It is a good thing that I restrained myself from ordering seeds and plants from the plethora of garden catalogs that flooded my mailbox in the depths of winter.
The vegetable garden is so overgrown with weeds, wild raspberries, and sumac trees that preparing any section of it for planting is tantamount to starting from scratch. I might as well just rebuild the garden as I go which means no planting this year.
I did however get the Iris bed completely cleaned out and am now working on another. As you can see not much else is happening in the yard yet; it is still cold and early spring and my gardening efforts are still isolated bits as opposed to a real "garden". I am just happy that this much has survived after all my neglect of the last few years. After all the work I put into this bed I would have hated to have lost most of it.
I was particularly proud over the weekend that I managed to pull up several young sumac saplings with most of their root systems, which was quite a job. I was pulling the roots out from under Irises, which luckily are shallow rooted, and the sedum (which are not so shallow rooted). This meant I was carefully lifting the soil around the desirable plants, uprooting the tree roots, and replanting the perennials in their places. There are a few plants I need to add to that bed; for example I know I lost several oriental poppies a few years ago and only about half of the originals remain. I think I also need to replace an aster or two, but the asters aren't coming up yet so I might have to wait and see. That's one of the beauties of the asters, they grow up and cover the leaves of the poppy just as the poppy is beginning to look unsightly. I am also going to put in some sedum in a place that was supposed to be chrysanthemums. I have never been able to keep the mums alive. Something always eats them — I don't know if it is deer or rabbits or the blessed woodchucks but they were absent last year so I don't expect to see them this year either.
This bed, next to the house is my next clean-out project. There are a few hyacinths blooming and you can see that the iris are coming up lushly. This worried me as they had sent up a late bloom in December when frost killed them. I am glad that they survived well.
But I am not working on it now as I inadvertently stepped in a woodchuck hole and sprained my ankle while I was working in the garden on Sunday. This really annoys me as I know perfectly well the hole is there. I need to work on getting rid of those woodchucks, I really do. I didn't notice the ankle at first, and after I stepped in the hole I pulled up the sumac trees, loosing my balance once and falling and probably twisting the same ankle again. Now I have a bit of a sprain and need to stay off the ankle. I suppose it is good that it is cold again this week and supposed to rain (or snow) every day.
I had also hoped to put in a front walk this year but the reality is that the money is just not going to be there to get it done this summer. I didn't anticipate the reduction in income that came with the disruption of the financial markets; not that things are that tight, but saving up for bigger extras will take longer. I half considered doing it myself, but there is that old problem of digging up clay and roots and laying a proper base, all things that weren't done with the first walk that was put in when the house was built. Clay and slate and frost do not make for a level front walk. But really I only thought of that because I need to dig and replant a good half of the front "yard" and it really would be better to do it after the walk goes in so the "men in boots" don't trample my plantings.
But really, it can probably all wait another year. I've had a brown, overgrown, and unsightly front yard flanking a goat path for a front walk for several years now, what's one more?
I think I need to start a journal with plans and aspirations for all the planting I hope to do someday in my dream life. I read Fine Gardening and get ideas and I look at the plant catalogs and get more ideas, and then I forget what I planned and start lusting after something new. The reality is that it will take me long enough to get the bed made that I will have forgotten what I planned to do by the time the reality of planting gets here. So instead of a garden journal I need a garden dreams journal.
I am still going to plant sprouting broccoli. I will get that bed finished this year since it is in the front yard (and not next to the walkway). And who knows I might stick a little bit of rainbow chard in the flower beds too. I like the flavor of the white chard better, but the rainbow chard looks prettier. Maybe both?
Here is a lone scilla siberica that is hiding under a rock. I had mentioned to materfamilias that I thought all my scilla had been trampled by workmen as there were once hundreds and now there seemed to be none. Then today I saw this lonely little flower and it brought a smile to my face.
Comments
4 responses to “Progress and setbacks in the garden”
Sorry to hear about your ankle! I poured hot oil on my leg this noon, and although I ended up not burned badly, I kind of feel your pain. “Own fault” is the worst part of it all. I just get in too big a hurry. Hope you’re soon over the hobbling thing. And trust me, I’m with you on the unkempt yard/garden thing for the last year or so. Trying to do better this year, but it’s going to take more than a year to make a comeback. Planning sounds like a really good idea.
So sorry about your ankle — hope it doesn’t take too long to heal. And that little scylla is so hopeful there snuggled in with the strawberry plant (that’s what I see there, right?) — I’m sure it will be joined by many more over the next few years. Now I’m off to google “woodchuck” and see what these fellows look like — as I read your post, I realized that although I’ve always known of them from the tongue-twister (How much wood . . .) I don’t know if they’re like a gopher or what. . . so it’s research time.
Woodchucks sound cute but when they cause sprained ankles they are not cute. Hope you feel better and that your garden grows as you want it to.
I’m going to have to check through the archives of your blog to see if I can find some great photos of your phased deck project…