Ripping out the gardens

[pegkerr]

My gardens have mostly been a failure this year. Many of my perennials failed to come back this at all in the spring: the echinachea, the dianthus, the speedwell. The bed of irises I planted with such hope in the alley behind the garage (a bed of forty roots) never came up at all. The only thing that thrived were the impatiens in the front, and the basil in the vegetable garden. The geraniums in the white planters were fair (better, certainly, than the petunias I tried there last year). I didn't get a single tomato this year. Not sure whether this was because of the heat, because I eventually gave up watering and fertilizing them or because neighborhood boys stole them off the vines for green tomato fights. Could be all of the above.

By July, I had truly given up. I had planted violas in little aluminum tubs on the front porch, which looked lovely for awhile, but died once the heat set in. I did try for awhile, but eventually stopped trying to keep up with watering the hanging pots, leaving the lobelia to perish miserably. I gave up weeding. Today, I started trying to wrestle back the ground for our team, which meant ripping out tons of really muscular weeds, weeds on steroids, weeds brandishing Kalishnakovs, weeds that have claimed that this patch of ground is theirs and sneer at me don't even think of setting foot here, babe. This here is our turf now.

I emerged victorious in the strip by the garage. I had attempted to plant a wildflower garden; nothing came up but weeds. Now it is stripped bare, tilled with a hand rake, and covered with mulch.

The vegetable garden was more of a total rout, alas. I discovered dozens of slugs under the weeds, and got only about a third of the unauthorized greenery ripped out. I executed a strategic retreat and limited myself for awhile to ripping weeds out of the cracks of the concrete area behind the house. This gave me the illusion for awhile that I was accomplishing something.

I took a break for a couple of hours, and then geared up again and attempted to ambush the enemy in the pink garden at the south side of the house. Yes, there is an elm tree growing right smack in the astilbe, and it has gotten so big that I am not sure I can get it out. I feel like a fool for letting it get so large. What was I thinking? Purple loosestrife has been waging a stealth campaign there, and even though I ripped great quantities of it up, little purple berries are scattered all over the soil now, like landmines.

I feel like sheepish and ashamed of the state of my yard, like I have exhibited a failure of character. I had planted seedlings in the basement with such eagerness this spring, setting up grow lights to make them grow--such ambition! Such hubris! The mice got the lion's share before I even got them into the ground. And now this is all I have to show for it: black garbage bags bulging with weeds, and slugs rampaging all over the pitiful remnants of the stunted beets and strawberry bed.

There is lots more to do, and I am quite depressed about the whole thing. When I am at my gloomiest, it feels like a metaphor the state of my life. I had such plans, but I didn't keep up with the weeding, and now there is nothing to do but clean up the mess, with no hope that things will be better next year.

Comments

[ldygwynedd.livejournal.com]

Don't feel badly. So many people have had a difficult growing year this year. My husband's brothers, who live in Baltimore, have had such a drought, everything has dried up and died it seems like.

My poor brother-in-law had just put in a new terraced garden in his back yard last spring and just EVERYTHING whithered up and died.

It's really quite frustrating for everyone.

[boxofdelights]

Do you have a compost pile? Mine is always a great comfort to me at this time of year.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Gardens aren't deterministic, in my opinion; what you get out isn't determined by what you put in. In some soils, I have neglected like crazy and had bountiful crops; in others, I babied and tended and amended only to have sullenness. And then I gave up and blamed myself, because that's what I do.

The trick, I have finally decided in some despair, is to choose unkillable plants. When the catalog says "Needs a little extra attention", walk away. If it says "invasive"? THAT's your baby.

Daylilies are good in sun; hostas in shade.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

And mint!! Invade away I say!

[callunav.livejournal.com]

Gardens aren't deterministic, in my opinion; what you get out isn't determined by what you put in.

"Well, I love the way the world is your garden
And you plant your seeds and you let them grow
And you dig things out of the ground just like
You'll take what comes, but you never know--"

(Dar Williams, "What do you love more than love?" The Green World)

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

I like the style with which you describe the battle, especially the evil weeds.

Don't worry--the good thing with a garden is that there's always next year. Now, especially, soon all the plants will be sleeping in their beds, and you can be gearing up for a fresh start.

About the elm--I have some maples that somehow got away from me. I just cut them off as far down as I could and cut the new sprouts as they come out. Eventually it will give up. You just have to be more stubborn than it is.

[graygirl.livejournal.com]

Gardening is an act of hope in and of itself, I find. You never know what will come up, if anything at all--but there is always the hope there will be something.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I have been remarkably lucky in my gardening, but I think I had a head start by picking perennial species native to the area for my prairie gardens. I'm often teased that I'm growing a garden of weeds! They take no watering, though, and no weeding. I'll chop off the season's growth in the spring and that'll be about it.

