Garden notes
Jun. 10th, 2005 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
juthwaraI was looking out of our bedroom window at the front garden recently and had a startling thought: "It looks so pleasant out there."
Anyone who's been following this LJ for the past two years knows that our yard brings a whole new meaning to the term "Work in progress." Years of neglect before we moved in coupled with 1) my allergies which won't let me work outside for more than an hour and 2) my heat intolerance which makes it hard to be outside in the highest heat of the summer, has made gardening a difficult propostion. But I've been persistent.
The year we moved in, it was the beginning of July and the weeds were already above our heads. There were a few flowers - in particular, some long suffering roses that were alternately being choked and overshaded by the weeds. It was mostly elephant-eating weeds and killer thistles from Jupiter though. The gardens were lined with large stones that regularly nicked the lawnmower blade and did nothing to keep grass out of the gardens or prevent weeds. There was a path around the front garden going around the side of the house that was theoretically filled with stones, but was really mostly grass and weeds. There was a gigantic ugly growth of pampas grass in the backyard that was meant to be cover for the bathroom window, but really just provided a horrible eyesore. The porch was clearly rotting in spots and had a large hole, not to mention peeling paint that matched the paint peeling off of all of the outdoor woodwork. The porch light had been broken by getting hit too often by the storm door, which was actually in good condition, but didn't have a screen which would have allowed us to let fresh air in on pleasant days. Half of the fence around the backyard was picket and the other half was a six-foot privacy fence that regularly blew over in a stiff wind and all of it needed a good coat of paint. But there was so much interior work to do that I couldn't even contemplate working outside. So I sprayed around with a broad-leaf weed killer to get rid of the worst of them and kill the thistles and got back to unpacking and painting. And then my mother had her accident at the end of July, so I was gone for the rest of the summer and fall, killing any chance for yardwork for the rest of the year.
The next year, I started early. I dug out the pampas grass and planted a forsythia, which wasn't nearly tall enough to block the bathroom window, but that's what curtains are for. I also dug up several new patches of pampas grass that were starting in other parts of the yard. We removed that privacy fence and put in a picket fence and painted it. I removed all of the stones around the path and put in some plastic edging that wouldn't destroy the lawnmower blade. And I started work on the garden, but I made some miscalculations. In particular, I found a wildflower seed mix that claimed it was mixed with mulch that would prevent weeds from coming up along with your wonderful wildflowers. *insert cynical laugh here* Well, the wildflowers were lovely. But the whole weed-preventing mulch part was a terrible, pernicious lie. June was lovely, but by July, the weeds were horrible and I was forced once again to lay about with weedkiller (which of course killed a number of the flowers as well) and throw up my hands until next year. And there was still the rotting porch. I tried hanging a flowering basket from it, but water poring through the holes on rainy days drowned it.
That fall, I planted bulbs and we hired someone to fix the porch and replace the front door.
The next spring, I got to gardening late because I was too busy with classes. Ditching the "go natural" plan, I decided that a Scorched Earth policy would work much better given the extent of work that needed to be done. So I basically laid about indiscriminately with the weed whacker, leveling everything that wasn't a rose or bush of some sort, laid newspaper over it as a weed barrier and then covered it with mulch. I didn't have a lot of money to put in new plants, but I did put in some bulbs and day lilies. I slowly over the course of the summer worked on painting the porch and woodwork around the house. I looked at the stone path and realized that if it weren't for the plastic edging (which was pulling up in places no matter what I did), it would look like the rest of the lawn and decided it would be far easier to pull up the edging than lay down enough new stone to recreate the path. It was a huge improvement, although it still wasn't perfect. I had tried starting some seedlings indoors that had largely died once planted outdoors. Weeds still tended to come up through anyplace where the newspaper had ripped or didn't overlap perfectly. I had preserved a few patches of wildflowers that had come up in May, only to have them fade by June and be replaced with weeds by July. And the front garden developed a grass hardy enough to grow on top of the newspaper. That's just not fair somehow.
But this summer, when I look out the window, the garden is mulched over and weed-free. We pulled a lot of weeds before mulching this time and after last year, there were far fewer weeds to pull. The day lilies are small but starting to bloom along with some of the other bulbs. The roses are starting to bloom as well. The porch is finally painted and has flowering baskets and windchimes hanging from it. The porch light has been replaced and we have a new storm door with a screen to let the fresh air in. Another basket of flowers hangs from a shepherd's crook in front of the house next to a hanging birdfeeder that's constantly populated with birds determined eat us out of house and home. The entire fence is painted. There is in fact no peeling paint that I can see. The forsythia gives us gorgeous blooms every April and is finally large enough to start covering the bathroom window. It's still not perfect - if I weren't so pregnant and able to lean over, I would love to put in several flats of annuals. The concrete in our front walk is broken and what it would take to fix it would either be too expensive or too much work depending on whether we hired it out or did it ourselves. And I'm sure weeds will pop up throughout the summer. But for the first time since we bought this house, the sight of our front yard doesn't make me cringe.
It isn't perfect yet. But what garden ever is? The true joy of gardening is the eternal struggle, nurturing the right plants and fighting off the pernicious ones. It's never done, just at best a process of maintenance, replanning and retrenching, learning from the mistakes of previous years and building on successes. But on days like this, it finally feels worth it.
