The Lazy Shady Gardener

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Owl House

Screech owls used to always nest in a cavity found in a large limb of my garden's biggest Red Oak. Unfortunately, the limb eventually snapped and had to be completely removed. But now my son has given me an owl house, so once again my evening garden visits will be accompanied by the soft trilling of nesting screech owls.

Though, instead of settling on it's rather generic appearance, I wanted it to naturally blend in with my trees - similar to my long, lost cavity.

So I picked out a location on the main trunk of a Live Oak, and then studied the bark pattern and colors. I wanted to paint the birdhouse in attempt to replicate that pattern so that it would essentially look like part of the tree.

Since most of the owl house was unfinished wood, I decided to start by completely coating it with Krylon gray primer.

Next, I sprayed over the primer using Rust-oleum flat black camouflage paint. After this dried, using a 3/8 inch round brush, I created small blotches with Behr Premium Plus Fashion Gray (PPU18-15) flat paint in an attempt to replicate the bark pattern found on the tree. The blotches tended to be too light and the overall paint job was a little too "precise", so to darken and dull the blotches/edges, I lightly and randomly sprayed over the house with Rust-oleum flat brown camouflage paint.

This worked extremely well and I was quite satisfied with its appearance, but when I held the owl house up near the bark, I discovered that I had made the blotches too large. To fix this, using a 1/4 inch flat brush, I went back and painted additional stripes of Painter's Touch flat black paint to break up the blotches.

Unfortunately, the Painter's Touch flat black paint turned out to be shinier than my original, so I had to spray additional flat brown camouflage over the entire house. This tended to make it somewhat darker than I really wanted, but starting completely over wasn't worth the effort. To get it as high as I desired, I had to rent an extendable ladder from Home Depot - but was able to place it exactly where I had pictured it.

Now the owl house tends to disappear into the canopy unless you are actually looking for it. Only time will tell whether the screech owls like it as much as I do.

What I have learned:

The Rust-oleum flat black camouflage was the perfect shade for what I needed.
Try either of the slightly darker Behr Premium Plus Elephant Skin (PPU18-16) or Suede Gray (PPU18-17) flat paint for blotches (instead of Fashion Gray (PPU18-15) - though the latter might be good for adding lichen-like blotches.
Use a smaller-sized flat brush to create the blotches (the 3/8 inch round brush bristles tended to spread out too much thus creating larger than desired blotches) - of course, that all depends on the desired tree bark size.
Painter's Touch flat black paint is too shiny and should be avoided.
Over-painting with the Rust-oleum flat brown camouflage really helped to create variety and blur the stark edges of the blotches (but doing it twice makes everything too dark).

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Flower Power: GBBD August 2012

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Morning Glory

I've often wanted to try growing some Morning Glories, but have simply never gotten around to the attempt. But recently I decided to try growing some up a metal obelisk that I had. So, at it's base, I planted several seeds of the "Early Call Mix" back in late May. They quickly sprouted and started growing up the metal frame.

And finally, the first bloom has opened (and there are a few other unopened buds promising future blossoms). There should eventually be several colors, but I find the pale blue of this first flower extremely attractive.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Composting Progress

Back in November 2011, I made my first attempt at creating a small compost pile. By early January, it was full of gathered grass clippings and mulched winter leaf litter.

Six months later, the pile has settled significantly. Thus I decided to see if the final product was available and ready for use!

I read that it was best to sift out the good stuff, throw away any sticks or rocks that had managed to get in, and return the larger leaf material back to the pile. So I created a sieve that would fit on my wheelbarrow. Using scrap 2x4s & some smaller trim, I created the basic structure. I then added three additional small trim pieces that would wedge into the wheelbarrow and prevent the screen from sliding about.

I pulled back one side of my compost pile chicken wire and started shoveling out from the bottom. I quickly learned that a garden fork worked best to loosen up the material, and then used a shovel to transfer it to my screen. Other than nature and my sprinkler system, I haven't really been watering the pile, nor have I been turning it. It was easy to see that the composting occurred at a faster pace on the edges where it was receiving water.

After placing several spadefuls onto the screen, I would give the material a vigorous rubbing with gloved hands to help separate out the compost from the larger components.

After doing this a few times, I lifted off the screen to discover a nice, fine compost composed of broken down material and small pieces of leaves.

I had heard that some compost piles become a haven for ants, but so far the most abundant critters I found in mine were pillbugs and earwigs (perhaps because I never add water).

I'll be digging out more and then looking for plants that need a little boost here in the latter part of summer. I'm already thinking of ways to expand my simple structure and make it look nicer while increasing its functionality.