This year we decided to try our collective hand at raised bed gardening. This is a new concept for us, but after fiddling with a ridiculous patch of weeds that was a garden in name only last year, we decided we needed to make a change. We have heavier clay soil, which our realtor told us was just wonderfully high in nutrient and mineral value and would make our drinking water high in mineral value. We soon discovered that meant that our water would look like orange juice, taste like blood, and smell like rotten eggs. Oh, and it would clog every plumbing fixture known to man, dye our laundry orange for free, and leave white, chalky marks on any and all solid surfaces. Bottom line, we ended up buying a sulfur clear and iron filter which worked beautifully on our water until its two year warranty expired earlier this month.
I digress... Our yard was landscaped nicely when we moved into our house. Consequently, I cannot take much credit for what you'll see in these photos, but we try to maintain what was here. However, I find some frustration with the fact that they never put down an ounce of landscaping plastic or weed control. There was, however, plenty of pretty mulch - which is pretty much gone now. My neighbor was nice enough to explain to me last year which of my plants was a weed and which was not a weed... that way I stopped pulling up the ground cover and watering the Burdock. I then complained about the lack of weed stop/landscaping fabric to which she replied, "Oh, I prefer it that way too. If your mulch washes away it just looks so tacky to have that fabric sticking out." I wanted to say, "Well, yes, but I have 5 children, 4 pets, 3 vehicles, 2 stories of house, and 1 husband to maintain. Tacky is what I would call an acceptable risk at the Slagter Park Zoo and Rodeo." She has a point... but rock is looking like a better option than mulch anyway these days.
My husband, who is a hopeless "homebody", has had a variety of home bound hobbies since we've been married. He is an accomplished mechanic, handyman, and knot expert. Yes, I said, "knot expert". He can not only tie about any knot on earth (including a hangman's noose - which means he's a handy guy to have around if you're fixin' to have a hangin' party), but he can also tell you the history of each knot and its standard usage. He has a stack of books on knots. In fact, he was reading one quite thoroughly when I slipped and fell into the hot tub at our bed and breakfast getaway in Wisconsin a few years ago... nearly killing myself. He never noticed me writhing and yelping in pain. I still like to tease him sometimes about how he would have explained that one to the coroner's office. "You see, I was reading this fascinating book on knots..." Anyway, he really likes to try to find hobbies that he can enjoy at home, and I absolutely love that about him. He doesn't try to get away from us. He enjoys his time with us, and he makes every effort to capitalize on those opportunities. So this year, under his night stand looks like this:
As you can see, he is going to be an expert on vegetable gardening, composting, and all around "country living". Isn't he adorable? Now we do these things that, only years ago, I would found unbelievably square. For instance, if he and I get a chance to get away on an overnight, we end up going to botanical gardens and arboretums. We learn about trees and the history of the men who have loved trees... and we like it.
Our front landscaping is full of "ground cover" plants. These plants are called ground cover, because they are supposedly low-lying plants that provide cover in areas that need it. Our particular two types of ground cover should more appropriately be called shin cover or even knee cover, because they come up to this absurd height, and look frankly like a bunch of weeds to me. As you can see, it's to the left of and behind the hostas in the photo below. It comes halfway up my shepherd's shook. It is out of control.
You'll notice that around them I also planted some other flowers... they are called peppermint stick zinnias and geraniums - I think. This note should probably more appropriately be called "The Clueless Gardener". I'm not even sure what size these flowers are going to get or how well they'll get along with the other flowers I planted in the trough. Time will tell, I suppose.
My cute husband decided to plant some flowers indoors right after the winter when he decided to become a gardening expert. They grew up quite nicely inside as he was talking to them daily and making sure they got plenty of Vitamin D. Incidentally, this caused Claire some concern over Mark's sanity.) I transplanted these (below) into the flower trough, and they are doing quite nicely.
It never ceases to amaze me how a person can just pull up a plant by the roots, pack some soil around it somewhere else, pour a little water on it, and voila... it starts growing there. I feel like I should have to do something more... something significant. Like? I don't know, do a dance? Wave a wand? Sprinkle some kind of fairy dust? Say some magic words? Any which way, I suppose that's the way God made plants. Who am I to argue?
