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Last year my gardens got away from me — they’re still running but I’ve managed to play catch up and get a handle on some things. With the broken bones and then the surgery, 2018 was a total bust in the garden. However, I used part of my year-end bonus to buy a month’s worth of personal training to get some strength and balance and worked on that in January and February to prepare. Then, in April, May and most of June, I watched it snow and rain and rain and rain… and the garden started to grow wild again.
Finally, in late June, I was able to get out there with some regularity and work on wading through the grass and weeds and get an idea of what was growing and what was not.
Many of you remember the old trees I inherited when we bought the house. We cut them down several years ago and they have been quietly doing what stumps do, so this is also the year to deal with at least one of them. I’ve got a hodgepodge of stuff around and in it. When we cut down the trees, I spent a few years throwing a bunch of old soil and some plants in the hollow stump, but now it’s rotten and is starting to sink into the ground.
You can’t tell from this photo but the back of the stump is in pieces and I’ve already started pulling them off and throwing them in the trash. This photo was taken in late
I got to work and pulled out a lot of the grass and moved some fences and posts so Mr. Light could mow closer in.
Then I pulled a bunch of plants out that weren’t doing well. The goldenrod appears to be a very aggressive mat that must be hacked away at every year or so. A friend had given me some lilies a few years back and I had planted them throughout the garden. Some were in the soil in the stump, but nothing in the stump was doing well so I pulled them out for now and I’ll replant when the weather cools. They are lounging in a pot on my porch.
The lily bloomed (the yellow flower on the left) even though I had rudely dug it up, to my surprise. Also along for the ride are rudbeckia, a candytuft and some sweet William. The candytuft is turning green so I know it will be fine. Some things I just have to throw over the deck edge because I can’t keep it all!
I am contemplating digging up this garden entirely this fall. It’s not been happy lately, as the grass is trying to take over and it and some of the more aggressive plants are trying to take over. I have to think about how to stop it. So that’s a project in motion for sure. The grass is an underground network of roots a mile long. I hate it and can’t figure out how to keep it from taking over the garden! I swear it could grow through 4’ of mulch.
I’ve got an orange lily in the upper garden, the yellow one, and various pinks scattered around the place.
The front garden also got some work. There’s no grass there to battle but there are big happy dandelions and lots and lots of asters who are trying to take over. Along with the ubiquitous bindweed of course. I also had a climbing rose on the arbor, a red one that I just didn’t want so I took it out earlier this spring and threw it out. It was an unruly and thorny bastid, I tell ya! It kept grabbing me, and canes would grow crazywild. So it is gone and I am coaxing a few clematis to grow on the arbor instead.
Still a lot of work to do on both gardens but the weather is now cooling off and shadows stretching longer. This weekend it’s supposed to be cloudy/rainy again, but it really just keeps things cool and rains once in a while. Hopefully I’ll get more weeding done. It has been a very wet year all along. Not complaining!
The old raised bed has seen better days. Time to say goodbye. There goes the critter fencing. Thank you, Mr. Light (aka McGyver in the Garden). It worked well.
I gave up on veggies. I can’t grow them no matter what so I now use the raised bed for the perennial seedlings that were too small for the garden last year but could overwinter outside. It’s too shallow for long periods but I’m pleased to see three coneflowers of different colors and a few clematis survived the winter and appear to thrive. Plus we did grow lettuce earlier in the spring and parsley is growing from second generation seed. I’m going to move the coneflowers to the front along with the one clematis left. I want to turn that area into a small patio so the herbs can go in big pots as anchor plants. The rudbeckia will be up in the back garden with the other ones. I’m interested to see what combos will come out of the seeds from this year. They are pretty colors and there’s a variety of types of blossoms, from single to multi-petal ones.
Yellow coneflower and various rudbeckias also, all very colorful orange and red.
It isn’t all work and no play. We’ve been able to camp, and get up to the high country at least a couple of times for a picnic. No worry about fire danger yet, although it’s getting dry in the river valleys.
My mom and sister came up to visit and we went to Rifle Falls Park to see the waterfall. It was very full of water this year! A beautiful place. This is a rock outcropping built up entirely with dissolved calcium carbonate from the water. It’s an interesting geological feature, for sure.
We also got up to the high country in July where the snow had just melted (!!!) and the snow lilies were blooming.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone and happy gardening!