aspenhill's blog: The Busy Season

Sunday
With so much time being spent in the gardens, I should have plenty to write about. I do, but at the end of the day I am usually beyond exhausted and in the mornings I wake up raring to go. I've been getting a lot done, but as I sit here trying to recall everything, nothing specific is coming to mind Yesterday the rains started and slowed me down. It was nice to have a bit of a breather. I focused on much needed indoor tasks and then went out for a late lunch/early dinner to celebrate Bonnie's 65th birthday.

I know one thing that took up a lot more time than planned - cleaning out the basement under the conservatory. It is separate from the main house and has an outside entrance. It is where I store all sorts of gardening type stuff - decorative pots, seed starting supplies, fertilizers, pest control, landscape edging, ground pegs, tree straps, hooks, rope, plant support stakes and hoops, ... It is also where we store folding tables, folding chairs, chafing dishes, ... that we use for large gatherings. And last but not least, it is where we over-winter the outdoor kitchen items, coolers, and patio umbrellas. I had gone down there a few weeks ago to get my collapsible wagon to take to a garden fair and realized how unorganized it had become over the last few years. It was a mess too from the mice that seem to think that is a good place to live. Absolutely gross. I thought it would take a day, it took almost a week. I really purged too - took three car loads to the dump. I used to store things in open plastic baskets - what a mistake with the mice problem. I purchased all new storage bins with lids and re-organized the gardening supplies that I'm keeping. Some gardening related stuff made more sense to store in the greenhouse, so after the conservatory basement was done, I spent a day organizing the things I had relocated there.

Mike and I have also been working on expanding the vegetable garden. The only open area is on top of the drainfield. The lines are 3 feet down and since most vegetable crops are shallow rooted, it will be fine there with or without raised beds. We first cut down two dead trees on the edge of the drainfield, did a final burn of the season before the burn ban started, and then relocated the big ash pile from years of burning in that spot. Mike used the tractor to pull out weeds and grade the expanded area, then brought in a dump truck load of topsoil. I think we need one more. Now we are working on expanding the deer fencing and installing a drip irrigation system. I've already planted out my tomatoes in the original section, and hope to get everything else I plan on growing planted out sometime this week. I started way too many tomato seedlings I've pared it down to three of each variety, but with almost 20 varieties, that means 60 tomato plants. Good gosh, that could be a LOT of tomatoes. I'm looking forward to taste testing and picking out keepers that I'll want to grow again. With so many tomato varieties to choose from though, I know I'll try new to me varieties each year too. I'll also be planting peppers, cucumbers, carrots, onions, cantaloupes, cabbage, beans...

I've got strawberries in the vertical planters on the back patio. The mail order 'Seascape' bare root are doing great, but the 4 bare root varieties that I purchased at Tractor Supply and Lowes were a bust. I know now that I won't be buying bare roots from big box stores again. I also want to get a small raspberry patch going. I'm not sure if I will do that in the expanded vegetable garden area or somewhere else. I plan to grow a few blueberry bushes too, but I'll do those in containers.

Both Bonnie and I have been steadily working at clearing out the accumulated fall leaves from all the garden areas. There are just two areas left to do - the Boxwood Parterre and the dry creek bed that runs along the Millstone Fountain Garden.

Another job that Mike has finished is the cleanup around my dad's grotto. After my parents passed away, I hired a stone mason friend to disassemble the stone grotto that my dad built and reconstruct it on my property. He worked on it off and on last year - a few hours on weekends or days off from his full time job. It took him a lot longer than he anticipated, and he finished up right before Thanksgiving. There was a lot of stone and mortar debris, pallets, two dead trees, and regrading needed for the cleanup. Now it is planting time for me - I've got ferns that I've been holding in the staging area for that space. I'll start with the ferns and then add a few other things over time. I want that garden area to stay green and serene - maybe a pop of lavender or white, I'm thinking foxgloves.

I've got numerous planters to put annuals in, but I'm waiting on delivery of self watering insert pots before I do. Last year when I hosted the Mid Atlantic spring plant swap, I splurged on annuals for my various planters and loved the way they added to the general garden design. They required so much watering though. I'm hoping the self watering pots that I can insert into the decorative planters will cut down on the watering frequency need.

I'm steadily plugging away at the rebaselining of my gardening records by confirming what is still alive and making positive ids of cultivars when they bloom. I've id'd snowdrops and daffodils, and now iris season is here so I'm working on those. Many are alive, but not many have bloom stalks so iris cultivar ids will be elusive for years to come I'm sure. Clematis are coming into bloom too, so I'm able to id those. Soon the peony season will start. I know I will be able to confirm all cultivar ids of those. Later in the summer will be daylilies and astibles.

I've still got a huge to do list of garden editing - i.e. digging and dividing overgrown perennials and relocating self seeders and others for aesthetics.

So much to do when you are a gardener with big aspirations I don't plan on slowing down until the heat and humidity of summer become miserable for all day long outdoor work. In the meantime, I'm happy for the rain. I can do a few things in the greenhouse and I'll even be outside during periods of light drizzle, but I will enjoy the slower pace for a few days.

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