out- they are recyclable!

Scalable- As your garden expands, simply add another bar with a connect cable. Up to four LED grow bars can run off of a single power supply.

No Heat- Due to patented design features- LED Grow Master lighting puts off only trace amounts of heat and does not require the noisy cooling fans found in high watt imitator products.

Safety- Unlike conventional grow lights, which operate on 120 VAC at the bulb, LED Grow Master lights typically run on less than twenty volts. This fact greatly reduces risk growing environments. Kid and pet safe!

The site has more information via the links on their sidebar.

I first learned about L.E.D. lights for plants when I was reading about lighting for aquarium plants. Apparently, the lights are crafted to allow only (or at least mostly) the light spectrum that plants need to grow. To the human eye they may not look especially bright, but they are more efficient at giving plants what they need. They are becoming popular for plants in and out of water.

Of course there are many brands. And Buyer Beware; some that are marketed as grow lights are really just colored L.E.D. lights.
     

WikiHow: Compost bin for garden debris

I want one of these:

How to Build a Cedar Lattice Compost Bin

This bin is built using one 4x8 sheet of the extra-thick lattice panels. The "open" feature of the lattice allows for quicker, easier composting. It's easy to take apart, which is all you have to do when you want to use the compost. This good-sized box is best for vegetable gardeners - a place to compost your grass, carrot tops, corn shucks, tomato stems - anything from your garden.

The 24-inch dimension means that no part of the interior is ever more than 1 foot from available sources of oxygen and nitrogen - critical for complete composting. This means you don't have to touch your compost after throwing it in - no stirring, no turning, no layering, no having to transfer from one bin to another. The 2-foot narrow dimension assures that your yard waste, etc. will compost evenly and completely over the course of the composting year. If you need faster composting, Build a Tumbling Composter. [...]

It goes on to give step by step instructions. Sounds very sensible and useful.
     

Farm Report: Queen of The Night, Grape Arbor

We have a large "Queen of the Night" orchid on our back porch. It has large blooms that open during the night, but each bloom opens for only one night. Recently, it bloomed:



One bloom opened Friday night, then withered in the morning. There were four buds left, and they all opened Saturday night.


It had a strong perfume that filled the room, not unpleasant, but kind of strange, like Industrial Strength Celery. Sorta. It's hard to describe.


Pat did some blog posts about the blooms, the first bloom that opened Friday night, and the other four blooms that opened Saturday night. Follow his links for more photos, and a lot more information about the flowering plant, which is also known as "Dutchman's Pipe" and "Cactus Orchid".


Another garden happening on the farm this year is our grape arbor, which we planted last year. This year, the vines are finally taking off in a big way.

Below is a photo of the duck run, in the summer of 2007. We decided to build the grape trellis over the run, because that area is very warm in the summer:



Here is what the duck run with the trellis over it looks like now, summer 2009:



We built planter boxes with good soil on the ends of the trellis, and trained the vines to go over the duck run. It seems to be working spelendidly.

We took the pool out of the duck run, because it was making the ground constantly wet, and a bad smell developed because it wasn't draining. We moved the pool out to the edge of a small hill, were the drainage was better. Also, that way, when the ducks get out of the water when it's time to lock them up, the excess water drips off them by the time they get to their house, so the inside of the house stays dryer and cleaner, too.

End of Farm Report!
     

Our local Garden Tour, 2008

I've taken some video of the tour this year, but it's going to be a while till I get around to editing the footage and posting it here. So until then, here are some photos (14) taken by our friend Sheri:


This year's tour was all gardens of suburban houses.



In the background here in the photo below, you can see some cranes in the distance, on the ocean side of the bay. It's a large and expensive project to remove a shipwreck.




A couple of the homes were high up on hillsides, overlooking the bay and ocean.










The blooms of these Tiger flowers (Tigridia) in the photo below only last for one day:



This house had a balcony view of the bay in front, and a waterfall running down next to the steps on the side of the house, which led "up" to the backyard. See Pat's photos via the link below, to see the waterfall.







This last garden had an asian theme, I'll show more pics (stills from the video) when I get the video ready to post on-line.



This is just a sampling of what we saw. Pat has posted more photos from the tour here: 2008 Garden Club Tour. One of the gardens we saw had beautiful English-style hedges, follow Pat's link to see photos of those and more.

here is a link to last year's garden tour.
     

Our Local Garden Club Tour

Yesterday we went on a tour of six home gardens, sponsored by our local garden club. Here's a few pics:



Most of the homes were along the bay, or the sloughs that are connected to it. One house had access to the beach:


This little boat on the beach reminded me of many a summer's day from my childhood, when my family vacationed in Maine:




Here I am, standing next to a giant tree stump washed up on the beach:



Much of this tour focused on landscaping more than flowers. This garden was a work-in-progress; the owners are intending to put in a stream where the gravel path is. The gazebo was very elegant, with a gas fireplace in the center of it.



The last house we visited had several natural streams running through it. One was channeled through their garden into this beautiful waterfall...



... which was used to fill their serene Koi pond. Further downhill, it irrigated their fruit orchard. One of the things I love best about Western Oregon is the abundance of water. That, and the temperate climate!

Pat has some more photos from the tour on his blog, also some photos of our farm.