After 3 + years of writing this blog, I think it is safe to say that I have come to terms with what this blog is all about. It isn’t a “how-to” or a discussion of garden trends or a dissertation on all things horticulture. I think it can best be summed up as:
A personal journal of my attempts to take advantage of what little time I have to focus on gardening all while dealing with adverse condtions like wet soil and scores of deer and rabbits. You will see equal amounts of successes and failures and we’ll laugh a bit along the way.
I think that covers it.
I came to this realization the other day as I was working on one particular section of my garden and was getting pissed off thinking about how many times I had revamped this area. We’re talking version 10.1 or so. This section of “plant town” at the base of my deck is only about five years old and I cannot get it to the point where I am even remotely happy with it.
After I came in for the night and ignored the family while in a huff, I sat down and started scanning old photos of this garden bed. I felt a little better seeing where things began years ago, but still bewildered as to why I couldn’t establish a thing here.
It didn’t take long to come to a conclusion as I analyzed each and every photo. The bottom line? I rushed through the planning process due to lack of time and haven’t been able to catch up since that point.
Want proof? Here is a series of photos, in chronological order, with my comments on what went wrong.
I am only focusing on one side of the bed at the base of the deck as you’ll see and here it is in its infancy. The original version was way too small and narrow for such a large deck so I needed to expand it:
No problem, out comes the extension cord for shaping purposes. I can already see good things coming at this point:
I am all about manual labor so out comes the shovel and we simply dig up the turf and compost it. Blisters be damned:
It took some time, but I remained patient as the grass removal continued:
By the dead of summer that year (take note of the dead lawn) the shaping was done and plants were added. Did you catch something wrong with that sentence? Plants added in dead of summer = not smart:
Things looked OK as the weeks went by and the rains picked up:
But needless to say, most of the plants eventually crapped the bed. The Rudbeckia shriveled up by late August and never came back the next spring. The Sedums were devoured by the rabbits and deer and despised the poor drainage, as did the Weigela ‘Wine and Roses’.
So by next spring a new plan was in motion. An ugly yellow Arborvitae was added (don’t ask) as was a Norther Sea Oats, a few dwarf bee balms and some Spiderwort ‘Sweet Kate’:
Looked alright I guess, but I wasn’t thrilled with it. And it looked real boring in winter:
So we start again the following spring. Northern Sea Oats gone because of the reseeding which didn’t work in this area of the garden. The bee balms were nibbled by rabbits so they never had a chance to grow. The Arborvitae was banished to the side yard until I could decide my next move with it. The W&R Weigela also was moved but to a container to see how that would end up. The Spirea ‘Anthony Waterer’ was literally sitting in “waterer” so it died a slow death.
Back to square friggin one.
But things only looked worse as we progressed into summer that year. Seriously, check out this horror show:
I don’t even want to discuss it.
Fast foward to te another spring (2013 in fact) and you have this:
John… I think you’ve hit the nail on the head in many respects… especially the “rabbits” part. Planning is good but for real fun and excitement, I’m into the “adapt it as you go” style of gardening… for me the end results seem to be more gripping when I approach the garden design in this way… and I love change so never would be able to stick to a plan anyway!! Have a great weekend, Larry
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I’ve had so many beds like this. I finally took a different approach and asked myself what I wanted it to look like in terms of adjectives: full, billowing plants that attracted wildlife. I looked at pix of gardens I loved and asked myself what it was about those gardens that was so fabulous. I came up with solid ideas and planned out my beds. It mostly worked, especially after some tweaking.
Planning is for suckers. Sure, their gardens look great but where’s the fun in that? I too never plan so my beds are constantly being rearranged. I think I’m personally keeping some of the nurseries in business.
Hi John,
My first question is did you amend your soil after removing the grass? If poorly drained soil is a problem raise the bed.Planning is not for suckers. You need a battle plan, as your adversaries of poor drainage and deer are mighty! A lot of your choices were good, bee balm, siberian iris, ladies mantle, grasses. They like a wetter soil. Patience is needed to garden as perennials and deciduous shrubs really need 3 years before they can strut their stuff. You could divide your space into protected and wild areas. A patio or seating area with trees or shrubs to hide your deer fence. Banish your foes from paradise. Best wishes-Nancy