Speaking of which, at the behest of my middle daughter, we planted the first fruit-bearing shrubs and trees in our yard this year. Claire, who lost her beloved cat in a tragic pool drowning early this Spring asked me at Menard's one day, "Mom, do blueberry bushes live longer than cats?" I wasn't sure of the answer to that question, but she decided that she'd like to try to have a pet blueberry bush instead of going for more cats. I was all for that idea. Less fur and poop, more shade and deliciousness? Who could resist? In addition, I found a great deal on my two favorite types of apple trees at the local nursery. They were selling larger semi-dwarf Jonathan and Honey Crisp apple trees 4 for $100. So I jumped on that. It was a little late in the season to be planting apple trees, but I figured that between our magical, nutrient rich soil (which has just got to be good for something, right?) and my brilliant (did I mention handsome) husband, we could have apple trees and blueberry bushes in no time. Thus began the planting of the Slagter Orchard...
Levi stubbed his toe right before this photo, but he wanted me to take it anyway. He likes to look at it about 5 times a day and laugh at himself and say, "Levi, there's nothing to cry about." (So, no, I'm not just a mean mom.)
These are closeups of the blueberry bushes... you can see the tiny green berries. I'm told we'll need to cover them with mesh to keep the birds away from them. I'm not sure when to start doing that, but I'm sure I'll find out one day when I go out and my berries are all gone. :)
And here is my most recent sadness... rhubarb. My mother-in-law planted this rhubarb in what was our "garden" last year. Now it is even a worse patch of weeds than it was then. As a result, our dear neighbor who mows our prairie grass for us decided to help out by mowing closer to the house. If you didn't already guess, he mowed down my rhubarb. I was about to harvest it a couple days ago. She who hesitates is without rhubarb, I guess. It is the green variety, and he probably thought it was burdock... which we also have and looks uncannily similar to rhubarb. I had also just recently planted the other two new plants I got in this area... which are now nowhere to be found either. We'll see if they turn up one of these days.
This is a hydrangea bush that was here when we bought the house. It drives me crazy. It is a pruning headache. It has beautiful white blooms in the late summer. I want it to be purple or blue or pink though. This is how I imagine they should be. So I am going to try to figure out how to change the soil pH so they will bloom in color.
These are my impatients. I planted them in with the "snow on the mountains" ground cover. I tried to weed out most of the ground cover, but I am sure the impatients will take off soon and fill in all the dirt area there. So I'm going to be liking those as they fill out a little.
This is going to be an asparagus patch in the next year or two... I hope. I planted 10 plants. So we'll see what comes of those.
I will blog later about our raised-bed gardening adventures. This blog is a bit out of the realm of what I usually tell about, but it's our most recent happening, and it is what has kept me from doing much else... blog-wise. So, if you have some commentary or advice, it'd be much appreciated. If you're interested in taking some of my extra hostas or irises off my hands, please be my guest.
I digress... Our yard was landscaped nicely when we moved into our house. Consequently, I cannot take much credit for what you'll see in these photos, but we try to maintain what was here. However, I find some frustration with the fact that they never put down an ounce of landscaping plastic or weed control. There was, however, plenty of pretty mulch - which is pretty much gone now. My neighbor was nice enough to explain to me last year which of my plants was a weed and which was not a weed... that way I stopped pulling up the ground cover and watering the Burdock. I then complained about the lack of weed stop/landscaping fabric to which she replied, "Oh, I prefer it that way too. If your mulch washes away it just looks so tacky to have that fabric sticking out." I wanted to say, "Well, yes, but I have 5 children, 4 pets, 3 vehicles, 2 stories of house, and 1 husband to maintain. Tacky is what I would call an acceptable risk at the Slagter Park Zoo and Rodeo." She has a point... but rock is looking like a better option than mulch anyway these days.
As you can see, he is going to be an expert on vegetable gardening, composting, and all around "country living". Isn't he adorable? Now we do these things that, only years ago, I would found unbelievably square. For instance, if he and I get a chance to get away on an overnight, we end up going to botanical gardens and arboretums. We learn about trees and the history of the men who have loved trees... and we like it.
Our front landscaping is full of "ground cover" plants. These plants are called ground cover, because they are supposedly low-lying plants that provide cover in areas that need it. Our particular two types of ground cover should more appropriately be called shin cover or even knee cover, because they come up to this absurd height, and look frankly like a bunch of weeds to me. As you can see, it's to the left of and behind the hostas in the photo below. It comes halfway up my shepherd's shook. It is out of control.
