Sunday, April 29, 2007

America's Wild Rivers Coast in the Spring














woodchip areas and our aspen grove pictured above

Ah! I love spring here on the Southern Coast of Oregon. Our Rhodies are blooming, the daffadils are dying back and being replaced with budding daylilies. I find myself taking a break from the task of weeding lying under the budding Aspen trees feeling graditude for being so lucky to live in this paradise!


I notice in the picture above that the tree in the forground has Comfry growing under it. I saw a picture of Comfry growing under an apple tree and stuck a small plug of Comfry under that Aspen. I hadn't realized just how happy it has become living in the small confines of the tree base.


I am a hodge podge gardener putting plants here and there and continually find a surprise of a happy plant in places I don't remember putting it. A Clematis that I didn't know where to plant has taken over one side of an old tree trunk. The other side is covered with a Climbing Hydranga. This same trunk has a Huckleberry bush thriving on top of it!


I don't plan very much when creating my piece of paradise and the beauty that happens is just there almost accidentally. I don't find myself upset when a dog sits on a plant, or a slug finds a feast in the daylilies. My accidental garden is created to grow if it can! Somehow, this has worked for me. I have request to have garden tours and comments are always made about how beautiful our garden is, but I don't take too much pride in what I have managed to do. Nature works well with some food and water plants thrive....just like us! I give the plants a place to live and if they love it, they reward me. You can find more pictures of our garden on our eBay Store site : View My About Me page.


Spring gardening can create muddy feet. Muddy feet love to find their way into the house and then we are stuck cleaning up the house instead of the yard! I hate being stuck inside when the sun is warm and the grass emerald green!


I've read that you can put a a few layers of newspaper down just inside your door. The mud stays there! The newspapers save your throw rugs from a dingy lifeless life from too much yuck and too many washings.


You can then recycle the paper by layering it outside where you want to create a new garden bed or path. I put 12 layers of paper down with 4 inches of wood chips and like magic you have a new bed in about a year or an immediate pathway. I love the softness of woodchip paths. It is like meandering in the forest. My dogs love their morning walk around the yard exploring the paths. If there are paths, that's where they will walk. Sometimes I create a path where I see them often going. It's better than walking on a new lily peeking up. My husband doesn't mind woodchip paths that don't block his manly riding mower when he is cutting the grass. He hates barriers that he hits. Wood chips blend in, look natural and they compost into wonderful places for earthworms to live.


Living in the Pacific Nortwest, we get as many woodchips as we need. The road crews are busy removing "leaners" (trees in danger of falling onto the road) from the hillsides along the road. The crews love a near-by place to dump their loads. My husband has figured out that one truck of chips is 100 wheel borrows of chips. I wonder how he figures that out! LOL I could safely estimate that Jim has hauled well over 400-500 loads of chips over the last 10 years and I have done my fair share crawling along putting down newspaper. When we moved in, the yard consisted of grass and a few fruit trees period. We now have a 50' x 25' pond along with hundreds of plants, trees along with many chipped areas. The grass could completely find a new home and I wouldn't care, but Jim loves to mow! We still have expanses of green grass.


Come back again to see what is new with Winchuck River Store and the couple who own it, Jim and Karen Clark.

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We blog about our rural area in the Pacific Northwest . This blog is all about my life and the places where my mind wonders from day to day. Have fun reading and looking at pictures. We welcome comments.

Be sure to watch, just above this blurb, my husband, Jim, using his 10 foot hands-free electric fishing kayak

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Electric Powered Hands-Free Fishing Kayak

Be sure to check out the separate blog to find out about our electric kayak, Kingfisher 10! You can find the blog at http://electrickayakkingfisher-10.blogspot.com . You can also read the features list on this kayak and purchase building plans and building kits at www.winchuckriverstore.com .

About Me

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We moved to our current home on the Wild River Coast of Southern Oregon from San Jose, CA. Our family consist of Jim and Karen, two dogs and two cats. Karen's passion is gardening. Jim's obsession is building electric powered fishing kayaks and fishing.