Well there is not a whole lot of good I can say about a global pandemic except that staying home made us re-focus. In this time of re-focus and slowing down I have had time to invest in one of my favorite hobbies-gardening. Over the years I have always gardened but this year we really went BIG. (Well BIG for us anyway). We added in two new garden boxes and a lot of new plants. So join me on a tour of our garden oasis.
Our first stop is going to take us back to the mid 1700's! This little garden has lived for years in my head and has come to life this year. Several years ago we visited a living history museum called Strawberry Bank in NH. The museum featured several homes and buildings from early colonial days. However, it was not the buildings that captured my heart--it was the gardens. Beautiful, magical and so full and colorful I loved them. Each garden featured plants that would have been typical of a certain time period.
Back in April when we were stuck at home a lot, I went to the Strawberry Bank website to research plants. I found the jackpot. They had pdf files of the gardens and plants in them! I was so excited. I carefully looked through all the time period gardens and decided. The mid 1700's style garden had the most flowers that I liked. It was an interesting time for colonial gardens as they were starting to expand into gardening for fun instead of just survival. So here is our mid 1700's style garden. It is small- a mere four by four foot square but a start nevertheless. We have planted cosmos, sweet annie, yarrow, bee balm, and larkspur.
The next stop in our garden tour is what we call THE HILL. We have a very steep hill right in front of our deck area. It is hard to mow. It is hard to weed whack. We are slowly turning it into a terraced garden. Ean is my gardening partner and he put in this new garden this year. He terraced it with old tires and rocks. He made a lupine section with red, pink, yellow, rainbow, orange and blue. He also added in rudbeckia and echinecea . The tires are planted with cucumbers (we planted 4 varieties this year) and moonwalker and pro-cut orange sunflowers. We also have a tire with pumpkins and watermelon as well.
Next we will visit the milkweed patch. Years ago we fell in love with monarch butterflies. As we delved into the life of the monarch we decided to help preserve them by becoming an unofficial way station. We have dedicated a portion of our garden to milkweed. Last year we saw about 40 monarchs start their life in our patch and make their way on. This year we are hoping for more. So far no monarchs this year but plenty of hummingbird moths and swallowtails.
Just up from the milkweed patch you will find our newest garden bed. It is a 4 x 12 foot box. We filled with manure and loam and planted carrots, green beans and cukes. Next year we hope to add two more like this. At our old house we gardened at ground level--this place is ledge and so very rocky-this is really the best way to garden.
Accross the way from the new garden box is one of our original garden boxes. This one was made with scrap wood we had laying around. Here we planted snow peas and cukes. Along the edge Ean planted his dusty miller. Dusty miller is used as foliage in cut flower arrangements.
Just passed the snow pea box we have the grape arbor. The grapes on the right were planted from seed from grapes Ean foraged in the woods. The grapes on the left were a store bought plant. Looks like this year we will hopefully have our first grapes! The grape arbor is flanked by two smaller boxes. This year the box on the right has lettuce and cukes. The one on the left has cukes and nasturtiums.
Moving along from the arbor is the bathtub. When we first moved here we found the old tub in the woods. It is huge and heavy. We moved it by rolling it on top of small logs--a painstakingly long task. Now it is filled with dirt and flowers and several succulents. I do love succulents. I am not sure why but I find myself collecting more and more of them.
and speaking of succulents...check this one out!
Not far form the bathtub you will find another garden box. This is also one of our first boxes. This year it has cukes, peppers, onions and several tomato volunteers.
Next to the box are Ean's potato tires. A neat way to grow taters. We have never done it before but the theory is you start with one tire and your plant. As the plant grows you add tires and dirt. Once the taters are ready you disassemble and dig out your potatoes.
Across the way from the tater tires is Ean's corn patch. He is super excited this year-it is the first year his corn is "knee high by July."
And this is Ean's zinnia patch and cut flower patch. Even though Commonground Fair/YEZ have been canceled he is using this year to practice his skills.
The cut flower patch has daisies, snap dragons and straw flowers. There are also chives and a salvia in there.
I did my tomatoes in pots this year. It was the best decision I made. The crazy weather this spring gave me the freedom to bring these in the house when it was frosty and move them out of the blistering sun. (It was one extreme or the other this spring--wild late snow, followed by intense heat, followed by more frosts)
The last stop on our garden tour is my back porch. I am slowly turning it into a garden oasis. My two key pieces are this pot of johnny jump ups. I just love them. Do you see the faces peeking out?
My second back porch piece is ...you guessed it a succulent garden. I re-purposed an old bird bath and voila!
I hope you have enjoyed your garden tour. This hobby has kept me content during these crazy times. I find peace here...in the solitude of just getting my hands dirty and helping things grow....
