The Garden Time: Spring 2023

First time back to the garden centers!

Great rewards for my exposure therapy 

Just couple it with retail therapy 

& 

Gardening! 

Building our Garden Beds

& 

Rooms

Is going to require a few bits more 

Than the volunteer plants 

Which there are many 

&

The clearance sale bag o bulbs 

We have so much space to fill!

The first tulips I’ve ever grown!

Remarkably good results! 

Trying more varieties next!

This old cedar chest

Has been with me for years 

Now 

It has been an amazing planter!

There are large fabric pots 

Inside there

Holding things tight 

To make it last a bit longer 

This is the third season so far…

The “Faux-zebo” 

Or 

“The Arches”

Once was a fire pit area 

in a 

Cathedral of trees…

Until

The trees 

Showered

The ground 

In every storm

With

Javelin branches 

Demolishing chairs 

The chairs 

Where we had sat

Sometimes 

Just hours before…

And as this lil set up was built

After we had nearly 100 trees removed 

Just a few years ago 

Three times since those trees were taken 

We have had other

Branches and trees 

SMASH 

Through the arches

Breaking planters 

Etc…

I spent some time 

Last week repairing some planters

& 

You can see 

On the lower left

There’s 

A kink 

In the front arch

From last Decembers 

Nor’easter 

Just as I finished

Replacing all of 

The broken lights 

BAM!

Two brand new sets of lights…

Easy come 

Easy go

But

We have these random bouquets 

Of violets

&

Wild strawberries 

All over this year 

I think 

That makes us even 

Right 

The amount of ferns is insane this year 

The azure bluet

Is spreading 

And the materials we’ve gathered 

To make up the raised 

Hugelkutur beds

With tons of goodies 

Composting in 

Filling gaps

Where there won’t be soil or plants yet…

One of the local nurseries has this…

It’s been on my list for a long time!!!!

And we’ve been looking at getting new chairs…

My old set of wicker chairs 

That I bought vintage 

Almost 20yrs ago 

Have been slowly falling apart 

& 

I’ve been putting glue and paint 

New cushions

And covers

Most of the fixes were easy

But Now 

It has gotten to the point 

Where the paint won’t stick

& 

There’s nothing to glue 

Or screw 

Things back together to…

The ones above 

Have the perfect legs!

Won’t sink into the ground etc… 

Weather proof material 

Perfectly comfortable…

Fingers crossed that they’re still available 

When we’ve saved up for them!

I mean…

If money were no object…

Imagine that? 

Thanks Pinterest 

Lol

I’m good with just my 

Wonky

Shabby

Fauxzebo 

Lol

I really should not

Be placing 

Pinterest photos 

Next to my garden pics…

Oy! 

I’ve got a lot of work to do…

Better get my gardening hat on!

Finish my coffee 

&

Get out there…

X-J

Let’s Talk Gardening! Yarding 2021

 I never knew 

That I would love Gardening this much! 

I didn’t even think 

I would enjoy mowing a lawn-

Not that we have a lawn… anymore 

I could barely keep 

A houseplant alive!

That was then & this is now.

Knowing what little I know now about plants

Soil

Trees

Carbon capture 

And now being in charge of a small plot of land

I want to be as responsible as possible 

As well as catering to my personal tastes 

And make something lush

And self sustaining for whoever 

Comes along to enjoy this wee corner 

Of the world next…

When we first moved here 

There weren’t any signs of animals 

Although the neighbors said there were

Deer 

Moose

Bears

Etc…

We weren’t being visited by anything 

I kept hoping for at least a squirrel 

The second year 

We started seeing squirrels 

And more 

As the years went

With help from our bird feeders

Then learning about pollinators and plants

I tried going to the garden center 

And with very little knowledge or guidance 

I picked out some pretty plants and popped them in the ground

Not knowing growing zones or the 

Ins and outs of

light requirements 

***

None of those plants survived 

And the first couple of years not much happened

Except for the bittersweet that was here

Which we are still battling 

***

Third year as I was watching as things were springing up 

We had a patch of daffodils 

Why after two years they came up 

I don’t know 

Maybe freeing up the space from bittersweet 

Helped somehow?

And so my research began 

I was looking up info 

About other bulb types plants

Like tulips

And stumbled across YouTube channels 

That were taking the mystery out of it all for me

It was all starting to make sense 

And then of course 

Beginning to learn about permaculture 

And essentially helping nature be abundant 

On its own

And be

Whatever it wants

While getting out of its way

And capture carbon while we’re at it

So…

Two years ago I brought in hundreds

 of different types of plants

And shrubs 

And a huge amount of them are actually still out there 

And thriving!

Progress!!!

And the generosity of friends 

Sharing plants that they’d divided

And gifted me like:

Bee Balm

Day Lilies 

Wisteria 

Persicaria Lance Corporal

Rose of Charon

Daisies 

Lilac 

Hostas

Solomon’s Seal

These

Have added to the lasting excitement 

And brought so much enjoyment 

And now we have an amazing array of volunteer plants: 

Wild Roses

Queen Anne’s Lace

Black Eyed Susans

Persicarias

Raspberries 

Meadowsweet 

Creeping Charlie 

Wild Violets 

Goldenrod 

Jewel Weed

Tall Phlox 

Milk Weed

Serviceberries 

Wild Cherry

To name a few lol

I try to just get out of the way

And let nature plant itself 

Of course taking out anything that’s 

Invasive or poisonous 

Since we stopped mowing our grass

Leaving only a path in the frontage and a small eating area

In the back

We’ve been slowly reseeding any thin patches with clover 

To hopefully eliminate the need for constant upkeep 

In the summer months 

And the clover is making the pollinators happy 

And helps balance 

Nitrogen levels in the soil…

The front path 

Has only been mowed twice this summer 

So happy that the once a week hour in the heat and bugs

Can now be used for enjoyment or other projects 

***

Speaking of other projects 

We had our friends from ArborClimb 

Come out to help us knock back our canopy 

By one notch… this ended up being 

72 trees 

And we seriously still have so many trees!

Some were sick and dead

Some were over 100 feet tall 

And within 25 feet from the house

And we still have 

More than we can count 

That are dead-standing 

60ft tall

That we will be chipping away at…

Until that’s done…

We now have enough sun 

That plants that had never bloomed 

Are now living their best life 

***

And I’m trying 

To get a good sunny spot for seed starting 

Should be much easier 

And I need easier because I’m still 

Very inexperienced 

As a gardener  

Any help I can get!

***

It was an easy choice 

To go with a tree removal company 

That would take the logs for lumber 

And

Leave us the wood chips

 To help get rid of 

The lumps and bumps 

In our landscape 

And 

Squelch out the bittersweet

 In enough depth to Keep it from thriving 

                                  Future garage idea… ???

I’m so thrilled 

That so many native plants have been moving in!

                                              Lookit!

                               So much Queen Anne’s Lace!

                                       Oh and Hello 👋 

Kk that’s it! Doing this all from my phone and now my eyes are super tired lol what’s growing in your garden?