I have, though, experienced the like of your battles on the weed front. My nemesis is Charlie. Creeping Charlie. Next year I'm planning on putting in some Canada Anemone in areas most neglected by me and taken over by Charlie. The CA is said to be invasive so i'm hoping it will hold its own against Charlie and spread to be a more attractive and desirable ground cover.

Best of luck in your endeavors and remember, soon everything will be covered in a pristine blanket of snow. When the Spring comes, it's a new beginning for all of us.

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

I had the same experience this year. In the spring I put in plants -- hostas and azaleas and sunrose and other things -- and then the summer came and I hardly went outside. Now I'm looking around and noticing that the drought has gotten some of my plants, and the deer and rabbits have gotten others, and the weeds are just everywhere. It all looks terrible, and it would be worse than it is if my mother hadn't sprayed RoundUp over large areas of weeds about two months ago.

I'm hoping that next summer will be better.

[http://users.livejournal.com/anam_cara_/]

BASIL- that reminds me (as this, and my mints were the only things to thrive for me this year)- would you mind posting your pesto recipe that you mentioned that you freeze? I've got lots o'basil and thought that would be a fine idea to do as well.

Oh, yes, and you know your microwave fudgy cake you posted about once upon a time? Betty Crocker mimicked you- you can now by little kits of mix and a microwavable bowl to make chocolate cake, brownies, and the like.

I have a friend that is going through the same sort of pre-SAD gloom- she's also a big gardener, and says that on the one hand putting the gardens to bed keeps her busy and she doesn't dwell on the feelings coming on, yet putting the gardens to bed is gloomy in and of itself. The winter doesn't hit me hard until February- gods that month is bleak to me, but until then, I revel in the autumn changes.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually used a recipe for the pesto in a long time. I just throw six ingredients into the blender and add more or less, to adjust the taste. The six ingredients are:

1. basil leaves
2. chopped garlic
3. chopped pecans (I know you're supposed to use pine nuts, but pecans are easier to find and a perfectly adequate substitute, in my opinion)
4. olive oil
5. chicken broth (I use water mixed with Wylers crystallized bouillon--the point is to use more broth and less olive oil, to lower the fat content)
and
Parmesan cheese

Throw it all in a blender and puree it to the consistency you want. Then I drape a ziploc baggie open over a measuring cup, pour the pesto in, seal the baggie, and throw it in the freezer.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

May I suggest heavy mulching to help win the battle of the weeds? It's what everyone down here has been advising me to do. I also found that giving the beds a shot of good compost makes the plants stronger and weeds less able to cope--weeds often having roots a tad shallower. Of course, wildflowers often grow better mixed with other grasses (ie weeds...) so there's that Catch-22.

I fear I've been a bad pot mother this year, too. It's just too hot for pot plants. I can make 1minnesotagirl's hibiscus grow like nobody's biz, but the other plants have not been happy. I would like to plant herbs and antique roses next year, with a few other natives such as lantana, ox blood lilies and blackfoot daisy. I am also thinking about putting the mats across the beds, and cutting holes for the perennials. The mats seem to help, too.

Slugs really do go for beer slug traps. Would the girls enjoy building a slug trap? Or are bugs icky?

[papersky.livejournal.com]

What's wrong with an elm tree?

I'm glad I don't have a garden, because when I did it rapidly became a jungle.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

It's right in the middle of my pink garden and too close to the house.

[nigita.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure how I ended up in your journal, but,

"I feel like sheepish and ashamed of the state of my yard, like I have exhibited a failure of character."

I love the way you write!

I just ripped out my summer garden, too: the unproductive summer squash, leaves slimed with mold, the how-did-they-get-so-homely nasturtiums...

May I add you as a friend? It would be a treat to read your posts in my flist.

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Certainly you may add me as a friend, and welcome to my journal.

[volkhvoi.livejournal.com]

My garden hasn't been a glorious success either. The greens, onions and carrots just about held their own, but the flowers were slaughtered by the hot, dry weather and zillions of grasshoppers.

The upside is that I got my backyard certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat (nwf.org) and, since we are on the edge of town, it means I can leave my backyard entirely in weeds native plants!

Mind if I friend you, too?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Not at all, friend away and welcome! I hope you will comment frequently.

[coalboy.livejournal.com]

Loosestrife is The Evul! Keep it clipped before it goes to seed! Sort of pretty before then, though. Did you know one plant has about a --million-- seeds? We had to dig it out of our waterfront last year & this, & next summer I will clip earlier. Can't use weedkiller as it would kill fish and good plants.

[coalboy.livejournal.com]

And can you move the elm? They are now becoming so rare it's a pity to have to kill it.