Loading...
July 04, 1996 - Backyard Tour Focuses on NatureJuly 4, 1996 • The Suffolk Times • 7A Backyard Tour Focuses on Nature It is weed - pulling time. After the rains of last week the ground is soft and giving so it's easy to pull those ever - present pesky weeds that never give up growing. I guess the key to a weed -free garden is to keep at it, but as soon as good weather comes along, it's hard to "keep at it." And so, I've taken time out to sit in one of the old lawn chairs under the rose arbor that leads into the garden. I put this arbor up about three or four years ago and it has worked out just great. I � used locust wood saplings and limbs so it would last past my time. Locust limbs are crooked and kinked, giving the structure an interesting design. To cover it I divided an old climbing rose of my dad's from his place in Fleets Neck. It's a soft pink with the — most delightful fragrance. The petals are falling now and so I'm sitting on a blan- ket of pink. It's cool here in the shade, out of the hot sun. In front of me is a huge white pedestal that came from an old formal garden. Atop it is a big basket of portu- lacas that have already started to break out in all their wonderful colors. Then radiating out from this central pillar are four raised garden beds. Their sides are made of redwood salvaged from some- one's deck that was being refurbished. The plots are four feet by 12 feet, making gardening so much easier for now you can reach into the beds from either side. I love flowers but vegetables I can't resist. So, three of the beds are filled with lettuce of various kinds, peppers, squash- es, cucumbers, tomatoes, various sorts of herbs and some new green from the Far East. Having tasted this from Wickham's stand I just had to try raising some myself. Then further down is a large holly tree that is loaded with green berries. How my dad would love to see that. Hollies were his favorite, especially the American holly that's native to our shores. The best place I know to see American holly is out at Montauk. There in the sandy moraine it seems to do especially well. The odd thing about our native holly is that you seldom see any great showing of berries. It's my belief that the birds get them whereby the more showy English holly berries you see evidently aren't as tasty. As I sit here I see the red - tailed hawk that nests in the neighbor's woods to the east, soaring above. Right behind it are two blackbirds (redwings or grackles) divebombing it. They always seem to give the redtail a hard time even when he's sitting peacefully on my windmill. This dislike and attack procedure must be inherited for I doubt if the hawk has ever bothered with them. More likely what the redtail is looking for is some unsuspecting baby rabbit. Everyone knows how effi- cient rabbits are in re- producing and yet there's never an overabundance of them around. Cats, foxes, owl and hawks plus cars, lawnmowers and other gad - getry take their toll and keep all but the very smart and lucky ones under control. Past the big holly tree is a tool shed. Open on one side and not very deep, it comes in handy for .storing rakes, shovels, hand lawnmowers, clippers, etc. Atop and over its sides climbs a trumpet creeper. Again, a lot of memorabilia from my dad's place. That trumpet creeper my dad had right alongside of the house introduced me to that dazzling little jewel, the humming- bird. How we watched in awe as it moved into those long trumpets, backed out and moved on to another. As yet I haven't been able to entice "Ruby" to mine. Semi -Dwarf Orchard? Past the tool shed is our orchard of 20 or so apple, peach and plum trees. Here again, like weeding, you have to be per- sistent in spraying if you want results in fruits. I clearly love to not spray and can assure you I do as little as possible, but my orchard is a total loss without spray- ing. I only wish I'd used dwarf trees years ago for although most are semi -dwarf they're still too large for my liking. So if you're thinking of fruit trees, think dwarf; they're easier to prune, pick and spray. Of course, all this is fenced in to keep our two cows from enjoying the spoils of the garden. This is no deterrent to the deer, though. Already they have nibbled the ends of my apple trees, cut the tops out of my lilies and had a feast of salad from the garden. Their big footprints in the soft earth show me they have little Focus on Mature by Paul Stoutenburgh 1_06690% i ..wL nwwL 75 Years Ago July 1, 1921 Advertisement: Sale of new bicycles, $35. Fully equipped with coaster brake and guards. Used and rebuilt bicycles, $8 and up. Leroy H. Osborn, corner of First and South streets, Greenport. An Offer He Could Refuse: Greenport School Superintendent Swanson received a call this week from the Manhassett Board of Education at a salary of $3,500. He declined the offer because of the lateness of the date and the confusion and embarrassment which such a move would entail to the Greenport board. 