After 3 + years of writing this blog, I think it is safe to say that I have come to terms with what this blog is all about. It isn't a "how-to" or a discussion of garden trends or a dissertation on all things horticulture. I think it can best be summed up as:
A personal journal of my attempts to take advantage of what little time I have to focus on gardening all while dealing with adverse condtions like wet soil and scores of deer and rabbits. You will see equal amounts of successes and failures and we'll laugh a bit along the way.
I think that covers it.
I came to this realization the other day as I was working on one particular section of my garden and was getting pissed off thinking about how many times I had revamped this area. We're talking version 10.1 or so. This section of "plant town" at the base of my deck is only about five years old and I cannot get it to the point where I am even remotely happy with it.
After I came in for the night and ignored the family while in a huff, I sat down and started scanning old photos of this garden bed. I felt a little better seeing where things began years ago, but still bewildered as to why I couldn't establish a thing here.
It didn't take long to come to a conclusion as I analyzed each and every photo. The bottom line? I rushed through the planning process due to lack of time and haven't been able to catch up since that point.
Want proof? Here is a series of photos, in chronological order, with my comments on what went wrong.
I am only focusing on one side of the bed at the base of the deck as you'll see and here it is in its infancy. The original version was way too small and narrow for such a large deck so I needed to expand it:
No problem, out comes the extension cord for shaping purposes. I can already see good things coming at this point:
I am all about manual labor so out comes the shovel and we simply dig up the turf and compost it. Blisters be damned:
It took some time, but I remained patient as the grass removal continued:
By the dead of summer that year (take note of the dead lawn) the shaping was done and plants were added. Did you catch something wrong with that sentence? Plants added in dead of summer = not smart:
Things looked OK as the weeks went by and the rains picked up:
But needless to say, most of the plants eventually crapped the bed. The Rudbeckia shriveled up by late August and never came back the next spring. The Sedums were devoured by the rabbits and deer and despised the poor drainage, as did the Weigela 'Wine and Roses'.
So by next spring a new plan was in motion. An ugly yellow Arborvitae was added (don't ask) as was a Norther Sea Oats, a few dwarf bee balms and some Spiderwort 'Sweet Kate':
Looked alright I guess, but I wasn't thrilled with it. And it looked real boring in winter:
So we start again the following spring. Northern Sea Oats gone because of the reseeding which didn't work in this area of the garden. The bee balms were nibbled by rabbits so they never had a chance to grow. The Arborvitae was banished to the side yard until I could decide my next move with it. The W&R Weigela also was moved but to a container to see how that would end up. The Spirea 'Anthony Waterer' was literally sitting in "waterer" so it died a slow death.
Back to square friggin one.
But things only looked worse as we progressed into summer that year. Seriously, check out this horror show:
I don't even want to discuss it.
Fast foward to te another spring (2013 in fact) and you have this:
Lady's Mantle has been added as an edger (mirroring the other side of the deck), some divided Siberian irises have been relocated, a Caryopteris 'Sunshine blue' was added and a Boxwood, Euonymus and Dwarf Alberta Spruce were thrown in the mix for some winter color. Not to mention a Feather Reed Grass, why I'm not sure.
So that was April of this year and guess what, another mini overhaul a month later:
So there you have it. This was a public service announcement for the benefits of PLANNING.
I promise you other areas of the yard look much better and are thriving. But this seems to capture what this blog is really about in a nutshell. And as much as it pains me to expose my warts, it is a hell of a lot of fun to write about.
You're welcome.
John