Tying it all Together

Our front yard was becoming a mishmash of gardens as we expanded to add new plants, so 3 years ago we decided to turn the whole thing into a garden, except for a 24' circle. We measured the circle using a metal stake and rope, then marked the whole thing with old hose hammered down with long nails.

front circle before

Kelly lugged in all the stones from back in the woods and lined them up along the hose. Then he dug out all the areas outside the circle to about 2' deep. Next came a big load of garden soil and, of course, plants. We preserve some larger sections at the front for dahlias and glads, which all have to be dug up and replanted yearly.

front circle after

Everything Cucumber

I have only grown cucumbers once, for a lot of reasons. First, they are a vine plant and need something to climb or somewhere to sprawl. Second, they take a lot of thought. You have to think about what you are going to do with them. Do you want to pickle or eat them fresh in a salad? If you are going to pickle, do you want big pickles or tiny ones, sweet or dill? There are so many kinds of cucumber and each of them, by claim, are best for each specific use. It seems so complicated when I am getting ready to plant.

This year, I am breaking out of that box. I have a kitchen garden chain link fence they can climb and all my years of flower gardening have taught me that it is really not necessary to do every single thing that is recommended to get a good yield. I have also decided that I will worry about how to deal with the harvest when it is harvest time. This year, I am not going to think myself out of cucumbers. If you want to join me in planting them, Mother Earth News has an article here on everything cucumbers.

Starting Seeds This Season?

I keep going back and forth on whether I am going to start seeds inside this year or not. I would rather not but we have such a short growing season, the list of what I can't grow is huge. I am still undecided but that can't last much longer - spring is coming!

If you are planning on starting seeds, there is a good article that contains a simple seed starting plan at Organic Gardening. It also has how to instructions for making your own seed starting mix and newspaper seedling pots.

Garden Time Saving

 
I came upon Organic Gardening's 11 Time Saving Tips and was going to post it here. Then, as I was reading, I realized that most of us have already heard we need to make a plan, pile on mulch and keep tools handy and close to the garden. The idea that was new for me was a good one though. It was wash your harvest in the garden. What a great idea! Saves bringing in all that dirt to the kitchen. They suggest you collect your harvest in an old laundry basket which will act as a strainer in your garden when you hose it down. This is definitely a great garden idea I am going to use. Thank you, Organic Gardening. It is always great to find new ideas I hadn't heard before - especially if they are going to save me time!

The other tip I found interesting was one I first discovered in Ruth Stout's Gardening Without Work. The tip was build soil in place. The idea is that you compost between rows all spring/summer and then dig in after harvest in the fall. Ruth advocated just planting in the between rows next year and build the soil where the vegetable rows were this year, next year. Ruth's garden philosophy, as advertised, was for the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent. I wish I would have met her. Her book is well worth the read and was published when she was 76 years old. She was a wealth of information and I have used many of her methods in my flower gardens. I must confess however, that I do not employ them all because I am rather fussy about the look of things in my flower gardens and no work does mean a bit of a messy looking garden. Beautiful, big, healthy flowers but messy overall with informal composted paths. This year, I plan to use all or most of her methods in my new kitchen garden. In my vegetable patch, paths are not required other than to walk on to weed and what it looks like is secondary to the harvest quality and size it is producing. Ruth and I are going to be great friends this season. I think I will go pull out her book now.

Dog Proof

Today I replaced the winter-killed Heuchera 'Key Lime Pie' with the division of Heuchera 'Lime Rickey' from Linda's garden. They are so similar that the colour combination will be perfect again. In my never ending quest to keep the dogs from digging up everything new I plant, I found yet another solution. The dogs only dig where I have just dug. Once a plant is in the ground for a few days, they do not bother it. Right after I plant though, I need to protect it from them. Usually, I use anything that is handy and free. Most often that means willow cages. The willows are a good walk from the garden though and you can only cut what you need to use immediately because if they dry too much they don't bend. So I will often use anything else that is handy like the odd metal chair or rocks, although they can be heavy to move around. Today I was stacking plastic pots in the shop and I found two old wire hanging pots. Along with a couple of tent stakes I had instant plant protection!

