Garden Project
I think my greatest accomplishment during the pandemic was the revival of our side garden. Before clearing the area, it was full of overgrown vines, hosta and a lot of clover.
A lot of my inspiration came from Charlotte Moss’ gardens filled with boxwood and hydrangea. I also wanted it to be a little bit northern California, so I incorporated an organic vegetable garden and Oakleaf hydrangea. I remember a super sunny day in April when the raised cedar garden beds first arrived. My dad and I assembled the five raised beds so quickly. I was eager to see everything in their place! I planted brussels sprouts, spinach, arugula, bell peppers, snap peas, and way too many tomatoes. I created a path through the garden with this aluminum edging. I used pea gravel and Georgia pine needle as mulch. I love using pine needle, because it’s inexpensive, easy and in a south-facing garden the pine needle heats up and smells like California and Colorado.
By the end of May, my little seedlings of arugula and bell peppers were growing strong. The garden was full of potential! Most of the plants are from Sarah Longstreth’s organic farm - Good Stead Farm. The difference between taste in the tomatoes I have from Sarah and from a local non-organic garden store is REMARKABLE. The colors, the skin, the pop in your mouth of warm ripe tomatoes. This is when I also began to realize that I planted too many tomatoes.
In mid-June, we had our bountiful harvest - almost on a daily basis - of lettuce. So many salads, green juices and smoothies. It felt so good to be able to take from our own garden.
My garden roses were blossoming by June as well. Last year, I planted two varieties of David Austin roses - Iceberg Floribunda and Crown Princess Margareta. The roses are so strong, plentiful and beautifully fragrant. As I’m writing this (at the end of October), there are roses still blooming. My Radwhite Knock Out roses are just as hardy and plentiful. In late fall, I cut back the roses and they are kept bare during winter. I feel this makes them so much stronger come spring and summer.
Knowing how much the veggies loved the warm sun I might try some more adventurous things next year (fruit?). Brussels sprouts were so yummy, but also incredibly heavy and hard to control. It’s been such a joy seeing everything grow… time to put everything to bed until spring!
Planning ahead to spring, I went to where I could find the best selection of bulbs - Downtown Home and Garden in Ann Arbor. I planted the following bulbs in my front yard, in four different garden beds. I love periwinkle and white in the spring. I saw a squirrel eating one bulb, but I hope I planted enough to see each of these bloom in the spring! I cannot wait.
Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) Armeniacum
Fringed North Pole Tulip
Delft Blue Hyacinth
Tulip Mondial
Cowanii White Amaryllis
