The New Garden Bed

Some people make new garden beds by marking the edge, tilling the garden and putting in the shrubs and plants. My way is a little more casual.

When we moved  into this house last summer the only flowerbed was little one that was covered with four inches of pink granitic chips, not to mention weeds. While I was dealing with that and building up the shrubs at the back of the bed I was also planning some new Square Foot gardens for veggies.

I was in the hardware store buying wood for the vegetable garden when I saw some red and yellow twigged dogwoods (Cornus stolinifera) at a really good price. I love these shrubs for winter color and shape, so they went into the trolley. Back home I didn’t want to put them into the existing bed because that would obscure the winter view of, and through, the conifers. So they were put onto the porch until I could find time to put them somewhere.

I decided to plant them on the other side of the garden between the pool and the soon to be square foot gardens. They went into the existing grass. Over the year I accumulated more plants as well as some shrubs. This past weekend with a few more things to put in, it was time to ‘join the dots’ to save the plants from the mowing team – who has mowed some of the little ones down a few times.

Rose surrounded by grass

Joining the dots was not an easy job, but after a few hours of hard work I had removed all the grass and got the rough outline of the bed. I used kitty litter buckets to cart the sod over to to the edge of the property. I have learned that filling a wheelbarrow may seem easier but the sod is heavy and wheeling a full barrow is almost impossible on rough ground, smaller containers is easier. It also alternated the muscles used.

The dots are joined - phase 2

Next I was going to put about 4 inches of compost and finish with mulch. That would have given me 2 delivery charges, so the nursery suggested combining the two. Down side was that it is like shifting damp compost and I had planned on 3 yards of each – compost and mulch

- which gave me 6 yards dumped in the garden! That is going to take a few weekends to shift.

So now I have a new garden bed which delineates the pool area from the ‘work’ area of the vegetable gardens and washing line, gas tank etc. It also helps to focus the view toward the meadow at the back rather than an open field all around.

The New Garden Bed

So the bed is finished for now, and will have the outline finalized over the next few weeks – or even next spring when I have more things to fill out the back/edges.

As a garden writer I think that it is imperative that I get out of the house sometimes, get my hands dirty in a garden and see some other gardens too. So yesterday being a sunny day, I decided to head down to one of the local gardens called Simpson Garden in Bowling Green (above).

There is a small herb garden there that I help with when I have time, and I needed some images for an upcoming herb presentation. This garden also has a nice medicinal herbs garden that was installed by someone associated with the local hospital. There were lots of opportunities for pictures of herbs and as the clouds started to return I headed back to the car.

On the way I saw a new garden that I didn’t remember from my visits earlier in the year. It had lots of little conifers in it and was quite lovely. At the base of the slope with conifers though was a row of yellow bushes with bright red berries (below). They were Red Sprite Winterberry (Ilex verticillata). This is a deciduous holly that has green leaves, turning bright yellow each fall to contrast with the red berries and they were stunning.

So I headed home via the nursery to see if I could pick one of these little things up – no luck but I did buy a native Blue Muffin Arrowwood viburnum (below) as well as another Pieris japonica - the one I have was looking just a little stressed and may not make it through the winter.

By then the clouds really were darkening and it was time to head home before the rain stated, but a fun and much needed day out of the house.

The nights are definately getting cooler, and even though the days are mild the trees are turning color. This week I shot some video of the bright yellow colors in the garden. We also have a large pond next door and each morning there is a slow lifting of moisture giving a beautiful view.

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The chrysanths were in a decomposable pot but the thing was so solid that I decided to take the plants out of the pot before planting. I am never sure how long these things are going to take to rot in the ground, and with this being September I really want the roots to get started right way. After watering they all look happy and they are getting ready to bloom. These came from a nursery and are locally grown so the hot weather has delayed the bloom by a week or two, which is to my advantage.

Then I headed to the veggie plot which was in need of a good weed. Much to my surprise the beans, which are Contender and were put in on Aug 8th, are already putting out beans!  I really thought it optimistic that they would have time to have anything, but in just 51 days they are doing fine!

Weeding among these little guys and any vegetable is a delicate job, so I use a really handy tool called a Cobra Head. The one I like is a long handled one, currently missing the screws (not sure why, but I will blame that on the move) and there is a smaller hand held version. Both have narrow heads that will go in between the plants without disturbing the roots but still able to dislodge emerging weeds.

This is probably my favorite tool for the veg bed, and although I rarely use it in the other beds (more likely to need a pick axe right now), it is invaluable. Here is the picture:

Last night I hit the books and figured out what they were, what the effect would be and when to use them. Put it all on a cheat sheet index card that tells me where the buttons are on the camera!

This morning was foggy and there were some neat cobwebs on the bushes, so I tried my hand at using some of the buttons. 

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Low ISO (100) speed 1/250                    ISO (300) shutter speed 1/125

This little video is about what the new garden was like when we moved in on July 23rd, 2010. It took a few weeks to gain control and I made a few oopses along the way, but you will get the picture.

Look for more on the new northern garden and the places I have already been to such as a community garden tour with Toledo Grows and the Toledo Botanic Garden plus other nifty places.

Renovating a Garden

This makes a lovely place to sit in the summer

The calendar shows the end of May and the official start of summer is celebrated. In the garden that is shown by the first flush of the gardenias. These dark green, glossy leaves make for a lovely evergreen bush, but the flowers are perfect! They are pure white and very fragrant which stand out beautifully against the foliage.

These bushes make a lovely place to sit and read on warm, humid southern summer days. I spent way to long reading here yesterday.

It really grabbed my attention big time yesterday when I noticed that it is literally covered with masses of red berries.  This is our third winter here, so it is reasonable to assume it had berries in previous years, but for some odd reason I didn’t notice.  Gardens really are a source of constant amazement.

The Berries on my Holly Tree

I needed to find some photographs for the header page of this blog and found myself going through a whole bunch of old (relatively old, anyway) photographs,  The digital era has created an atmosphere where even rotten photographs are not deleted, and I take many more than we ever did with traditional cameras – although there are plenty of those around too.

So as it is autumn/fall, I found a few seasonal ones that are from when we lived in the north.  October was when the great colors of tulip trees, oaks and sweetgums would turn.

In the south that has barely started, and the days are still very mild with clear blue skies. I did find one with pretty trees and a blue sky though from Pittsburgh, where they have more cloudy days than Seattle, or so I am told. Fall colors are something that Pennsylvania does beautifully.