Mowing and Mulching

Last summer Kelly and I were trying to figure out what to do with the west side of our property along the other side of the driveway.  I knew it wouldn't be a good place for gardens because of the shade trees.  But it was a royal pain to mow around hostas and trees and I wanted a tidier look.  This year, Kelly cut out all the sod, we put down landscape fabric and mulched all around the bank edge and tree line.  Looks so much better now and easier to maintain.

Food!

I have always been a flower gardener and still consider myself as such. This year I added food to my garden and was surprised to find that it was as easy as growing flowers. This was the first of my potatoe crop to be made into a meal. It was yummy! I had success with everything I planted so I am going to expand that next year with the addition of a fenced kitchen garden. Although the dogs did not bother potatoes, onion and chard, I have a feeling they may feel differently about carrots, spinach and lettuce. Add to that our visitors from this morning and I think the kitchen garden will need a fence.

New Gardens

When we moved here, there was not much of a garden. There were the Boardwalk Garden beds which were shade gardens jam packed with full sun plants. It was pretty and built on minimal space because a gardener did not live here then. The first year, we didn't make many changes. I put in the Nursery for all my plants brought from my city garden and we built the firepit which is a 25' circular patio of pavers with a 42" firepit in the centre. Our continued work the next year was all in the back yard where we started. Last year, I managed to get enough done in the back that I felt I could start the front. This garden is new at the front of the house. It is my orange garden. I can tell it is new because I have to weed it constantly which is something that goes away after I have been gardening a bed for awhile. My friends can tell it is new because it has gravel mulch which I would never use and will, eventually, remove. Although this garden is not finished yet, I was very happy many times this season that I managed to get it half done so far. The addition of flowers in my dining room window view and out the sunroom window has been well worth the effort. The number of times that flower view has made me pause to appreciate it as I moved through the house made me decide to deal with the view out that same window in the other direction. I have taken down the bushline along the sidewalk and we are considering moving the chiminea seating area closer to the deck before I start to build the garden there. The only plants left are 3 or 4 Juniper that were inside the bush. I will very likely move them out further because I want flowers up at the house and I can't stand the smell of Juniper, which to me, smells like ammonia. The first time I noticed that, I spent 2 weeks trying to find where in my garden my cat had decided was a litter box until I realized it was the Juniper off the front step I was smelling! I love the excitement of a new garden. I already know which Dahlia will be planted in these two beds next year and which of my perennials will be divided to plant here. The only question left is can I find an orange rose I love.

Waiting for the Storm

We are expecting Hurricane Earl to hit Nova Scotia tomorrow morning so I headed out to stake my glads this morning.  Perhaps it's optimistic to think that stakes will actually make a difference!  I've also been out taking pictures because I'm sure the scene will look quite different by Sunday.  It's a little sad to think that I may not even see many of my glads and dahlias that are yet to bloom.  Having seen the effect of Hurricane Juan, I'm trying to be realistic.

There are a few things you can do to help prepare your garden for a storm:

• wrap up and put all your hoses inside
• move anything loose inside, such as ornaments, empty pots, watering cans, buckets, tools, garbage cans, green bins, patio furniture, BBQ
• take down and store portable gazebos, tents, awnings
• move potted plants to a sheltered area or inside
• stake anything tall

Things blowing around can do a lot of damage in your garden!

Time to Divide

I'm pretty sure the rule is:

• early blooming - divide in fall
• late blooming - divide in spring

I'm not sure where that leaves those things that bloom in the middle of the summer!  I have read that hosta can be divided fall or spring but not sure about the rest.  Besides, I'm not much good for following rules so we move and divide as the mood hits us.  I don't remember having any casualties but I'm sure it was a real struggle for a few of those plants.

More About Garden Planning

A follow-up to Danielle's note on planning because I love planning too!  I recently read a book by Janice Wells and she says this:

"I find designing a dream garden is a lot of fun.  Even if I never stick to it, I'll feel a bit more relaxed because I feel organized and in control, plus there's a comfort in knowing I'm a wonderful gardener on paper."

