A shopping we did go…

The Green Springs Plant Sale has been something that my mother has told me about for years.  She said it was one of the best she had ever been to and that I needed to go, so go we did.  I got a lot of the shade plants that were on my wish list, including an Empress Wu hosta.  I will have to spend some time moving the plants around and deciding where I want to put what and with who. 

Looking at the picture though I think that the Grape Soda Heuchera looks really good with the yellow plants!

I also found some miniature hosta to add to my gardens.  I could see getting hooked on them, there are so many to chose from!

Plans paid for and otherwise…

 

In 2014 while we were finishing up the deer fence, we had an official garden plan drawn up.  The plan shows existing trees, the pond, the gazebo etc.  It is a good representation of the bones of the garden and where it could eventually go.  The plan wasn’t cheap and to be honest we had high hopes that it would lay out what to do with the plants we had and what plants to add to complete the garden.  We didn’t think it would be an over night process more like several years and that was okay.

 When we got the plan we realized there were some issues, for starters she hadn’t included any of the plants that were already here.  The plantings while lovely on paper for the most part weren’t correct for our growing conditions.  When we asked we were told she would get back to us, she never did.

Now here I am some 3 years later doing my best to design with the plants that I have around the bones that were on the plan.  I’ve taken an inventory of my plants, I researched their growing conditions and the best times to transplant.  I’ve also been devouring plant combination pins on Pinterest as well as suggestions for additions to the gardens.

The thing is, planning a garden this way involves a lot of thinking.  Over the years I’ve basically just plunked down plants where the growing conditions were close to what they needed.  I’ve occasionally tried to put color combinations together, but I’ve never worried about texture or varying heights.  What my eyes didn’t see in my 20’s they now see very clearly in my 40’s.  I need evergreens for height, winter interest and for the birds to take shelter in from hawks.   I need shrubs that will add color and focal points and I need texture in the form of grasses and different types of leaves.  I see it clearly now and the work that is ahead.

For me gardening is the best stress release there is.  I get pleasure from working outside till I can barely walk, being covered in dirt and knowing that when my head hits the pillow I’ll fall asleep. 

Even if it is to dream about garden plans…

Garden goings..

Monday saw the sale of all of my Langstroth beekeeping supplies.  If I ever go down that road again it will be top bar only.  I was happy to see it go and the guy that bought it all was delighted to take it!  The rains came Monday evening and brought in much cooler temperatures and wind for today.  That didn’t stop Cooper from wanting to be outside on the deck though!

I have to admit to being so incredibly glad that he likes being outside!  It makes life so much easier to be able to go out and know he’s content to lay on the deck or on his other bed nearby. 

I’ve got so many plans and projects for the gardens, I need a few more versions of myself out there to do the work.  Today I took care of a project that wasn’t any fun at all, moving rocks.

Now, my original plan for these rocks was edging that looks like this, but with a catch, I want to set it in mortar so that they don’t sink into the ground.  Rocks here have a tendency to disappear in one season so a nice cut edge, a little mortar and river rock would make a great edge for separating the gardens from the grass.  These borders are only going to be for the gardens that we are creating in the wooded areas that are in the deer fenced part of the yard.

One of the places I had to gather rocks from (because someone took some of my really nice river rocks to use!) was where the overflow pipe is.  Those rocks were under several inches of mud because the area continues to wash, it’s just a natural slope for all the water that runs through the yard to go into this area.

Well I came up with the brilliant idea to turn this into a dry stream bed.  It will be a nice addition to the area and it will allow the water to wash through without getting muddy and gross. It could look something like this..

Which I think would look SO much better than it does now..

Now that all the small rocks are up from around the path edges and the pond area, I’ve got lots of little things I can do.  The bigger rocks will need to be relocated and I suspect some can be used for the dry stream bed.

I also have to collect as many of the large limbs that have fallen as I can find to use to edge the paths.  I’m going for this look..

Isn’t that a path you’d want to walk down!  Hey if I’m dreaming my dreams are going to be big ones.  I really wonder what the heck the people do with all their leaves!

Dog Tired…

After the weekend this is pretty much how we all felt! 

We got a lot of little things done like putting the spider shade and new safari straps on the Jeep.

Cooper loves riding in the Jeep and I love taking him with me but I wanted him to be safely inside so now the Jeep looks cool and I know he’s safe!

