Saturday, June 13, 2020

The Blog Gal's Garden

When Sherry agreed to test run the virtual garden tour project she said it would be a good idea for the social media gals to step up. It was a good idea because now I know the anxiety I must cause people when I pounce on them at meetings. Before you go further, two things I should tell you, I grow, mostly, vegetables (try getting a wow shot of those!) and I wandered down memory lane.

We moved here seven years ago. There was a fence around an area described as a vegetable garden on the realtor's listing. It looked like this



A lot of scything, digging and building began



This is my view from the kitchen window now




There are twelve 8'x4' raised beds with two more planned. Somewhere in the soil are carrots, turnips, beets, garlic, peas, squash, spinach, basil, tomatoes and various salad greens. Parsnip seeds went in twice and show no signs of life. The zucchini and cucumbers had to go in a small flower bed at the front because I ran out of room-as usual.

The three beds at the back contain flowers for our pollinator friends and for something pretty because it is the only garden area I can easily see from the house. Plants here include nepeta, alyssum, russian sage, salvia, delphinium, one lonely cleome and bee blend wildflower mix. I also leave a few carrots in from the previous year, the bees go crazy for these.

D. plumarius
Cottage pinks (above) are planted in memory of my grandfather, William, whose garden was full of Dianthus in one form or another. When I can find some Sweet William I'll plant that in his honour too.

On the right side of the veg garden is an obelisk which gets planted with sweet peas every year. I'm pretty sure I've planted sweet peas in every garden I've had, in memory of a great uncle who grew them in his garden. He made a tunnel of them and I spent many contented hours hiding in my sweet pea "house" as a child.

Also to the right is a very large pot containing a Princess Alexandra of Kent rose from David Austin. This will eventually move to a concrete patio scheduled to be poured at the end of June.



Honeysuckle grows along the northwest fence. The variegated 'Harlequin has a powerful scent which wafts over the garden in the evening.  The blurb for it said it would attract all kinds of pollinators and hummingbirds while being deer resistant. Wrong on all counts, in my garden anyway. I would have pulled it out if it weren't for the wonderful scent. I've since planted 'Trumpet' honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens (below) in another area for the hummingbirds.




Beyond the veg garden is the meadow. I hardly know how to explain this scene. Over the years we have planted various fruits-blackcurrant, raspberry, blueberry, loganberries and gooseberry plus a strawberry bed. You would think a deer fence might have been the first thing we planted, but NO, therefore each year I cobble together a variety of barriers. Finally, this year, fence posts have been pounded in and maybe by the end of the year I will have a functioning fence. There is one, of two, covered bathtubs in the foreground where I grow Brassica.



At the far end of the meadow are two Cox's Orange Pippin apple trees. They sealed the deal on the purchase of this place because you find them in every old garden in England. They are wonderful for eating, not as good for baking but I do turn the extras into sauce which turns out O.K. Our local bear likes them too.




A quick trip to the front of the house. An unknown rose, it is the first and last to bloom each year. It has a light lemony fragrance and lasts well when cut.


This year's project-a bee path. It is planted along the line of a drainage pipe installed last year. Not much to see here except for its length and my bird defense.



It is planted with West Coast Seeds' Easy Care Envirolawn and Alternative Lawn Wildflower Mix.


Unfortunately there was a lot of grass seed in the top soil we used. I am slowly pulling it out and reseeding. A laborious task but if things go along as they are it should eventually look good. Ultimately a water feature will be the focal point.

I'll leave you with an image of the luxurious white peony which was already on the property. One of the few things I haven't had to restore!


                     


Happy Gardening, Sue 

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for this, Sue. Lots of interesting aspects to your garden and your connection to it. I've never heard of a bee path...those blue poppy-like flowers caught my eye. Joyce R.

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  2. Love these virtual garden visits... thanks Sue and a belated thank you to Sherry for yours!

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  3. haven't seen your garden this spring, so thanks for the virtual tour!
    Liane

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  4. A wonderful post. Thanks Sue.
    I've not heard of a 'bee path' either. Perhaps a silly question... is it literally intended to encourage them from one area to another?

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    1. Yes, I should have identified in the text the path meanders through a small orchard.

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  5. I loved your garden tour. You have done so much in a relatively short time. This will be the second year in a row that my float garden is fallow. Last summer the beds had to be rebuilt after fifteen or so years of wood rot. At least the mill felt at the bottom was still in good shape. This year we haven't been able to come home due to the quarantine. While the cabin sounds like a logical place to stay isolated for two weeks we are concerned about things that might go wrong away from city and health resources. And the condo would be too confining to maintain mental and physical health. It's kind of Catch-22, so here we will stay south of the border in Washington State until things settle down. Hope you are doing well, and again thanks for the tour. - Margy

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