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pegkerrI have mixed feelings about gardening, and I've had varied success. I love getting the garden in--mostly--but the diligence flags during the hot summer months, and frequently, by September, I'm swamped with weeds. It doesn't help that I'm generally the only person who lifts a finger to try to make the gardens look nice. I can't remember ever seeing Rob touch a spade.
I've tried some things that have been notable successes. I have a narrow strip by the garage that one year I planted with zinnias. That was a wild success: the seeds sprouted well, absolutely muscling any weeds out of the way, and the backyard was an extravagant explosion of color. The following year, I tried it again, but for some reason, I didn't time the sowing right, or the weather was too cold or wet or something. None of the zinnias I planted came up, and the weeds took over. I tried a planned tulip garden there, and that was a total failure. Of the forty bulbs I planted, three came up. Pathetic. Last year I just threw cedar mulch over the space and ignored it.
One year I planted a pink flower garden by the south garden by the side of the house, using a packet that included eight different varieties of seeds, with a garden design, all put together by Burpee. That, too, was wonderful. I wanted to do the same thing the following year, but they stopped marketing those multi-pack gardens with plans, much to my regret. I tried assembling a mixture of annuals and perennials, trying to achieve the same effect. But some of the stuff turned out to be a different color than what was shown on the label, and the balance was thrown off when some plants died when the other, matching plants thrived on the other side of the garden. That space, too, has mostly gone to weeds.
The vegetable garden has been hit or miss. The past few years I've been too busy with taxes and/or too depressed to put in the earliest spring crop (lettuce and peas). I generally get the summer crop in, though. Some years I have great success with tomatoes, and other years with basil (I've planted tons of it, freezing vast amounts of pesto for the winter). Some of the things I've put in, meaning for them to be perennials, have slopped over the rest of the space. The asparagus, for example, I think was a mistake. I never harvest the few spears that come up before suddenly there's a fuzzy screen that blocks light for the tomatoes. The tarragon (I think?) became a huge bush which I had to hack away at for several years before I could finally root it all out. This year, I bought eight tomato plants, which I'll plant at the back, and one squash plant, which more or less hogs almost all the growing space I have. This seems a little silly, since I'm the only one in my family who actually eats squash, but it felt oddly appealing to have just one plant take up practically all the space. That way, I won't have to figure out what else to put in. I'm also planting less vegetables this year because I bought a CSA half share, and I will be getting fresh vegetables every week. We'll see how that works.
I have four planters on the concrete patio, which hold, altogether eight ten-inch pots (two to a planter). I've tried various things there: petunias, dahlias. This year, I'm trying cherry tomato plants, with lobelia grouped around them. The hitch with these has always been the task of watering them, practically every day when the days are hottest. In the heat of July, I give up for three days, then look over and realize that whatever's in the pots is dead. By planting tomatoes, I'm committing to continuing the watering and fertilizing. I don't know if I'll actually do it. I feel even less excitement about starting things this spring than usual.
In the front of the house, in years past, I've planted the two pots that flank the door with geraniums, and I've put impatiens in the front shady bed. I usually get three hanging pots for the porch, and I plant six oval planters with more impatiens, which I scatter around the window ledges. Very pretty for awhile, again, if I keep up the watering.
But this year I decided to try something a little different, at least in the front bed. Buying flats of impatiens gets more expensive every year--they're annuals--and after awhile, particularly when we've been so tight on money, it feels like pouring money down a drain, particularly the last couple years when the impatiens haven't even done very well. I've tried starting them myself from seed, with grow lights, but that just didn't work at all. So I took my sister Betsy up on her offer and got a couple hosta plants which I'll put in that front bed. I'll probably scatter some salvia around them, at least until they fill in a bit--salvia's an annual, too, but I wouldn't have to plant as much as I would when I'm filling the bed with impatiens. Betsy gave me some extra flats of salvia she'd purchased. Eventually, when the hosta is well established and can be split again, I'll probably put some in that strip by the garage. I'll probably just mulch that bed this year rather than try to grow anything there.
I bought a set of rhubarb. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to put it. It's a perennial, so wherever I put it will be its permanent home. I'd like to be able to make some rhubarb dishes.
Behind the garage in the alley is another space I've never quite known what to plant. I tried planting irises there one year, but not a single one came up the next. This year my sister gave me a ground cover, snow-on-the-mountain, which she assures me spreads well and thrives in shade. So I've put some of that back there, hoping it will establish itself as well as she says it does.
I was buying a lot of this stuff yesterday and planting half of it today. I still need to plant more tomorrow. And I still need to figure out what to do with the old pink garden on the south side of the house, to clear out all the weeds and half-dead perennials and figure out a new plan.
So, my feelings are mixed. I'm trying again this year. I've made the investment, put some stuff into the ground (my garden is mostly financed each year by birthday checks from my parents and mother-in-law, since my birthday conveniently falls in April). I hope I'll be able to keep up this year with the watering and the fertilizing that I so often neglect in the heat of the summer; otherwise a lot of what I've put in will be a waste of time and money.