50 Years Ago July 5, 1946 Classified Advertisement: Lots for sale — approximately 50 by 150 feet, priced $500 per lot. There are about 15 good ones left, near school and in Greenport Village. Henry B. Moore. 50 Years of Work at Brecknock: In these days of disputes between capital and labor and the difficulty experienced in securing employees in many industries the fact that a man has been employed on the same estate for a half century is a record to be proud of. On Thursday of this week, Merwin Baker of East Marion completed 50 years of consecutive employment at Brecknock Hall, the estate Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh TRUMPET CREEPER —One of the great climbers, the trumpet creeper . provides the hummingbird with almost exclusive rights to its nectar. With its long bill the "hummer" has no problem reaching the sweets. regard for boundaries. Overlooking all this way up back in the corner of the property is the windmill. It originally came from a duck farm in Riverhead that is now a housing develop- ment. With the help of my sons and some other hardy souls, we laid the entire struc- ture down on my son's truck and drove it home. Once in the pasture it went through a thorough overhauling and was repainted and fitted with a brand -new "fan" on top. I'd put down a well and it pumped water for years until the leather gave out in the bottom. I'm now awaiting help to "pull" the pump and replace the leather so that it once again can take up its chore of pump- ing water. Of course, once it was standing I had to put up a large crossbar for hawks and owls to perch. As I mentioned earlier, our local red - tailed hawks take advantage of the height and scan the countryside from there. Also attached to the sides are two owl or kestrel boxes. I'm looking for the small screech owl to nest in one. Last year I was glad to see the little kestrel had taken one of the boxes and brought forth a clutch of young. You'll often see this small hawk owned by Mr. Delaney Robinson. Mr. Baker, who was born in Greenport, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Joshua Baker, started work 50 years ago when he was 12 years of age, working during the summer vaca- tions for Mrs. Robinson's father, Albert Delafield. After finishing school Mr. Baker was employed regularly by Mr. Delafield and continued his position after Mr. Delafield's death, working for Mr. Robinson on the Brec- knock Hall estate. 25 Years Ago July 1, 1971 Cutchogue Nixes New Building: Voters in the Cutchogue School District turned down, 226 to 134, the $1,185,000 proposal for a new school building designed to bring kindergarten through eighth grade into one location at the East Cutchogue School. At present, primary grades are housed at the West Cutchogue School on Depot Lane and grades 5 through 8 in East Cutchogue. Wanted — Peach Princess: In the 1970 Peach Festival, the first ever held on the North Fork, 29 young ladies competed for the right to reign over the celebration. Plans are now under way for the second annual Peach Festi- val, sponsored by the Mattituck Fire Department, with invi- tations going out to all girls age 10 to 12 and residing in Mattituck to enter. (about the size of a blue jay) sitting on tele- phone wires looking below for grasshop- pers and other insects, which make up most of his diet during the warmer months. A few stay through the winter and they scan the ground for mice and voles since there are no insects to hunt. I admire people who work the soil, for being close to the earth says something special about them. Most feel a deep kin- ship to the soil, which many today have lost. Could this be why we've misused our planet so? For auto, home and life— Being in good hands is the only place to be. SM Chris Manfredi, Ray Gramazio Main Road - Celic Center, Mattituck, NY (Across from A &P Shopping Center) 298.5407 • Fax 298.5280 01996 Allelate Indemn ty company. Norlbbfook, IXirtols and Aktate Ltle Insurance Company of Now York. Fuminpvft Now Yod. Subject to availability and 0u9Pllca9ons. Cow Wm. condborw and exclusions may apply.