|
My Garden Journal
In December 2005 we moved to Happy Camp, California, but it was to a rented home, and as it had a number of flowers, I only planted some pots in the spring of 2008, including two half-barrels, in which I grew two tomato plants and some herbs. Our deck was the only area that had a hope of getting enough sun for these plants and some flowers, and they mostly did well, until the tomato plants reached 7 feet tall, and fell over in a strong wind. Although we were disappointed, we picked all the fruit they carried, and ate those tomatoes for the next two months! I discarded the tomato plants when we moved, but brought the herbs and flowers in pots, and they are still waiting to be planted in the ground. Moving in and getting settled is taking some time, of course, and we’ve not been able to do much in the garden area here. We just purchased a home further upriver, and it has a fenced (against the deer) garden area in front, that gets quite a bit of sunshine throughout the day. This area will be the main focus of gardening, although not completely. In addition to that area, a small knoll where we’ve placed our beautifully crafted cedar bench (made by my son David) will be planted in grass and a Japanese maple tree will be added, as well as one of the half-barrels with annuals, next spring. This knoll gets a lot of sun, also. Also in addition, the area directly east of the house, which is small and shaded, and mostly hidden by the pump house, is going to get a secret shade garden, and I plan to plant some things outside the sliding door in back, to be seen from our bedroom. None of this will happen overnight, of course, and I’m already behind because I’m just getting over allergies and bronchitis, and another group of company. The fenced garden area has been neglected for more than a year; it’s quite overgrown, and some of the plants aren’t doing well. It doesn’t appear as if they enriched the soil before planting, but there are ten rose bushes out there that are doing pretty well, considering. There are also a couple of hosta plants that need to be moved into more shade, as they are scorched; there are some Iris, some daylilies, and there are supposed to be some tulips, but it will be spring before I see them if they are still living. There is one lonely rosemary bush at one end, a half-barrel full of dead lavender, and several other big pots that evidently had living things in them at one time, but are empty now. The only thing thriving out there is Vinca minor, a groundcover that has grown rampant throughout the garden area. Jim has been whacking it all down with a string trimmer, but ran out of string, so that’s not quite done yet. We have rocks they used to define strangely shaped areas to move, a terracing rock wall to repair, and lots of weeds and grass to remove before we can get prepare the ground for planting. There are a number of perennials that I want to plant which could or should go in this fall, so I need to get more work done out there. While I was not feeling well, since I was unable to do much physically, I gathered together a list of appropriate plants for selection and put them into the computer. You can see my plant selection list here: My Plant Selection List When making selections I used the following criteria:
In addition to flowers grown simply for beauty, I will also have two beds of herbs, and one of mixed herbs and vegetables, mostly salad vegetables. I don’t have the energy to care for, harvest or “do up” a lot of vegetables, so I will limit it to a few. I do, however, have a love for herbs, and while most of them will be culinary herbs, others will be grown for other reasons or in some cases for no reason at all except I love them. Since there are more than enough large trees on our property, the only tree on the list is the Japanese maple I mentioned, but there’s a long list of perennials, herbs, some annuals and a few vegetables. I have a garden plan laid out to scale, and now I need to see what plants would fit best where, on this plan, to conserve water. There are plants on the list that I've already decided not to plant for one reason or another, and there are some plants that I intend to plant that haven't been included on this list yet, too. I will mark new additions to the list as I find time to include them, and will remove ones I'm not going to use, once I am absolutely sure of that (I may change my mind, you know). We’d like to use un-pressurized water for the garden, and are still experimenting with alternatives to using our pressurized water. The reason for this is that the ultraviolet lights are expensive, and all pressurized water is filtered. If anyone has suggestions that would work well for this, I’d appreciate hearing them. We recently bought some soaker hose, and are going to try that, but haven't had time yet to do that. I know drip line irrigation won’t work, as it needs pressurized line. Sprinklers are out. Some areas may need flooding, but we haven’t worked at trying that yet, either, we simply haven’t had time.
The rosemary that was already growing in the garden (with more water since we moved in) is looking much better. It is of a fairly good size, and I have another two small ones I brought from the other house. I plan to put the herb and vegetable beds in the same area, since it is one of the sunniest areas of the garden. I also have some catmint, pineapple and regular mint (that has to go into a pot, because it gets too invasive here), some thyme, sage, and some small volunteers of fern and English ivy from the garden at the other house that came up in stray places. Jim picked up a bunch of compost to add to the soil here for enrichment. We don’t have a drainage problem here at all. The ground is so rocky that no matter where you put a hose, you don’t ever see damp soil on top of the ground except around a tree, or around one of the rose beds.
