Spring came in on a warm day with a bright and sunny sky. The snow and sleet are gone and the daffodils do not see to be too much worst for the wear; some of the blooms are dropped over but most are nice and pretty. I got the rake out to attack the remaining leaves but decided the handle was much too short. The reason the handle was much too short was because the day before the snow and sleet arrived the handle snapped into on me.

Cheap Rake Handle

I decided to head to the woods with my hand saw to find a dead sapling that would make a quick rake handle replacement. I did not find a suitable dead sapling so went ahead and cut down a small sweetgum (liquidambar); those things sprouts like crazy from all the seeds. I made sure to cut it long and then trimmed to a more suitable size testing the length for use. I drilled a hole for the bolt and stripped off the rough bark and in no time I was back in business. I may work on it with the sureform later or I may just leave it rustic.

Repaired Rake; Rustic but Functional

It was a beautiful spring day Saturday. There was a slight wind but not enough to be bothersome. I took the opportunity to do some more work in the gardens. One of the tasks was redoing the Easter lily, (Lilium longiflorum). To protect the lily from the voles, Mum planted it in a container with the bottom removed. I pulled it up and got the bulbs out and replaced the old container with a new one. I separated out the babies and placed them in a pot to grow. I also dug up the asiatic lily (Lilium asiatic) beside the front porch. When I first planted it I use plastic mesh to protect it from the voles and I replaced that with a container as well; lots of holes in the bottom and a layer of small stones to help with drainage. I transplanted some of the tall phloxes into the area the voles attacked. The good thing about the phloxes is that they are hardy and do spread; I have had to weed them out in the past. After working with the phloxes I moved some of the canna lilies back from the front of the bed where they were located. Canna lilies (not a true lily) grow quite tall reaching over 2 meters easily. I found out the voles do not like the cana lily rhizomes; there were no signs of the voles feasting on the rhizomes. I was concern with the cold and wet weather but the rhizomes were sound.

Sunday morning there was a considerable drop in temperature. I looked out the window to find some of my canna lilies that I had moved sitting on top of the ground with a hole where they should be. I put the coffee on and went out to investigate. I got my hand spade and gardening gloves and decided to grab my camera to take some photos of any tracks left behind by the creature that decided my canna lilies were planted incorrectly. My first thought was that some neighbour was violating the rules and letting his/her dog roam at night. However, I was to be proven wrong, the tracks were raccoon tracks. I never had these problems when Molly the Deranged was here. I think I am going to buy me a dog.

Raccoon Tracks

I replanted the canna lily but afternoon a rain started falling and so any work outside would have to wait. Sunday morning found snow and sleet on the ground. So much for the spring weather of Saturday. I think one is going to have to forget about spring flowers. The daffs that had been blooming were over on the ground. Tuesday was much the same with some freezing rain that coated everything in a thin layer of ice. I was worried about the flowering almond as it was starting to bud out. Today the snow and sleet was gone and just a light rain to dampen everything. I do hope this cold weather passes soon but chances of snow and frost still lingers in this area until April. In fact, Mum told me that one of the worst snows was in April where it snowed every Wednesday for three weeks.

After the warm spring weather we had earlier in the week, it turned back to winter. Yesterday was heavy rains followed by intense winds that actually scared me with the strength it was blowing. I went outside after the last downpour but got scared that a limb could come crashing down on me and decided to leave the gardening until later.

I went back out today to survey the voles damage and it is bad to say the least. I regret now not cleaning off the leaves off the beds but the workload of getting up leaves is heavy here due to the trees around the house. Plus the weather was cold and wet for most of the winter and I stayed holed up in my little office for the most part. While I have not gone digging for them, I am sure the tulips are all but gone that I planted in the back garden beds. The voles destroyed the rose garden, that will have to be replanted and rose bushes are not cheap. I also found out the voles have took out most of my Russian sage (Perovskia) and that is one of my favourite plants in the gardens. As I had reported earlier, the voles found some of my gladiolus and ate part of the cones and they all but destroyed Mum's October plant/Autumn Joy Sedum(. I have been digging up things and placing them in old nursery pots until I can get the beds clear of the voles.

The voles had invaded just about every bed in the garden. There is one bed in the front I have yet to check and that bed contains some lilies and tulips. I have been thinking of building some owl boxes to encourage owls to nest on the property. Voles are mostly nocturnal creatures and owls would be a perfect predator to take care of them. Black rat snakes also prey on voles and I do have them here. With all the baby black rats that I dig up in my gardens, I would think they could take care of the voles. Plus, there are some copperheads on the property as well; yes, they are poisonous but usually it is the bacterial infection that causes the most damage. My readers may recall me stepping barefooted on a copperhead one year.

This vole damage is going to be costly to me. I will be traveling down to the nursery when they are ready to start selling to replace the plants. I will need to keep the beds free of mulch to make it easier to check for the signs of voles which means more watering during the summer months. I was hoping to have the funds for mulching the beds this year but I guess that money will have to go to replanting. I will not be leaving the leaves on the beds next autumn.