Recently in My Gardens Category

The rain has come today. A steady rain, enough to quench my thirsty gardens and containers. It seems that my last few days of gardening has been focused on watering and now I can relax. Today I can catch up on my reading, phone calls, bill-paying and such.

Saturday afternoon brought an interesting offer of maple logs and kindling. My neighbor finally decided his beautiful maple was, indeed, dead and that it was time to take it down before a storm did, indiscriminately, upon his house. Neighbor Randy cut most of the trunk into pieces fit for our forced air fireplace (the box is not very big - pieces cannot be longer than 16 inches), and cut the major branches as well. All of this was conveniently dropped about 25 feet from my log pile over the fence line using his Kubota tractor with the handy bucket scoop in front. (One of those toys my husband not-so-secretly covets.)

The rest was up to us to collect. I paid my oldest (that was the only way I was going to get her out there) to help me pick up, break or cut pieces, and load them into the yard cart. We made about six or seven trips and now have an impressive pile of finger-width to arm-width kindling to go with the logs.

I feel like the ant in the Ant and Grasshopper story, even smug that I've begun "storing" away needs for the winter. Since the hike in gas prices, we are among the many who heat their homes primarily with wood in the winter.

I struck on the idea that I should keep track of the changes in my backyard efforts. I took a number of "before" pictures to set the benchmark. I also drew a rough diagram of the backyard so that as I refer to various zones and post pictures those of you who are interested can follow more easily. Eventually, I'd like to repost each of the "before" pictures with the "after" pictures. Knowing how plants develop as they mature, pictures beyond the "after" pictures would be cool, too.

First, is my diagram. Although the picture is not to scale, I have a fair sense of space so it is accurate for this purpose.

The vegetable garden was the first of my tasks. I felt it was important to get it opened and extended given the nature of annual vegetables and herbs. Too bad there isn't a true "before" picture.

After losing nearly four years of summer gardening opportunities due to a return to school (including a summer for recovery), my backyard looks like a junkyard slum. It is overgrown with weeds and wildflowers, an untidy, unattended compost pile, piles of wood from two homes that had trees removed and that still need to be cut and chopped, and piles of junk/scrap/recyclable items that came from the remodeling of our kitchen and sunroom.

This beautiful new sunroom looks out over all this mess. Consequently, there is hardly a day that goes by that I'm not reminded of the mess.

NO MORE!! This is the summer to clean up the back yard. In May, I opened my front yard gardens. I weeded, planted, Preened, and mulched. I planted annuals that were likely to need very little care like impatiens and pansies next to mature perennials. I figured with a little care thoroughout the summer, they would hold their own while I focused my energy in the back yard.

I considered the big picture. What did I want it to look like at the end of the summer as well as by the beginning of next spring? I decided upon "zones" of improvement over a three season effort (think Excel spreadsheet).

Zone 1: Vegetable Garden (southwest corner of yard)

Zone 2: New Northeast Garden (by the barn)

Zone 3: Wildflower Garden (northwest corner)

Zone 4: Compost Pile (far northwest corner)

Zone 5: Logs and Brush Piles (all along north yard and far southeast corner)

Zone 6: Retaining Wall and Pond Garden (along the house on the s-east)

While all this activity is going on, my husband is working on the barn and greenhouse. Conveniently, when he needs me, I can help him and vice versa.

My list is in a sequential order of completion. The vegetable garden is nearly finish. It has been doubled in size to accomodate my herbs from the retaining wall that will be removed sometime this fall or next spring. All those plantings need homes this summer while that corner of the yard along the back of the house is renovated next year.

I would like to attach pictures - especially "before" and "during" pictures - a recording of my progress as this project develops through out the next few months. (Hope my lovely sister will be able to talk me through that operation!)

More on this later!