The land changes a great deal just in the 65 miles or so you travel on State Highway 96 from Interstate 5, the main north-south artery of California, to the town of Happy Camp. At the Interstate the topography is rolling hills with scattered oaks, and is typical California farm and cattle country. Each mile you travel brings you nearer the rain forests of the coast, however, and by the time you reach Happy Camp (about 65 miles west) they have an annual rainfall of 55 inches per year, while Yreka, at I-5, has something more like 17 inches a year. We are so rural right here where we are that there are no rainfall records that I've been able to find. I'll have to do more looking for some. Rainfall is not appreciably less where we're located than it is in Happy Camp, I don't believe, from the vegetation here. From this point on, however, the scenery gets progressively dryer. The soil is basically a clay soil, but since the area is heavily forested all those trees help enrich the soil, as well as lighten it. I formerly lived in Happy Camp from the mid-eighties to the mid-nineties, and I was really pleased at how well everything grows in this general area. Having been raised in southern California, it was my first experience at growing anything that needed all four seasons, and I liked it! I lost a few old favorites, but gained so many other things that don't grow in the south that I really enjoyed gardening much more than before. And, after spending the last ten years in locations where it was very difficult to grow things, including interior Alaska, I am more than happy to land somewhere I can grow things more easily. Here the challenge will be to place plants in a spot where they can get the proper light and water, as well as where they fit in terms of bloom color, size of plant, and a pleasing mix of textures. We have a high range of mountains to the south, the Marble Mountain Wilderness area, and it, along with all the mature trees, restrict the amount of sun. I don't feel I have the luxury of waiting a full year before planting anything, at my age and health - and actually, none of us knows how long we'll live, so I don't want to wait a long time for something to grow. I'd like something like instant gratification, but will take faster growing plants, since that's the option. I'm hoping that by making careful choices I can succeed with most of them, anyway. I will have some areas of shade, but then there are some shade plants that I like, too. I hope to get some perennials in the ground this fall so they will possibly bloom next year. Among the plants I brought from our rental house was a wooden box we had that I'd filled with geraniums (Pelargonium), petunias, and some Sea Thrift that got completely submerged among the other plants and hasn't done much. The others, however, bloomed beautifully all summer. When we first moved in, Jim sat the box on the covered porch for awhile, but I finally asked him if he'd move it out into the sun, and gave him a suggestion. Well, in the meantime, he'd started putting out some cracked corn for the birds and deer, on a flat area just in front of the fenced garden area. The deer were attracted to it, but we don't have a light out there, so we weren't aware that they'd been eating it, too. Instead of putting the box where I'd suggested, Jim put it out front, just about six feet from the cracked corn, where it would get a lot of sun. The next morning, when I looked out the door, it was to see that not one bloom was left on any plant in the box. It was obvious that the deer thought he had left them a "dessert" to go with their dinner of cracked corn! He moved it that day, putting it inside the fenced area, and it began blooming beautifully again. We're not sure why the deer don't jump this fence. It is not nearly as high as deer fences are around here. It may be the close proximity to the highway, or something, but there are ten rose bushes out there that deer "dearly" love in this area, and they've been blooming all summer. No one lived in the house all of this year (for eight months before we moved in) and part of last year, so if they were going to bother them, that would have been the time to do it. Whatever the reason I'm very thankful, and sincerely hope it doesn't change when I add plants to it. We do have plans for the fencing out there. We're not thrilled with the color, or the way it's been put together, so we'll be updating it next year. At first we thought we'd do it in white, but that's going to depend on what color we decide to paint the house, we've decided. We intend to properly frame each lattice section, and cap the posts, which will be between the lattice sections, instead of behind it. This will give it a more substantial, and slightly more formal look. The house has a distinct "70's" look right now, and we plan to change the window trim and a few other things that will give it a more cottage, traditional look rather than what it's like now, without having to make a lot of structural changes. We want to give it more "curb appeal" I guess. We also have plans for our little knoll. To the west of the driveway, just after you enter, there's a small knoll, on which we've placed the bench that my son David made for me for Mother's Day one year. He has a large chainsaw, and he fashioned this entire bench out of one large white cedar log that was given to him from the Oregon coast, by the owners of a cranberry farm where he worked. It is very unique and beautiful, and looks just perfect out on that knoll, but the knoll itself could use some lawn. A bit of lawn would be nice, anyway, and this is a good place to put it. That spot gets good sun, and is just in front of (from our view at the house) a group of large cedar trees that screen it from the highway below. We also think a nice Japanese Maple (in red) would be a great addition to the knoll, and I plan to put one of our half-barrels there, and fill it with flowers that will spill out the sides (if I can find some the deer will leave alone). These changes will greatly enhance the view from the house, and from the highway. On the opposite side of the drive, just as you turn in, there is a small stacked rock wall that holds a piece of log holding our address numbers. I want to plant something that blooms there, also. On the east side of the house we don't have a lot of space, and doing something there