The Back Flowerbed

 ETA: I think I wrote this post sometime around June, but recently discovered that it never actually got posted.  Since I talk about this flower bed a lot and consider it a work in progress...I'm posting it now.

 

I've been alluding for some time to an ongoing project near our back fence, so I thought I'd better explain myself.  The "back 40" is the strip of land (steep slope) on the opposite side of this fence.  When we bought this house I had grand plans to put a gate in this fence and steps in the hillside - I even planted a bunch of flowers down the sides of these imaginary steps.  Then the city mowed them all over, exercising their right (obligation?) to mow the "right-of-way" opposite a fence with no gate.  And the real estate market went bad, and I got busy, and frankly it was just so far from the house...okay, enough excuses.  We've been letting the weeds take over the back 40 and the whole fence line ever since.  In the grand tradition of Shaela's house projects, I neglected to take a before picture before diving in.  To give you some idea how bad it had gotten, here's a closer shot of the section behind the shed where I encountered a rose bush and stopped clipping.

Somewhere in that clump is not only a massive multiflora rose, but also a medium-sized holly bush.  But when you look at it, you can't even tell they're there.

So I've devoted several hours this spring to chopping down volunteer trees and ripping out at least three different kinds of ivy, one of which seems to give me a very mild rash.  The cups you see in the picture at the top are little perennial seedlings, some of which I've already planted but many of which are still tipping over every time the wind gusts above 5mph.  ("Do you think they thought those were just trash?" N asked about the cups after some guests left one night.)  There are balloon flowers, pony tail grass, mallow, and soapwort, as well as a few daylilies I planted from seed last spring, a couple tough-as-nails flowering shrubs rescued from my former neighbor's flower bed, and two blueberry bushes.  (And, of course, potatoes in the recycling tote.)  It still takes some imagination, but I think it's going to be spectacular once it's planted and growing.

Spring Progress

 Some (more) not-so-quick bullet points:

Potato seedling peeking out at the world

Happy broccoli

Pea seedlings at the community garden

• The broccoli is looking utterly fabulous.  Even the poor little sacrificial lamb that didn't fit under the cover looks beautiful, no sign of cabbage worms since I picked off some eggs a few weeks ago.  I put coffee grounds all around the plants, hoping to mask the scent - maybe it's working?
• The potatoes are up.  I have some rogue viking purple potatoes at home in a recycling tote, plus German Butterball and Yukon Gold (N's choice) at the community garden.  The ones in the tote are already a little nibbled in one spot, but I can't see anything that might be causing the damage, and it seems to have stopped.
• Peas are up at home and at the community garden.  I actually replanted some of the empty spots at the community garden last week, so hopefully those will be coming up soon, too.
• Last week I went ahead and planted seven of my poor little tomato seedlings at the community garden, filling one of the two beds I'd planned to use for tomatoes this year.  They are not looking any better out there than they did in pots, so Tuesday I went ahead and planted the second bed with seeds.  The trouble is that now I don't want to re-plant the first bed with tomatoes this year, in case it's contaminated.  Sigh.  I'm working on a plot to rearrange the garden, but it's going to take some significant machinations, since I planned everything so well in the first place.  Drat my cleverness and my black tomato thumb.
• I planted some  ginger in my home garden.  I don't know if it will come to anything, but I had the space and thought I would try.
• I have given up weighing the lettuce.  There is so much of it!  Yesterday when N saw the salad bowl on the table he gave a deep sigh, then sat down manfully and began dishing it out.  I grew a lot this year, thinking that I just wanted to use all of the garden space during the spring, even if that meant giving away a lot of it.
• The romaine leaves seem very thick to me, compared to those I've grown at home in the past, and even compared to the ones I buy at the store, although it's hard to tell because mine are all open, with shorter leaves.  (Am I supposed to be doing something to make them grow in a tight head like the store-bought ones?  I don't know!)
• I'm trying to diversify the herb garden, which has been somewhat neglected since I installed it.  (Herbs are just never a priority, but really they should be, since they are so easy once started!)  I transplanted some lemon grass that I grew last year, and some potted chives that have been on my back step for at least three years.  (They promptly tried to bloom.)  I also added some lemon balm and a new cilantro seedling.  (More on cilantro in a later post, I hope.)  In the home garden I also planted cumin, basil, and dill - just a little of each.  I think this year I'll try to plant a new round of basil every few weeks, rather than try to prevent the plants from flowering all summer.
• Over the last two months I've been stealing 30 minutes here and there to work on a major undertaking by the back fence.  There is an area there where we have been letting volunteer trees and at least three different kinds of ivy just take over.  I've been working to clear it, which has taken a lot more effort than I expected.  There is still a stretch behind the shed that needs to be done, plus a lot of little volunteer trees on the other side of the fence that I need to go around the block to cut.  But I can finally set all my little potted plants and seedlings over there and imagine how it will look when they're in the ground.

Very Productive Weekend

After 2 days of 80 degree weather, I decided it was time to put everything in the garden. The seedlings had been sitting outside for several days and were getting impatient with me. I transplanted tomatoes, bell peppers, eggplants, and one jalapeno plant into their allotted places in the garden.
Also, N finished staking all the bean teepees down so I could plant the beans. I've read that it's better to start beans late than early, so I wanted to wait until it was quite warm. I planted lima beans, green beans, black beans, and two kinds of edamame (soybeans).

I also planted zucchini, yellow squash, and spaghetti squash (in my front garden). I did so much planting that I used almost a full yellow tub of water. Obligingly, it rained off and on all Sunday night and Monday.

I still need to transplant the flowers that I grew from seeds, and I need to do it soon. They are all getting quite impatient.

As I was putting things in, N asked me, "Isn't it a little empty?" I laughed. I must remind him of this question in July.

More Work in the New Plot

Yesterday I moved the rest of the bean teepees into place and N and I figured out what we think is a good way to stake them down - I'll have to go get some fence posts tomorrow. I planted sunflowers, marigolds and cucumbers, and I transplanted my cherry tomatoes and cilantro. Then as it got later it got really cold and window, so I moved my cold frame around the tomatoes for a little wind break.

I also updated the plan for my garden. When I made the plan I made a few guesses about where the existing plants were, so I had to make a few corrections. The new plan still isn't quite right, as the plan is for a rectangular garden plot and my space actually isn't quite rectangular, due to the fence and the sidewalk being slightly misaligned. When I tried to incorporate that into the plan it caused more problems than it solved, so I just made the plan approximate.

Incredible gardening weather!

What a beautiful weekend we had! I don't think I've seen two more gorgeous days put together in six years here in MD! Of course, I took advantage to get some planting and garden work done. N helped me lay out and establish my paths, and made me three more bamboo teepees, which is all I need according to "the plan". I'll take pictures of the whole thing once I get the last teepees in place. I need to decide how to stake them so I can make sure they don't take out my neighbor's fence. Any suggestions?


Among the many other tasks checked off this weekend, I planted peas and carrots. The peas should have been planted at least two weeks ago, but I think I will still get a few to snack on in the garden, which is all I ever do with them. I'm not sure how anyone grows enough peas to can. There must be a way to grow them in quantity, right? There are so many of them at the supermarket!


Next weekend is our last frost date!