My initiation to gardening came from, of all places, a white business-sized envelope containing a hand-drawn map of the farm my husband and I had just bought from an out-of-state retired couple. Their realtor gave us the keys and the envelope when we finalized the purchase. Upon opening envelope, we pleasantly discovered a hand-drawn map of the landscaping around the house and barn. The author included the common names for the myriad trees, bushes, bulbs, and flowers she’d nurtured during her tenure as the lands’ caretaker and revealed tips in the margins for locating seasonal surprises like raspberry bushes and early spring bluebells. For me the map was a story of the garden’s beginnings and between the lines and drawings, I sensed a desire for us to enjoy and maintain its peaceful beauty.
Using the map, we set out to locate some of the natural wonders we’d inherited. We began at our farm’s entrance and walked along the grassy meadow flanking the left side of the long lane leading to the house and barn. Along the west fence by the meadow, we found the raspberry bushes and thought it would be nice to mow a grass path for harvesting the berries as they ripened. After studying the area, we opted to mow an L-shaped path starting at the back yard and running the length of the meadow’s west edge, turning east to end at the lane. It would make a nice walking trail to get the newspaper and mail and provide easy access to the raspberry bushes.
Our new path encouraged us to explore more of the wooded areas of our property. Just as the map promised, on one hillside in mid-spring we found a sea of bluebells as far as the eye could see. We continued exploring and uncovered several more black raspberry bushes and some mulberry trees. We eagerly picked many berries that first year and enjoyed them on vanilla ice cream and cheesecake. We also learned that pants, long-sleeved shirts, and gloves are required gear for picking berries among our thorny thickets.
After living with our country landscape for a couple of years, we started imagining ways to incorporate native species to adorn the walking path and break up the grassy meadow. The meadow covered about five acres and we originally thought a pond would be nice there, but the amount of effort required to create a pond was not something we wanted to tackle at that point. Instead, we planted one two-acre patch of prairie grass and wildflowers and another two-acre section of alfalfa beside the prairie grass with a five-foot wide walking path between. To finish the area, we removed the dead trees from the fence line west of the walking path.
Last spring, we added two ornamental flowering crabs and two flowering callery pears to adorn the start of the walking path near the back yard beside three white pines we put in a few years earlier. A homemade bench I created from an old oak tree sits near the flowering trees flanked by two butterfly bushes. My vegetable and fruit gardens are located nearby in five large tractor tires, which I use as raised beds. The arrangement saves my back and knees since I don’t have to squat or stoop down to pull weeds or harvest goodies.
The woods along the road have been transformed as we cut down the dead trees in the woods, which allowed us to make room for shady flowers, hostas, and ground covers among some large rocks in the center. Where the lane splits the woods in two, I added day lilies, Virginia blue bells, carnations, and other perennial beauties. I enjoy the look of the mowed grass along the path and in the woods because it frames the space nicely and looks more manicured.
Abundant spring rains and hot, muggy temperatures this past season made our landscape so lush and green it resembled a rainforest. I didn't have to water the grass or my flower gardens much at all, which was a real treat. I was able to spend some of the time digging up crab grass roots in the flowerbeds (lucky me), which will hopefully reduce my weeding requirements this next year too. I also eliminated one of the one island beds in the back yard that never looked quite right to me. The vegetation was sparse and weedy, so I opted to dig up the “keepers” and relocated them. My husband tilled the remaining soil where I then sowed some perennial ryegrass seed.
Lately I’ve become quite fond of using potted geraniums and tea roses in my landscape. I like the versatility to move them around when the mood strikes me and will eventually bring them indoors in the fall. I like to have flowers all year long and my potted beauties let me have blooms everyday with a little encouragement from bloom food during the cold winter months. I’m only able to keep a few potted flowers inside, but the geraniums love their home alone the south facing windows. One day I’d LOVE to have a small greenhouse/sunroom off the kitchen so I could garden year-round and start seeds in early spring.
For now, I settle for bi-monthly feedings of bloom food to get my indoor geraniums to sprout flowers regularly indoors as the snow blankets the landscape outside. In fact, they seem to enjoy their new home as they bloom better now than they did outside on the front porch in the spring/summer. I suppose they bloom better because they are my only babies right now and they don't have to share my attention with the rest of the flower garden, which is good for all of us since we have to share the indoors for many more cold, winter days yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment