Growing Things



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I like to collect plants.

 

Not fancy plants, and definitely not fussy plants which need any real attention.

 

I like plants with a little history, plants which remind me of people or places that are special to me.

 

Here are a few things which happen to be growing or blooming in my yard today:



The first rosebud of the year.
The bush was in full bloom in the front garden of the house when we moved in.
I love that we see the roses through the living room window.

Lily of the Valley transplanted from my childhood home's garden



The mint in the back is from plants which grew at the farm where my grandmother grew up,
divided and transplanted in several locations since then.

The rosemary in the foreground is a plant which lived over from last year- not as much a history story as a gardening win!



We went to a local public garden's plant sale the first year we lived in our house.
I purchased a small bleeding heart plant, divided from one on the garden's grounds.
It's now threatening to take over the corner of my yard.

These Japanese iris, also in the front garden, came from my husband's
childhood home.



Vegetable Garden

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This spring we added a vegetable garden to our back  yard.  We bought a raised garden bed kit from Home Depot and built a 4 x 4 square, filling it with topsoil and compost.  We're still working on eradicating the weeds and vines which came with the house's existing garden beds. Starting fresh gave the plants a fighting chance with fresh soil and few weeds. 

Our plentiful crops of cucumbers and spinach are finished. What else did we grow? 



We're eagerly awaiting our next crop of lettuce.  The first round provided countless salads.

We grew herbs. Basil and parsley are pictured here.  We also grew mint and rosemary.  I love going out back to pick just what I need for a recipe.

These sweet little grape tomatoes just keep coming.  My daughter, who doesn't ordinarily like tomatoes, has been eating them off the vine all summer.

No, it's not a vegetable.  But it's a gardening success.  The seed for this sunflower came in my daughter's Easter basket.  We started it inside, assuming that like every sunflower we've tried to grow it would instantaneously die once transplanted.  I decided to help it along a bit by planting it in the corner of the new vegetable garden.  We staked it up.  More than once we thought we'd lost it.  But here it is...about to bloom!

We planted marigolds too, amongst the tomatoes to repel pests.  We had no tomato problems, but next year, I might not need so many marigolds. They kind of took over.

Next year?  We're seriously considering adding another bed.  We'd love to try growing green and yellow beans, summer squash, peppers and more herbs.  Yum!

Amateur Gardening

 

 

In my spare time, I fancy myself a gardener.  In my imagination, I can create gardens to compete with Monet's at Giverny or those at Hampton Court Palace.  In reality, I'm thrilled when plants survive the combination of harsh conditions and lack of attention to which I subject them.  This season's successes are pictured below:



I had never heard of gazania before I bought a three pack at our local garden center the first year we were in this house.  I bought them solely because I liked how they looked, but they're fabulous in a multi-purpose way. They are one of the few plants which seem to thrive on the south facing desert-like conditions of this front garden.  This year, I filled the space with them, in a variety of cheerful colors.



These roses love it here, which is great since I do very little to nurture them except spray them to keep the deer from eating them.  Right in front of the huge bay window.  They very boldly and carefully eat the leaves and leave the stems and thorns.

The zinnias seeded themselves from last year and developed into this enormous clump of orange flowers encroaching on my front walkway.  I'm afraid that if I tried to move them, I'd kill them.  Fortunately that's not a purple mum they're sharing space with.



 

Next year we plan to add a vegetable garden out back, and I'm looking forward to growing some green beans, cucumbers and lots of fresh herbs. We'll then cultivate not only beauty for our eyes, but salad as well!  What better therapy than creating order out of chaos by weeding and designing a garden? 

 

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