Randy finished putting all the new grilles in the windows and installed almost all of our new window screens.

We still haven’t decided if we want to try and stain them to match the honey of the windows or let them age naturally…

We also spent some time cleaning, clearing and marking around the pond area for the new plants and transplants.

This is the start of the new path, it’s made from the sticks and pruning's.  It’s actually supposed to start back further in the grass but we aren’t quite ready for that.

This area was pretty clear already, I started pulling out the bittersweet and weeds last year.  I still have some small stumps that need to come out but it’s pretty much ready for planting.

This is the view of the pond from the path, it’s getting there.  I am thinking that I want to do a bench in this area it’s one of my favorite views. (Just got to get rid of those rocks!)

The path heads off into the bittersweet jungle, literally, it’s a jungle of oriental bittersweet that has to be pulled out.  Randy wants to just mow it, but because there are actual native plants like Jack in the Pulpits, Mayapples, Solomon's seal, native viburnums and ferns I just can’t do that.  So one section at a time I pull, cut and move forward.  The leaves will be shredded and left in the planting areas, the sticks and branches chipped and put down as the path.

Cooper reached a milestone too, his crate was taken down.  We’ve been leaving him out recently and he pretty much just sleeps on the bed while we are gone.  We will keep an eye on him (we have a Cooper Cam ) and if he starts getting into stuff we can always put the crate back up.  My problem with that is he’s just inches from being too big for it!

I know the day has passed but the sentiment is genuine when I say Thank You! to all the veterans that protect the freedoms that I hold so dear!

Gardening in the winter

So when I look out the window and see leaves and sticks I think about all the stuff that I want/need to do outside.  So I’m planning and plotting and recently I came across an article that sparked my desire to grow my own veggies (again). Ten Vegetables to Grow in the Shade well now I just happen to have a bed that isn’t over planted and that is a nice rectangle and would be easy to fence!  Which of course led me to order seeds from great places Botanical Interests and Seed Savers Exchange (which I also joined!) because I wanted organic and heirloom seeds.  This led to me collecting a bunch of plastic containers to use for winter sowing and more research about which vegetables can be winter sown.
So here are the results of my first planting day!

Eight containers in all, I’ve got more to plant in March, I’m following the suggestions!  I can almost taste those fresh veggies…

Planning Pinterest Style…

Winter has finally arrived, it even snowed and due to the cold gripping the area it didn’t melt!  It is such a grand gift though I highly doubt the majority of the population appreciates it.  It’s due to snow again tonight, I’d be happy if it stayed cold and snowy until March.  I’m not crazy, I just need a break and time to dream and plan.
Have you ever been to Pinterest?  It is a great place for dreaming and planning let me tell you, you can see things that you imagined but didn’t think had ever been done, it’s magical. I have a lot of boards but adding to the ‘oh I love that' Gardening Goodies board is so much fun!  The things people create with wooden pallets, is just incredible, gardening benches, outdoor couches, herb gardens, walls, chicken coops even!  The uses of jars, pots and cans for various ways of growing things, the faerie houses, the use of rocks for making herb beds it just goes on and on.
I want it all!  I want my own garden shed, I want a sunny spot for herbs and heaven knows I want to grow vegetables as well.  I want to plant a fruit tree of some sort, I want to redesign just about every garden bed I have, I want so much to turn the visions that I have in my head, on my garden boards into reality.  I have a beautiful canvas to work with, although it is far from blank.  So if one wants to makeover a landscape, where in the garden to you start?
Good thing it’s going to be cold for a while, I need time to think!

Planning...

The fish are as happy as I am that spring is finally here! The wood frogs came back which made me really happy as I wasn't sure what they were going to do when they arrived and their previous mating pool had been replaced. They however found the water just fine and as you can see right in the center of the picture here is a mass of eggs. Now if the fish don't eat them and we don't have another freeze, the pond will be loaded with tadpoles soon.

I sat by the pond for a while today planning the landscaping of it. I've decided on some nice Carex Bowles Golden for around the front edge where Zoe is. The back side will have a small seating area, ferns and some sort of fence to break the wood line from the pond. I've also come up with a brain storm to build some raised beds at the skimmer end to plant perennials in. It will help to insulate as well as hide the skimmer.

Off to dream some more gardening plans up!