Mon jardin

July 5, 2021

June 23, 2021

June 12, 2021

I pulled up ox-eye daisy and some wild penstemon from alongside the road during an evening walk and planted it the next day. I wrapped their roots in a wet paper towel and left them outside over night. 

June 9, 2021

The sage are in the ground now and out of the raised bed. 

The lupines are falling apart. *eye roll*

I planted the butterfly bush in the sunniest location possible and above ground level so it would be ensured proper drainage. It’s Purple Haze Buddleia from Proven Winners. 

June 6, 2021

I planted ten goats beards that I bought from a home gardener in Princeton selling spring divisions on Craigslist. My research shows that they will grow pretty big, but slowly, so it won’t be immediately that I have to move them. The previous owners left behind a pallet of pavers which I made into a makeshift border.

I also planted three astilbes (two purple and one peach), five irises (three bearded and two variegated siberian), and two veronicas (Royal Candles) that I bought from Belle Mead Co-op. There is peace in accepting that some plants will fail, but that you will learn something. 

June 3, 2021

I planted three lupines in the mixed bed that I picked up from Belle Mead Co-op. The water sits on their foliage so uniquely and the flower spikes meet my vision of a tall garden. Unfortunately, the ground hogs like to snack on them so I’m forced to keep up chicken wire which I removed for the picture. 

May 26, 2021

This is the vermin that eats my plants. It lives with its mom and sibling in my neighbor’s yard, and the three of them have no problem digging under the fence to enter my garden. 

This standstill was brief and I was nervous for my cats, but no animals were hurt, as I first disengaged my cats and then scared away the ground hog with a garden hoe. 

May 23, 2021

I planted three achillea (Milly Rock Red Yarrow) today from Lowe’s for a burst of color and because planting in odd numbers looks best. I picked out yarrow because it’s really easy and hardy, but I wish I had gotten a taller variety. This one grows only about a foot high while my vision includes a lot of height. 

The bee balm from last year came up to my surprise. The rudbeckia was much earlier. Again, placing yard fabric was unnecessary and caused more harm than good. The lavender still shows no signs of coming back and likely did not survive the winter so that was a waste of money, but I know now to anticipate the fence’s shadow which elongates in the fall and cuts off direct light.   

May 15 - May 21, 2021

The hydrangeas and rhododendrons are exhibiting bad chlorosis, or lack of iron (note the light green leaves and the yellow veins). It’s mid-May, and I still haven’t removed the yard fabric and applied iron-tone. What was I thinking?!

May 8 - May 14, 2021

The hydrangea is suffering from chlorosis, or a lack of iron. The leaves should be much darker, as they were the first year, but instead they are light green with yellow veins. I’m not sure if it’s because of the yard fabric, but I will clear it out and apply iron-tone. Only I could mess up hydrangeas. Nevertheless, I am happy with the size, as it’s already double its size the first year and it’s so early in the season. 

New plants from Belle Mead Co-op include one rudbeckia, two ‘Raydon’s Favorite’ asters, two monardas from Proven Winners, and two ‘Jeana’ garden phlox. 

They all went into the ground and the seedlings went into the raised bed. The berggarten sage and the tri color sage survived the winter in the bed. 

If only I had known:

May 1 - May 7, 2021

The color of the blooms from the birch and the flowering dogwood seem to blend at the top of the canopy.  

I was able to identify honeysuckle bush because it bloomed this year. I love the way it’s grown into a small tree with a woody base and leafy top with flowers. Would be great to plant along the understory. I’ve heard of honeysuckle being invasive, but this particular one seems to be pretty tame.  

March 8, 2021 and April 10, 2021

This year our raised bed will be better planned, in terms of allowing enough space for plants at their mature size (or so we think). This year Jack ordered the vegetables of his choosing from online and they sprouted in reused cottage cheese containers. 

December 2020

October 2020

I cleared the raised bed of failed vegetables and moved some containers with marigolds and asters beside the broccoli because it’s the safest, sunniest spot in the garden. 

August 2020

Rudbeckia buds are up at the beginning of August and we are able to harvest a few things from the raised bed, including sage for smudges.