Like the angel above, I've been thinking. What direction should the garden take this year?Other blogs that I follow talk about "gardens in progress," and aren't they all? The above is my garden in progress. It's a haphazard collection of plants that works for me on many levels, but is far from what I would like to see here. We live on 5 acres, about half of which is yard. The remainder is incorporated into the neighbor's farm fields and is planted in a rotation of corn, soybeans and winter wheat. My yard and garden is an oasis in the midst of a desert of flat, fertile farm fields. There are woodlots dotting the horizon, breaking up the view. Often, these have sprung up where the land is too wet to be worth troubling with.
When we built the new house we lost some of the rich topsoil, I think, leaving behind a hard, uncompromising pan. Organic matter needs to be worked in near the house now. Fortunately, we have access to well-rotted horse manure, thanks to our daughter's horse. We also compost green materials and kitchen waste, and we bought a load of sand to dig in, too.
Although many of the plants that I love require full sun, and we have that aplenty, the wind here can be devastating. We've been planting trees--smaller ornamentals near the house and larger hardwoods as well as evergreens elsewhere in the yard. I'm hoping to create a windbreak as well as a "window" or a "frame" for the view beyond.
Originally, I tucked perennials randomly into the lawn as I accepted them from friends and came into them unexpectedly. This upset Gourdo to no end as he does most of the mowing. To organize things, he installed an irregularly shaped bed outlined in vintage brick around my collection. We increase the bed each year as the collection grows. We also create new beds. I planted a trio of red-flowering crabapples underplanted with nanking cherry. I think that should look fantastic in coming years--if they bloom in sync, as I hope, I'll have photos this spring.
At any rate, the garden is in progress (in my mind) even as another snow squall passes through the state. Garden Photos by JulenaJo.
