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Carl Alwin Schenck Memorial Forest
Growing up I hiked wilderness foot trails in Tennessee, and having lived in Raleigh, North Carolina since college, I find that most nearby parks have overly managed trails. By overly managed, I mean they are wide enough to allow park vehicle access, there may be a foot trail but it parallels a road for three-quarters the distance to the destination view, or there are so many people that you constantly hear, “On the right!” Schenck Forest is no wilderness, it…
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Pi Alpha Xi Plant Sale Spring 2018
My oldest and I went to the NC State Pi Alpha Xi plant sale at the NC Museum of Art Saturday morning. The plant list was shared earlier in the week, and I looked up all the native plants and boxed the ones I hoped to pick up. Without going to a specialty nursery, it can be difficult to find native plants, so this sale is a goldmine in that there are plenty plants clearly marked as native (and many…
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An Evolving Rock Garden
We have a little tradition in our family of bringing home rocks from camping trips or special times in the mountains. We don’t always remember to do it, but the times we have it usually involves picking one out and seeing if Joe is able to lift it and get it into the car. We also regularly dig up rocks in the yard. Nearly every time we have planted a tree, we’ve unearthed rocks of varying sizes. This has resulted…
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Before the Last Frost (0 Weeks)
If you live in Raleigh, don’t plant today or tomorrow. I’m holding my breath for spring (and for the pollen to be washed away). If you have already planted, consider cloches or floating row covers to protect tender plants. I’ve used buckets, tarp tents, plastic cups, and cloches all to varying degrees of success. Yesterday I noticed that most of my pumpkin and watermelon seedlings were done for, so I will be direct seeding after this weather passes. My tomatoes…
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Lake Raleigh
It was a strange collision of events this weekend – the start of Spring Break, full moon, Easter, and April Fools Day. After a long, cold winter, we were eager to enjoy the warm air. Late Sunday afternoon we set out to explore the woods near Lake Raleigh on Centennial Campus. Joe and I first ended up near the paved greenway trail after following bad directions, but we eventually navigated to Centennial Magnet Middle School. Only a few paces into…
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Before the Last Frost (1 Week!)
I’ve looked at the 10 day forecast and don’t see any freezing weather ahead. Here in Raleigh (Zone 7b), we are finally down to one week until our average last frost date. Today is actually Good Friday, which sometimes falls after this date. It looks like we still may have a an evening or two in the 30s, so I will wait to plant the peppers since exposure to cooler temps can impact fruiting later in the season. I moved…
