Of Catios and Watering Cans

Oh, praise be, our kitties are now even more spoiled. Our little fur monsters are officially nature explorers. I guess cat tv on YouTube wasn't cutting it, so they asked us for a catio. For those of you not in the know, it's a patio + cat = catio, a safe space where kitty is enclosed in an outdoor setting, thus the birds, critters and kitty are all safe while kitty gets fresh air. FM has been busy designing and building this enclosure that is in reality just a fence across our deck, a quite effective one at that. We also wanted it to blend in and be as unobtrusive as possible, though that's a challenge. FM was up to it, here's what he built:

Can you see it?

How about now? There it is, a fence across the deck.

FM's plans for the catio. Only an FM can translate this.

Here FM is installing metal tubing he purchased from Newberg Steel, the framework of it all. He designed the catio, cut the metal tubing to size and then took it to a welder. FM then painted it to match the fencing. 

FM Note: It is 1-inch by 1-inch steel tubing. I used just about 120 feet of tubing. Nice solid stuff. The Newberg outlet is where we bought the four-inch and eight-inch flatbar for the edging along the pathways. Also, please check out my work pants from The Gap. On sale for $6 I cannot rip, cut or damage them. A good bargain. Ugly, yes! But oh so stylish for cleaning out chicken coops!

Here FM is attaching the fencing, a black welded wire 2" x 2" type (from Critterfence), with zip-ties.

From our back door looking out with the fence gate open.

It pretty much blends in, though on this, a rainy day, it shows up more prominently with water droplets on the fencing.

I think FM did a great job. 

On a sunnier day.

We observe that it shows up more in particular lighting as the sun moves across the sky or with rain water on it but for the most part it is fairly matched with the deck and doesn't stand out.

Here while it's kind of in a shadow, it does blend in.

It was important to have an outdoor space that we can still enjoy without it feeling too much like being in a cage. Let's see if the kitties like it:

Um, yeah. Right at home, that Diego.

Frank (left) and Snix both love it. They all do! Annie, our girl kitty, she goes outside with us on supervised tours around the garden so she's kind of unimpressed. But the boys? They loooove it.

If you would like to see the Releasing of the Beasties for the first time, Here is a link to a YouTube video of the kitties introduced to their new "catio" for the first time. It's not riveting video, but it does capture the moment.

Frank approves.

The downside is that of course we don't have free reign on and off the back deck, we have to be mindful of keeping the catio gate closed. Also watering the pots takes some maneuvering with the hose through the fence, but it's a minor complaint. Also, you can really see it from our dining room looking out in certain lighting where it catches the wire fencing. That's the worst part, but I think we'll get used to it and it's not all that bad. The plus, besides having four very happy cats who can now expand their territory beyond the four walls, is that FM and I have spent a lot more time out on our deck with them. We're actually taking breaks and relaxing when weather allows, we want to go out there and lounge, kitty style. Hooray for FM and his innovations and hooray for kitties getting sunshine and chasing flies!

OK, on to treats for me. After years of wanting a decent watering can, I decided to splurge on the best, a Haws two gallon. It was a super splurge, but it has a 10 year warranty and is so incredibly well made that I literally will never need another watering can. Why is it so good? They've been in business for 130 years, so time-tested. Incredibly durable powder coated steel and hand made in the UK, they are also very balanced. The can, when filled with water is still heavy, but it's not awkward. On the contrary, I can precision water delicate seedlings in the greenhouse with a fine, gentle waterfall of water, a benefit of it being balanced. The rose can be turned right side up or upside down, both with a gentle flow. I have three rose attachments, one for super fine flow, one regular and another for pots. The long handle reaches across a long area which is useful for me, a rather short person. I can carry it around by the long bar on top so it is easy to walk around the greenhouse with it. I'm in love. Yes, a splurge, but I justify it by the fact that I don't buy clothes. Just garden stuff.

