A power emerges from the stillness. Racine yard waste hurdles. Joe Biden endorses Kamala Harris. The Paris 2024 Olympics opening ceremony.
Another Week: Number 83
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lawn and garden
Here is a list of content tagged “lawn and garden” on MarkCz.com.
Another Week: Number 82
I have petunias and salvias, but where are the hummingbirds? Also: the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Another Week: Number 81
A steamy, sticky week: ‘Kinds of Kindness’ (2024), women’s tennis at Wimbledon, yard work, the St. Lucy Festival, shrimp cocktail, and Donald Trump shot in Pennsylvania.
Another Week: Number 75
These beautiful last days of spring are steeped in bleakness underneath. Plus: ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989) and ‘Little Women’ (2019).
Another Week: Number 74
Time itself is the puzzle I’m grappling with — maybe calendars will help. Also: a Washington Post subscription offer I could not refuse.
Another Week: Number 70
My backyard continues to occupy my mind. Plus: “How Fascism Works,’ by Jason Stanley, and ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ by Warren Zanes.
Another Week: Number 69
Gardening decisions get finalized: I’ll plant salvias and petunias to attract hummingbirds. Also, Alejandro Escovedo on ‘WTF with Marc Maron’ and Bruce Springsteen night on my TV.
Rabbit pest control? I’m going cwazy!
Effective rabbit pest control — how to keep rabbits out of the garden — is a maddening quest that’s rapidly turning me into a cartoon. Visions of rabbit extermination have started taking over my dreams, and my days are spent shopping for increasingly ridiculous wild rabbit control solutions.
Backyard garden at dusk, end of August, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — Towering sunflowers, dinosaur kale, black-eyed Susans, and purple coneflowers are among the plants visible in our backyard garden as August and the gardening season reach culmination for another...
Earthworms & vermiculture grow in Union Grove, Wisconsin
Perhaps you have heard that worm castings (a.k.a. worm manure or worm humus, the digestive waste produced by earthworms) might be the finest organic fertilizer on earth. Possibly, you read somewhere that earthworms can be raised for this purpose — and also to supply...
Daffodils sprouting in Wisconsin in mid-February
Racine, Wisconsin — Daffodil (Narcissus) sprouts thrust out from the soil in my yard near the end of our extremely mild winter.
Tiger Swallowtail on Butterfly Bush, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) nectars on the flower of a Pink Delight Butterfly Bush (Buddleja davidii). Butterfly bushes have been very effective in attracting several types of...
Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, tomato plant, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — An Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) basks on the leaves of a tomato plant in one of our backyard garden beds.
Japanese Beetle control: Grubs in lawn
We first saw a Japanese beetle (Popillia japonica) in our Racine, Wisconsin backyard a few years ago. They were devouring our rose bush. So, after reading about the use of geraniums as a trap crop (since geraniums are toxic to Japanese beetles), we planted a geranium...
Hummingbird moth (Hemaris thysbe)
Watch this video in full-screen, 720p mode. The Hummingbird Moth is difficult to see at first, but it comes closer during the second minute of the clip. The first time I saw one of these, my mind briefly went into a strange Twilight Zone mode because I couldn't place...
Milkweed Bug infestation of Butterfly Weed
Pictured here is the original idea — purple Liatris spicata spikes paired against orange Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) blossoms in one of our backyard flower beds. Both attract butterflies, both are easy-to-grow perennials, and both have similar tight flower...
Leaf collection? Mulch leaves into lawn, garden beds
Fall leaf collection is very peculiar here in Racine, Wisconsin. People rake or blow their leaves into rough piles in the street which sit there for days or weeks. At some point, a front-end loader may or may not come by to scoop the leaves into a garbage truck....
Heirloom tomato haul from Racine, Wisconsin garden
Racine, Wisconsin — Heirloom tomatoes — Cherokee Purple, Green Zebra, Mr. Stripey — plus Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, poblano peppers, and even a couple of chile peppers from our backyard tomato garden. Many of the Roma...
Backyard garden: 6-foot tomato plants, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — The heirloom tomato beds that Amy dug and planted in late May, and mulched on June 1st now sport tomato plants over 6 feet tall, as well as basil and peppers. So far, we've only harvested a couple of ripe...
Hang On Little Tomato
Today's photo — after astonishing rains, with more on the way — is inspired by the song "Hang On Little Tomato" by Pink Martini: The sun has left and forgotten me It's dark, I cannot see Why does this rain pour down I'm gonna drown In a sea Of deep confusion...
Green tomatoes in the rain, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — Today's photo — after astonishing rains, with more on the way — is inspired by the song "Hang On Little Tomato" by Pink Martini: The sun has left and forgotten me It's dark, I cannot see Why does this...
Backyard garden beds, July 9, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — Our backyard garden beds, nearing the halfway point of the growing season: Raised bed (based on a raised bed plan from Sunset magazine) with marigolds, English lavender, snapdragons, rosemary, parsley,...
Red Admiral butterfly, purple coneflower, Racine
Racine, Wisconsin — Dorsal view of a Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) as it feeds on a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). We saw an abundance of Red Admirals here in early July....
