The spring days grow longer and warmer. Of course, it’s welcomed. Still, the precious bit of time at the end of the work day that I can spend watering, weeding, moving plants, starting new plants, potting up containers, is never enough. I have big plans for the summer of 2010. Where will I find the time? And the energy?
The side garden near the chicken coop—where we sit on the bright green Swedish bench to watch Chicken TV—is a major project. It was a long-neglected area that we once referred to as Winifred’s Poop Garden because of its liberal use by our now-deceased Belgian Malinois.
Last year I divided variegated hostas and supplemented them with ‘Sun and Substance’ and a couple of ‘Blue Angel’ hostas. The slugs love the variegated hostas, so they’ll slowly be replaced with other plants. Several tiarella, or foam flowers, have gone in. Twenty more are on the way. I’m keeping my eyes open for more dramatic, thick-leafed hostas that Mr. McGregor’s Daughter tells me will be more slug-resistant so I can toss the variegated slug bait to the chickens.
Trying to establish a little green bit of lawn in front of the bench where the two little Papillons can lounge has been a struggle. It was looking pretty good last summer, but the snow plows did severe damage as they piled 5-foot tall walls of snow in the area this winter. The chickens are attracted to the fresh soil when they’re on walkabout and have managed to dig up the tiny grass seedlings I’ve been nursing. Now I’m thinking I’ll transplant more of the creeping Jenny from other parts of the yard to create a different kind of ground cover.
In the front of the house—a shady, north-facing exposure, the ‘Encore’ azaleas are blooming despite severe damage from the heavy snow. The hellebores have been casting off seedlings for a couple of years now and I will be moving them over to the woodland garden sometime this summer.
In the potager, the angelica anemones are blooming. I must figure out a plan for them, as they re-seed prolifically and clog up my garden paths. I feel guilty pulling them up like weeds, but what is a gardener to do? One must have paths!
I continue to be amazed by the simple little yellow pansies that I had planted in window boxes last fall. They hibernated under a couple of feet of snow and snuck out small blossoms despite the cold. Now they’ve roared back to life. I need to re-plant the window boxes, but the pansies look so vibrant and healthy, I’m temporarily relocating some of them into other containers.
I continue to tell myself to put one foot in front of the other and to stop to enjoy the sound of the birds and the beauty of spring. After all, the work is for a reason. Right?
Hi! I'm Robin Ripley author of Wisdom for Home Preservers, published by Taunton Press. I am also co-author of Grocery Gardening. Bumblebee is about my life in rural Maryland, my garden and my love of food, my little dogs and pet chickens. You can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook. Thank you for visiting!
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Thanks for the link love! I’ve ripped out all of the Anemone like yours as it was choking out other plants and started seeding into the lawn. Pretty, but it needed to be stopped. I wish I could remember who had a double form that was sterile. That might be the answer.
.-= Mr. McGregor’s Daughter´s last blog ..The Squirrelhaven Springtime Blues =-.
Excellent advice… one foot in front of the other and soon it’s a beautiful garden you can be proud of. I have the same problem w/ flower seedlings. I hate to treat them as weeds, but you can’t let them take over a garden (or the paths) either.
.-= Carol, May Dreams Gardens´s last blog ..Garden Design Update: A Guest Post From the Garden Fairies =-.
I feel the same way like can’t keep up. Your garden looks lovely. Don’t worry about pulling up anemones. They are prolific.~~Dee
.-= Dee/reddirtramblings´s last blog ..New to me =-.
So much to tend to. It is true. Your garden already looks lovely. All those new plants will be spectacular.
Lovely pictures of what’s blooming in your garden. Would like to know how the small fountain in the birdbath works, is it a pump inside the bath or one that sits on the side.
The fountain has an internal pump as well as a water line to automatically re-fill the 5-gallon reservoir, as needed. I find the cut-off of the reservoir mechanism a bit finicky though, so it’s not currently connected. I’m outside watering the container plants all the time anyway, so I just make sure it’s filled when I’m watering.
Thanks for visiting and for the comment!
Robin
Watching chicken TV would be such fun on that bench in those surroundings!
.-= Leslie´s last blog ..Garden Blogger Bloom Day April 2010 =-.
I know exactly what you mean by putting one foot in front of the other. Your garden is coming along very nicely.
.-= keewee´s last blog ..Walls O Water =-.
I love your bench and the foamflowers. Chickens can do a lot of damage with their scratching.
.-= Kathy from Cold Climate Gardening´s last blog ..Branches Bench in the Secret Garden =-.
It is great to see the foam flowers. I just picked some up for the woodland area. I am putting one foot in front of the other also. The garden looks glorious.
Just found your blog…new fan!
Robin, Your garden looks lovely~and adding more tiarella sounds lovely…If you’re taking recommendations~Look at Heuchera villosa “Autumn Bride’ a wonderful apple green big leaf alum that blooms in the late summer. Evergreen in my garden. Every time you said 5 feet of snow, or snow piled up on plants …I thought, Whew, we were sure lucky to not get the weather you all got!
Gail
.-= Gail´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday~Purple Sensation =-.
I love those pansies, wimpy name, amazing flower!
.-= Carrie´s last blog ..Let’s take a stroll around the garden… =-.
A tip on slugs, if you are up for more poultry (they would need separate quarters) try ducks. They devour them. I had them for two years until we acquired a lab puppy (the two don’t mix as you can imagine), and I had to re-home them. It was a couple of years before I started having slug issues again, and I live in the northwest on moist forested property. I would love to have ducks again they are very efficient and eco-friendly.
Another tip on slugs. Put egg shells around the hostas.
It’s so nice to acknowledge an area that has been neglected. So little is needed to spruce it up. The hostas look great.
.-= Annelie´s last blog ..A spring quote =-.
Every winter I dream about all the things I want to do in the vegetable and flower beds. But when spring arrives, I can’t seem to get it all done. I have to force myself just to stand still sometimes and take in the view.
Suzanne
.-= Window On The Prairie´s last blog ..Six Hours In Omaha =-.
I love your woodland garden… all your plants look perfectly happy. And those pansys in the pot are adorable! Fragrant too I bet…
Robin, everything looks beautiful!
.-= Shannon´s last blog ..A Garden Tour =-.
Eww slugs. I have not had many yet this year but I am sure they are coming. Have you ever thought of getting some ducks? They actually EAT slugs, it is totally gross but they do keep the slug population down. We had ducks when I was a kid.
Exceptional!
The garden looks lovely.
.-= MAYBELLINE´s last blog ..Summer Crops – Part III =-.
Will the pansies make it all summer? I’ve had some of my superhero pansies make it through the winter as well. It is such a nice surprise.
.-= Amy´s last blog ..Compost Happens =-.
The garden is beautiful. The reason, one reason, my garden is so lacking in good design is because I have so much trouble removing thugs, proper pruning, and removing plants that no longer enchant. A hard lesson, but it must be learned.
.-= commonweeder´s last blog ..Local Lunch at The Academy =-.
Lovely! We’re trying to resurrect some old flower gardens that existed here at some time in the past. I was surprised to find so many tulips, irises and daffodils fighting their way through at least two years of neglect (the period of time this property sat vacant before we purchased). Hoping it will one day be as peaceful a retreat as yours appears to be!
.-= Dana´s last blog ..The Carnival of Homeschooling is up! =-.