Let's check in on the seed snails I posted about a few weeks ago. In case you missed it, the basic idea is that instead of starting seeds in pots, you roll up a piece of plastic (in this case bubble wrap) with soil and sow seeds on top and water well. The advantage is supposed to be that roots have a chance to grow good and long and when you unroll it it's easier than teasing out a clump of roots out of a mass that would be in a pot. Here are my sweet peas that arguably did the best out of about six different flowers I tried.

Here they are unrolled. The roots really did reach down to the bottom, I'm impressed. 

Unravelling them was not incredibly easy but do-able. Here's my glove for a size comparison. Overall I like the method. Less plastic and the bubble wrap can be reused which I like. Much less soil overall, so that's a plus. The potential pitfalls are that if they're not rolled up well, soil falls out of the bottom. They need to be in a tray to prevent soil from getting all over. Also watering is tricky, you don't want to oversoak them so watering from the bottom in a tray is helpful but then the seeds up top can dry out, so you do have to keep that wet until seeds germinate. I think some seeds might not be well suited for this but it's also a bit of a learning curve with me. I was given a bunch of lettuce starts done in this method from a friend. The starts looked good, though kind of leggy. I noticed a few snails only had about three or four lettuce plants, but since I didn't sow them I can't say for sure why that is. Also when unravelling them to plant them in my raised beds, it was a nightmare unravelling delicate lettuce starts and I accidentally smushed a few.

Final thoughts are that I like the method very much and will try this with all my veggie seeds next year for sure. I think it could also work for some cuttings. I think I need to refine the soil amount and the tight rolling of the snail, as well as spacing of seeds. That part is tricky. Stay tuned for hopefully more seed snail experimenting in my future.

A few more happenings here at Chickadee Gardens. The evening grosbeaks are here en masse visiting our birdfeeders and gorging themselves. They can go through a whole feeder in a day plus these little fly through feeders. They are fun to have around. Speaking of birds, we are also pleased to have a pair of white-breasted nuthatches move into FM's old bird house (installed on our Oregon white oak tree). They are fairly uncommon and a delight to see (sorry, no pics).

Late afternoon sun catching petals of a good sized patch of Limnanthes douglasii, Douglas' meadowoam.

Oxalis oregana along a side path of the regular mossy path, swallowing up the trees.

More Oxalis oregana, a selection called 'Klamath Ruby', on the other end of the shade garden.

Adiantum aleuticum, western maidenhair fern is one of the last of my ferns to emerge.

Maianthemum dilatatum, false lily of the valley.

Brunnera 'Candy Sea Heart' has formed a rather nice patch over time. Most seedlings come true but sometimes the silver on the leaves is absent. Still, it's a great shade-loving perennial.

Vancouveria planipetala, an evergreen inside out flower that is native to parts of Oregon and California, primarily. New growth is fresh, light green while the older foliage is a darker hue. It looks pretty good year-round, I must say. A slower grower than our locally native Vancoveria hexandra but worth the wait if you can find it.

The push/pull of spring continues around here with constant changes, of course. Allergies have been off the charts for pollen, the veggies are going at a very slow pace but the birds are here and coming off of such a mild winter most plants are doing a-ok. Oddly, I lost a few favorites such as two out of three Lupinus albifrons, a couple Helianthemum and a Sambucus is showing not signs of growth. These things happen. Chores seem to multiply despite my constant shadow in the garden, but I think my rhythm is changing in the garden. I am tending to go at it a little at a time every single day pretty much year-round, so the work load feels spread out. I used to go full force ahead to push for any particular project to be completed. It feels better to do a little at a time, especially as most of the garden now has good bones. The big projects are behind us. Whew!

Some housekeeping notes:

Our Dirty Diggers Spring Plant Sale is coming up soon! Saturday May 9th from 11 - 3-ish, the address is 334 N. Baldwin in Portland. Lots of amazing plant people will be there. Come say hi!

We have an open garden scheduled with the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon which is set for Saturday June 6, 10 - 4. If you're a member, look us up and if you can't swing a membership, get in touch with me as all are welcome.

That's a wrap for this week at Chickadee Gardens. As always, thank you so much for reading and commenting, we do appreciate you all! Happy gardening.