Don't look at the lawn. Lord, it's just a mess of weeds. Theoretically, Rob alternates with me on the chore of cutting the lawn with me. But he hates doing it, and sometimes he lets it go so long that the grass is impossible to mow with our rotary mower. Then he bribes one of the girls to take his turn instead.
I've tried some things that have been notable successes. I have a narrow strip by the garage that one year I planted with zinnias. That was a wild success: the seeds sprouted well, absolutely muscling any weeds out of the way, and the backyard was an extravagant explosion of color. The following year, I tried it again, but for some reason, I didn't time the sowing right, or the weather was too cold or wet or something. None of the zinnias I planted came up, and the weeds took over. I tried a planned tulip garden there, and that was a total failure. Of the forty bulbs I planted, three came up. Pathetic. Last year I just threw cedar mulch over the space and ignored it.
One year I planted a pink flower garden by the south garden by the side of the house, using a packet that included eight different varieties of seeds, with a garden design, all put together by Burpee. That, too, was wonderful. I wanted to do the same thing the following year, but they stopped marketing those multi-pack gardens with plans, much to my regret. I tried assembling a mixture of annuals and perennials, trying to achieve the same effect. But some of the stuff turned out to be a different color than what was shown on the label, and the balance was thrown off when some plants died when the other, matching plants thrived on the other side of the garden. That space, too, has mostly gone to weeds.
The vegetable garden has been hit or miss. The past few years I've been too busy with taxes and/or too depressed to put in the earliest spring crop (lettuce and peas). I generally get the summer crop in, though. Some years I have great success with tomatoes, and other years with basil (I've planted tons of it, freezing vast amounts of pesto for the winter). Some of the things I've put in, meaning for them to be perennials, have slopped over the rest of the space. The asparagus, for example, I think was a mistake. I never harvest the few spears that come up before suddenly there's a fuzzy screen that blocks light for the tomatoes. The tarragon (I think?) became a huge bush which I had to hack away at for several years before I could finally root it all out. This year, I bought eight tomato plants, which I'll plant at the back, and one squash plant, which more or less hogs almost all the growing space I have. This seems a little silly, since I'm the only one in my family who actually eats squash, but it felt oddly appealing to have just one plant take up practically all the space. That way, I won't have to figure out what else to put in. I'm also planting less vegetables this year because I bought a CSA half share, and I will be getting fresh vegetables every week. We'll see how that works.
I have four planters on the concrete patio, which hold, altogether eight ten-inch pots (two to a planter). I've tried various things there: petunias, dahlias. This year, I'm trying cherry tomato plants, with lobelia grouped around them. The hitch with these has always been the task of watering them, practically every day when the days are hottest. In the heat of July, I give up for three days, then look over and realize that whatever's in the pots is dead. By planting tomatoes, I'm committing to continuing the watering and fertilizing. I don't know if I'll actually do it. I feel even less excitement about starting things this spring than usual.
In the front of the house, in years past, I've planted the two pots that flank the door with geraniums, and I've put impatiens in the front shady bed. I usually get three hanging pots for the porch, and I plant six oval planters with more impatiens, which I scatter around the window ledges. Very pretty for awhile, again, if I keep up the watering.
But this year I decided to try something a little different, at least in the front bed. Buying flats of impatiens gets more expensive every year--they're annuals--and after awhile, particularly when we've been so tight on money, it feels like pouring money down a drain, particularly the last couple years when the impatiens haven't even done very well. I've tried starting them myself from seed, with grow lights, but that just didn't work at all. So I took my sister Betsy up on her offer and got a couple hosta plants which I'll put in that front bed. I'll probably scatter some salvia around them, at least until they fill in a bit--salvia's an annual, too, but I wouldn't have to plant as much as I would when I'm filling the bed with impatiens. Betsy gave me some extra flats of salvia she'd purchased. Eventually, when the hosta is well established and can be split again, I'll probably put some in that strip by the garage. I'll probably just mulch that bed this year rather than try to grow anything there.
I bought a set of rhubarb. I'm not sure exactly where I'm going to put it. It's a perennial, so wherever I put it will be its permanent home. I'd like to be able to make some rhubarb dishes.
Behind the garage in the alley is another space I've never quite known what to plant. I tried planting irises there one year, but not a single one came up the next. This year my sister gave me a ground cover, snow-on-the-mountain, which she assures me spreads well and thrives in shade. So I've put some of that back there, hoping it will establish itself as well as she says it does.
I was buying a lot of this stuff yesterday and planting half of it today. I still need to plant more tomorrow. And I still need to figure out what to do with the old pink garden on the south side of the house, to clear out all the weeds and half-dead perennials and figure out a new plan.
So, my feelings are mixed. I'm trying again this year. I've made the investment, put some stuff into the ground (my garden is mostly financed each year by birthday checks from my parents and mother-in-law, since my birthday conveniently falls in April). I hope I'll be able to keep up this year with the watering and the fertilizing that I so often neglect in the heat of the summer; otherwise a lot of what I've put in will be a waste of time and money.
Don't look at the lawn. Lord, it's just a mess of weeds. Theoretically, Rob alternates with me on the chore of cutting the lawn with me. But he hates doing it, and sometimes he lets it go so long that the grass is impossible to mow with our rotary mower. Then he bribes one of the girls to take his turn instead.