Anyone who's been following this LJ for the past two years knows that our yard brings a whole new meaning to the term "Work in progress." Years of neglect before we moved in coupled with 1) my allergies which won't let me work outside for more than an hour and 2) my heat intolerance which makes it hard to be outside in the highest heat of the summer, has made gardening a difficult propostion. But I've been persistent.
The year we moved in, it was the beginning of July and the weeds were already above our heads. There were a few flowers - in particular, some long suffering roses that were alternately being choked and overshaded by the weeds. It was mostly elephant-eating weeds and killer thistles from Jupiter though. The gardens were lined with large stones that regularly nicked the lawnmower blade and did nothing to keep grass out of the gardens or prevent weeds. There was a path around the front garden going around the side of the house that was theoretically filled with stones, but was really mostly grass and weeds. There was a gigantic ugly growth of pampas grass in the backyard that was meant to be cover for the bathroom window, but really just provided a horrible eyesore. The porch was clearly rotting in spots and had a large hole, not to mention peeling paint that matched the paint peeling off of all of the outdoor woodwork. The porch light had been broken by getting hit too often by the storm door, which was actually in good condition, but didn't have a screen which would have allowed us to let fresh air in on pleasant days. Half of the fence around the backyard was picket and the other half was a six-foot privacy fence that regularly blew over in a stiff wind and all of it needed a good coat of paint. But there was so much interior work to do that I couldn't even contemplate working outside. So I sprayed around with a broad-leaf weed killer to get rid of the worst of them and kill the thistles and got back to unpacking and painting. And then my mother had her accident at the end of July, so I was gone for the rest of the summer and fall, killing any chance for yardwork for the rest of the year.
The next year, I started early. I dug out the pampas grass and planted a forsythia, which wasn't nearly tall enough to block the bathroom window, but that's what curtains are for. I also dug up several new patches of pampas grass that were starting in other parts of the yard. We removed that privacy fence and put in a picket fence and painted it. I removed all of the stones around the path and put in some plastic edging that wouldn't destroy the lawnmower blade. And I started work on the garden, but I made some miscalculations. In particular, I found a wildflower seed mix that claimed it was mixed with mulch that would prevent weeds from coming up along with your wonderful wildflowers. *insert cynical laugh here* Well, the wildflowers were lovely. But the whole weed-preventing mulch part was a terrible, pernicious lie. June was lovely, but by July, the weeds were horrible and I was forced once again to lay about with weedkiller (which of course killed a number of the flowers as well) and throw up my hands until next year. And there was still the rotting porch. I tried hanging a flowering basket from it, but water poring through the holes on rainy days drowned it.
That fall, I planted bulbs and we hired someone to fix the porch and replace the front door.
The next spring, I got to gardening late because I was too busy with classes. Ditching the "go natural" plan, I decided that a Scorched Earth policy would work much better given the extent of work that needed to be done. So I basically laid about indiscriminately with the weed whacker, leveling everything that wasn't a rose or bush of some sort, laid newspaper over it as a weed barrier and then covered it with mulch. I didn't have a lot of money to put in new plants, but I did put in some bulbs and day lilies. I slowly over the course of the summer worked on painting the porch and woodwork around the house. I looked at the stone path and realized that if it weren't for the plastic edging (which was pulling up in places no matter what I did), it would look like the rest of the lawn and decided it would be far easier to pull up the edging than lay down enough new stone to recreate the path. It was a huge improvement, although it still wasn't perfect. I had tried starting some seedlings indoors that had largely died once planted outdoors. Weeds still tended to come up through anyplace where the newspaper had ripped or didn't overlap perfectly. I had preserved a few patches of wildflowers that had come up in May, only to have them fade by June and be replaced with weeds by July. And the front garden developed a grass hardy enough to grow on top of the newspaper. That's just not fair somehow.
But this summer, when I look out the window, the garden is mulched over and weed-free. We pulled a lot of weeds before mulching this time and after last year, there were far fewer weeds to pull. The day lilies are small but starting to bloom along with some of the other bulbs. The roses are starting to bloom as well. The porch is finally painted and has flowering baskets and windchimes hanging from it. The porch light has been replaced and we have a new storm door with a screen to let the fresh air in. Another basket of flowers hangs from a shepherd's crook in front of the house next to a hanging birdfeeder that's constantly populated with birds determined eat us out of house and home. The entire fence is painted. There is in fact no peeling paint that I can see. The forsythia gives us gorgeous blooms every April and is finally large enough to start covering the bathroom window. It's still not perfect - if I weren't so pregnant and able to lean over, I would love to put in several flats of annuals. The concrete in our front walk is broken and what it would take to fix it would either be too expensive or too much work depending on whether we hired it out or did it ourselves. And I'm sure weeds will pop up throughout the summer. But for the first time since we bought this house, the sight of our front yard doesn't make me cringe.
It isn't perfect yet. But what garden ever is? The true joy of gardening is the eternal struggle, nurturing the right plants and fighting off the pernicious ones. It's never done, just at best a process of maintenance, replanning and retrenching, learning from the mistakes of previous years and building on successes. But on days like this, it finally feels worth it.
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no subject
Date: 2005-06-12 12:10 am (UTC)