Monarch butterfly caterpillar eats Butterfly Weed
Racine, Wisconsin — A Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillar feeds on a Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) plant in our backyard flower bed. [includeme...
Red Admiral butterfly on Black Elderberry flowers
Racine, Wisconsin — A Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta) rests on Black Elderberry (Sambucus nigra) flowers in our backyard.
Monarch butterfly caterpillar on Butterfly Weed
Racine, Wisconsin — A Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillar feeds on buds of Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in our backyard flower bed. [includeme...
Cooper’s Hawk on backyard birdbath, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — A young-looking Cooper's Hawk surveys our backyard from the centrally positioned birdbath, causing quite a stir among all the sparrows in hiding. [includeme...
‘A Man Named Pearl’: Pearl Fryar’s topiary garden
We watched a warm and inspiring movie last night. A Man Named Pearl (trailer above) is a 2006 documentary film by Scott Galloway and Brent Pierson centered on one astonishing yard on the outskirts of Bishopville, South Carolina. The owner, Pearl Fryar, was born in...
Forsythia pruning: Bush renewal produces more blooms
Here's our forsythia bush this afternoon. Okay, it may not be breathtaking to you — but it is to us because we know how it looked last year, and the year before that. Last summer, we did a "renewal pruning" on this shrub. This...
Forsythia in bloom after renewal pruning
Racine, Wisconsin — Our forsythia is finally blooming again — after just one year of a three-year renewal pruning plan.
Red Jewel Crabapple tree, iced
Racine, Wisconsin — A Red Jewel Crabapple tree (Malus x 'Red Jewel') covered with hoar frost on a cold Wisconsin morning. This crabapple tree is one of a pair planted as part of the City of Racine's Street Tree Planting...
Taylor Juniper bushes: Backyard evergreen hedge
Pictured above is our neighbor's fence at the edge of our backyard. It's six feet tall. When we bought our house, there were old and gnarly shrubs hiding the fence — a mundane and invasive honeysuckle, a feeble forsythia, a wild weigela. While the weigela did...
Snow! Bring back Indian summer
Our local forecast: This afternoon: Flurries and areas of blowing snow before 3pm, then areas of blowing snow after 3pm. Tonight: Wind chill values between -5 and 5. Sunday night: New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Monday night: New snow accumulation of...
Geranium greenhouse, Mileager’s, Racine, Wisconsin
Racine, Wisconsin — At Milaeger's garden center, a greenhouse full of red and pink geraniums just beginning to bloom.
Summer 2007 update: Long time no post
Greetings from my air-conditioned bunker as summer 2007 clatters apart overhead like an unbalanced engine. Amy's at work, I'm on hiatus, and out in the backyard the heat and humidity are mounting over the soggy vegetation — a prelude to an afternoon forecast of...
Backyard gardening: Playing in the dirt
It will yield you brambles and thistles, as you eat the produce of the land. By the sweat of your face will you earn your food, until you return to the ground. as you were taken from it. — Genesis 3:18-19, The New Jerusalem Bible We've been spending a lot of time on...
Growing flowers from seed for hummingbirds and butterflies
Long story short: Since the experiment below back in 2007, we have decided that starting seedlings in windows is unwise. Because they bend toward the light, you have to constantly turn them, trying to keep them upright — and even then, they become too leggy and...
Earthworms eat dead vegetation, improve the soil
Today, our yard is under about a foot of snow and the temperature this morning was 7°F. A week ago, I mowed the lawn wearing a T-shirt. It wasn't so much that the grass needed cutting, although it was green and growing a little. It was just that I wanted to mulch up...
Tomato hornworm caterpillar? No, tobacco hornworm
As detailed here in the past, we'd like to keep our yard organic and hopping with life — food plants, flowers, birds, butterflies, earthworms, shrubs, trees. We're not using chemical fertilizers, weed killers, or pesticides. We are using compost, cow manure,...
Tobacco hornworm caterpillar (Manduca sexta)
Racine, Wisconsin — A tobacco hornworm caterpillar (Manduca sexta, often confused with the tomato hornworm caterpillar) is seen devouring tomato plants in our backyard. As is detailed in our blog, when we first spotted this...
Yew shrubs: Toxic taxus, poisonous plants?
Yews. We had them at all three of my parents' houses when I was growing up, and there they were again when we were buying our own house — two big ones along the foundation in the back, and some smaller ones at the foundation in front. I had always referred to them as...
We are gardeners, and it is good
Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, which is in the east, and there he put the man he had fashioned. From the soil, Yahweh God caused to grow every kind of tree, enticing to look at and good to eat, with the tree of life in the middle of the garden, and the tree of...
Creeping Charlie (ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea)
"Every minute I stay in this room I get weaker. And every minute Charlie squats in the bush he gets stronger." — Capt. Benjamin L. Willard in Apocalypse Now (1979) When we moved here at the end of last August, the drought had baked the lawn pretty well, and it...
Birding: Backyard birds in Racine, Wisconsin
We have been feeding birds for years, but moving has made a huge difference in the variety of birds that visit us. The apartment in Kenosha was a second-floor flat. We hung feeders outside a couple of windows which attracted mostly House Sparrows and some House...