Replant, Revive, Re-ignite
The long winter and wet spring has really done a number on all three of the gardens I tend.
At Summit, the Great Pool Disaster (TM) had the biggest impact (short version - big tree branch fell on pool and ripped apart the cover plus caved in the poorly-laid bluestone, thus causing a multi-faceted repair plan and over 20K worth of work needed). That work has only drawn attention however to the remarkably terrible job the landscaping company did just 7 years ago, however (hint, if you want landscaping done, DON'T use Landscape Renovations!!), and I have spend much of the spring ripping out dead plants and getting really bummed out over poorly designed/planted beds. It needs some major redesign and replanting, especially since we are hosting the SARPA tea, but I just don't know that we can afford that with the other work going on.
Winter Street is...well, Winter Street. We planted a new tree.
Here at Ashland, we are preparing to install a raised bed garden in back to grow vegetables this summer. We've hung gutters on the garage to grow lettuce, and we have a tomato tree that we are trying out. We hope to be more successful with vegetable gardening than our front grass, which is not growing at all after the Great Sewer Debacle (TM) the winter before last. The flower beds are also a little wonky, having lost some things over the winter (how on earth does one lose chives and bleeding heart? I thought they were indestructible!). The front juniper has some severe Drunk Damage and had to be cut back extensively.
Maybe my ransacked beds, especially at Summit, are a good way of filling my gardens with plants from friends? We have plenty of extras — sedum, iris, mint, lettuce shoots, oregano — so if you want anything, let me know. We can do a one-on-one exchange, or maybe I should host a cocktail hour plant trade next week...
At Summit, the Great Pool Disaster (TM) had the biggest impact (short version - big tree branch fell on pool and ripped apart the cover plus caved in the poorly-laid bluestone, thus causing a multi-faceted repair plan and over 20K worth of work needed). That work has only drawn attention however to the remarkably terrible job the landscaping company did just 7 years ago, however (hint, if you want landscaping done, DON'T use Landscape Renovations!!), and I have spend much of the spring ripping out dead plants and getting really bummed out over poorly designed/planted beds. It needs some major redesign and replanting, especially since we are hosting the SARPA tea, but I just don't know that we can afford that with the other work going on.
Winter Street is...well, Winter Street. We planted a new tree.
Here at Ashland, we are preparing to install a raised bed garden in back to grow vegetables this summer. We've hung gutters on the garage to grow lettuce, and we have a tomato tree that we are trying out. We hope to be more successful with vegetable gardening than our front grass, which is not growing at all after the Great Sewer Debacle (TM) the winter before last. The flower beds are also a little wonky, having lost some things over the winter (how on earth does one lose chives and bleeding heart? I thought they were indestructible!). The front juniper has some severe Drunk Damage and had to be cut back extensively.
Maybe my ransacked beds, especially at Summit, are a good way of filling my gardens with plants from friends? We have plenty of extras — sedum, iris, mint, lettuce shoots, oregano — so if you want anything, let me know. We can do a one-on-one exchange, or maybe I should host a cocktail hour plant trade next week...
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