She goes on to say:

"Making a long-term plan for your garden, but not feeling compelled to follow it, is more serious advice than it sounds.  A garden is a work in progress.  Understanding that I can change my mind a dozen times doesn't contradict the fact that having a plan takes away indecision."

I agree with her philosophy 100%.  Here is a garden plan for the backyard that I created 5 years ago:

Not one of those shrubs pictured are anywhere close to this garden - and most I don't even own.  However, the shape is dead on.  We created a 2' grid in the yard with string and sticks, then used old hose to mark the edge of the new garden, hammered into the hard clay ground.  My husband dug all that hard clay down 2' deep, filled it with a load of garden soil and here's what it looks like now.  It's so much better than my plan but couldn't have happened without it.

The Planning Process

This is my Combine Garden. I don't actually know if the piece of equipment that sits along the back of the garden is a combine or not but even if I were to find out now that it wasn't, I doubt I could kick the habit of thinking of it as the Combine Garden. It sits at the entry to Sleepy Hollow Road and there is a direct view of it from the little house. Although I did not originally plant this garden, I did drop seeds this Spring. When I did that, I forgot how much Yarrow was growing here and unfortunately, the Yarrow overpowered most of the seeds. This, coupled with all of the hollyhock seeding to the front of the bed, has got me thinking it is time to make changes here this year. The view from the other side of the bed shows just how unruly it really is. Today was sweltering hot and late in the day, a summer rainstorm blew through. The result was that I was inside with these thoughts and thus began the planning process. I love to plan my gardens. I can spend hours making lists, sketches and maps full of little labeled circles. It is, however, rare that I follow any of my plans. My planting technique tends to be more haphazard. The maps I keep usually are the ones I make after the planting is done. That never stops me from enjoying the planning process though so here is the plan for my new Combine Garden for 2011. Work begins this fall.

Step 1: Collect seed from  Marigolds, Bachelor's Buttons, Hollyhock and Sunflower 

Step 2: Shear down the Yarrow when done flowering to prevent it from seeding.

Step 3: Relocate at least half of the Yarrow, all of the Daylily and the Asiatic Lily.

Step 4: Remove weeds and dig grass out from back of bed around equipment and roses.

Step 5: Tie the wild rose stalks to help them climb the bush edge.

Step 6: Dig compost into the soil.

Step 7: Rake and mulch the bed.

Final Step: Drop seed this Fall and next Spring then wait to enjoy!

My new plan calls for this garden to become all direct sown or self-seeding plants with the exception of the Yarrow and the wild roses that stay. This garden is in full sun all day plus, it is quite a distance from the house. It needs plants that can handle our hot afternoon summer sun and do not require huge amounts of extra water. Calendula, Rudbeckia, Sunflower and Poppy are on the top of my list but that may all change when the seed catalogues arrive in the Fall. I will be sure to share the result next Summer so we can see how far I stray from the original plan by the time it is done.

To Mow or Not to Mow

Only my husband would suggest that a garden under the trees is easier to maintain than mowing the area.  (Perhaps because the maintenance shifts from him to me?)  We have a 12' wide strip of grass on the west side of our driveway, about 80' long.  Kelly has been meticulously trying to get grass to grow there for 4 years now.  It used to be like a woods, with lots of roots to trip over.  When he decided to level our front yard, he cut up every piece of weedy sod and moved it under the trees on the west side.  This year it's finally starting to look closer to what a lawn should.

Apparently this year it's also become a bit difficult to mow around the few hostas and shrubs that he planted there.  So now the Plan is to get rid of the grass and have a mulch-covered area with lots of shade plants and a pathway running down the middle.

This is not an easy feat, as you will know if you have ever tried to dig a hole under large mature trees. I tried once and made it 6 inches before calling for help.  So it means the planting will happen by trial and error.  Lots of holes will be started and not as many finished and filled.  (A lot of hard work for Kelly!)

Another challenge will be to get rid of the grass.  The Plan calls for covering it with tarps until it dies.  I’m still a little uncertain about this strategy.  The other challenges in that area will be shade, dry soil and caterpillars.  For now I'm convinced enough to start drawing up a planting Plan.