One thing I am particularly proud of is the growth of these two, gorgeous hostas.
Aren't they fantastic? Not that I have anything to do with how they are growing, and I haven't gotten a clear picture of whether or not I should be proud of them or ashamed of them. It seems that all the gardening types I know who see them talk about how badly they need "separated". I'm not sure why. I think they are finally getting the point where they look like a shrub and not a small patch of weeds. This pleases me. So I will not be "separating" them any time soon.
In between these two hostas I placed this rusty old trough that I found under the eaves and half-buried in the mud. That was quite a job, let me tell you. The previous owner had apparently filled this trough with our fantastic heavy clay soil... thus the sinkage... and the weeds took it from there. There was no way anyone was lifting this monstrosity out of the mud. I spent about an hour digging the clay soil out of the trough and putting it in our lawn cart and another half hour replacing it with potting mix and new flowers. This photo was taken right after I found, planted, and painted it. The hostas had not yet grown to their current size yet when it was taken 2 weeks ago.
You'll notice that around them I also planted some other flowers... they are called peppermint stick zinnias and geraniums - I think. This note should probably more appropriately be called "The Clueless Gardener". I'm not even sure what size these flowers are going to get or how well they'll get along with the other flowers I planted in the trough. Time will tell, I suppose.
Speaking of which, at the behest of my middle daughter, we planted the first fruit-bearing shrubs and trees in our yard this year. Claire, who lost her beloved cat in a tragic pool drowning early this Spring asked me at Menard's one day, "Mom, do blueberry bushes live longer than cats?" I wasn't sure of the answer to that question, but she decided that she'd like to try to have a pet blueberry bush instead of going for more cats. I was all for that idea. Less fur and poop, more shade and deliciousness? Who could resist? In addition, I found a great deal on my two favorite types of apple trees at the local nursery. They were selling larger semi-dwarf Jonathan and Honey Crisp apple trees 4 for $100. So I jumped on that. It was a little late in the season to be planting apple trees, but I figured that between our magical, nutrient rich soil (which has just got to be good for something, right?) and my brilliant (did I mention handsome) husband, we could have apple trees and blueberry bushes in no time. Thus began the planting of the Slagter Orchard...
Claire and her "pet" blueberry bushes.
These are closeups of the blueberry bushes... you can see the tiny green berries. I'm told we'll need to cover them with mesh to keep the birds away from them. I'm not sure when to start doing that, but I'm sure I'll find out one day when I go out and my berries are all gone. :)
Here is the orchard in its current state.
These are some of my irises. I'm told these are yet another landscaping faux pas, because they also need separating. This set isn't too bad, but I have these EVERYWHERE. The other side of the house is completely obscured by them. So, if you need some irises, you know where to get them. They are, I must say, gorgeous for about 14 days a year.
rhubarb 1
rhubarb 1
rhubarb 2
rhubarb 3
Now, if you'd like to see a set of hostas that could use some "separating", here is exhibit A:
This is under the huge deck (that needs replacing) and next to the patio around the pool. They are pretty, but they apparently like the shade they get an awful lot. It's a virtual jungle and perfect for the snakes and frogs who call it "home". Yes, there is ground under there somewhere.
This is a hydrangea bush that was here when we bought the house. It drives me crazy. It is a pruning headache. It has beautiful white blooms in the late summer. I want it to be purple or blue or pink though. This is how I imagine they should be. So I am going to try to figure out how to change the soil pH so they will bloom in color.
These are my impatients. I planted them in with the "snow on the mountains" ground cover. I tried to weed out most of the ground cover, but I am sure the impatients will take off soon and fill in all the dirt area there. So I'm going to be liking those as they fill out a little.
This is going to be an asparagus patch in the next year or two... I hope. I planted 10 plants. So we'll see what comes of those.
I will blog later about our raised-bed gardening adventures. This blog is a bit out of the realm of what I usually tell about, but it's our most recent happening, and it is what has kept me from doing much else... blog-wise. So, if you have some commentary or advice, it'd be much appreciated. If you're interested in taking some of my extra hostas or irises off my hands, please be my guest.