will be a challenge. The pump house is located there, and while it looks okay from the front, the rest of it looks sort of like an outhouse that has seen much better days. Behind the pump house is a small area, approximately 10 x 20 feet that slopes down from the fence at the back wall of the house. In this area are lines leading to our pump house, and two water tanks stored on our property for people across the highway, who have an easement. There is also a fairly large bedrock outcropping here, and I think that's a good thing. I like boulders and bedrock. It is a very shady area back here, mostly due to a huge old apple tree that is across the fence, but hangs over on our side quite a ways. Right now it's full of apples, too. There's also a large sword fern right at the back fence, like those we had at the rental house. I plan to put the ferns I brought from the other house in this area, and around the bedrock outcropping that juts up about 1-1/2 feet. There is moss on it now, and the ferns and ivy I brought will go well with it, as well as the two hosta plants in front that need more shade than they're getting there. They look pretty sick. I'm planning a "secret" garden in this area. Secret only in that it can't be seen from any other part of the property, so it will be a surprise by anyone following the walk up to it. It's an ideal place to plant shade plants like Foxgloves (digitalis), Bleeding Hearts (dicentra), Sweet Woodruff (Galium), and other woodland plants in addition to the ferns, and we can keep it watered with a siphon hose from the creek, which was all set up when we moved in. I want to put a small bench there, because it will be a very nice place to have a quiet conversation or read a book, or whatever. There are two small bridges crossing our creek in back, but neither of them is trustworthy, so Jim wants to make one himself (another project). One of our first projects will be to limb up the trees out there, and clean up all the mess. There are a number of piles of dead limbs, etc., that someone raked up, but never picked up, and there is a lot of dead stuff on the ground that's dropped since the last cleanup, that was probably done two years ago or more, from what I know of the history of the place now. Just across the creek from our bedroom is a large old redwood stump that's covered with moss on top and on some sides, and the creek has quite a few maidenhair ferns (adiantum) growing along the banks. With the sunlight filtering down through the trees, it truly seems to be a mystical place, and I never tire of looking at it. Just outside our sliding door in the master bedroom there's a small cement pad, and I'd like to plant a few things along the bank there, and put a few pots of other plants there, to enhance the view from the bedroom. I haven't thought much about what, specifically, I'd like to plant there, however, beyond knowing that I want something that's low maintenance. So, as you can see, I have more projects planned than I can reasonably do in a matter of several years, but then I enjoy doing that, so I'll just take them as I judge their priority to be, and get to work on them. First will come the fenced area in front, as I need to get some things in the ground this fall, and we are already well into that season. I've located some hollyhocks I want to order the seeds for, and should plant those now, too, for them to bloom next year. I think that just about brings you up to date on garden plans, so I'm going to go get started trying to place plants on the garden plan I've prepared, and see just how everything's going to fit. This is the fun part, although it can also be difficult at times. Especially when you don't know you'll be able to find the specific variety of something you want, and may have to take one in another color or size, or whatever. That can through your plan all off! For that reason I think I'm going to work on specifics in one area at a time, only, to minimize that problem as much as possible. I may have to do some mail order for plants also, if I can't find what I want locally. Locally refers to the southern Oregon area of Medford and Grants Pass areas, which is where we do most of our shopping to get a good selection. They are basically in the same zone area we are, so that's about as good as it gets. So far any shopping I've done has been at a Grange Co-op nursery up there, where I shopped when I lived in the area previously. I want to look around for better selections, however, because they are fairly small and are sometimes really picked over. I shop very seldom due to my illness, so I need to have several places I can go, if necessary, to find what I'm seeking. I may not get another chance for a long time.
Well, that time just flew by. Unfortunately it was not due to being productive and I didn’t get out into the garden at all. Rather, I’ve been quite ill, so my big plans to do site preparation for the coming year were sabotaged. Luckily, Jim and our friend AJ did have part of a day’s work they did out there to help with it a bit, we hope.
Currently the garden area has one terrace to help cope with the mountainside here in front of the house, and someone planted some Vinca (Periwinkle) along the edge of this terraced wall. I don’t know when that was, but long enough that the periwinkle had taken over the entire garden area, spreading and thickening into a big tangle in all the rocks of the wall, etc., and becoming very unsightly.
Jim had spent one afternoon out there prior to their day, using the string trimmer to cut back the worst of the periwinkle, and raking up and disposing of the worst of the litter and mess out there.
On their afternoon out there, they tried to dig out some of the worst of the roots, and clean things up further. He had purchased a roll of black plastic, and after cleaning things up as much as possible, I asked him to anchor the black plastic with some of the rocks, and completely cover the wall where the periwinkle could not be dug out from between rocks. We’re hoping that by depriving it of light and most moisture, we can kill it off during these winter months. This is all speculation, however, and it will be some time before we know if it was successful or not. It was quite unobtrusive, however, and it surely couldn’t hurt anything out there, so there will be some benefit even if it doesn’t do all we hoped it would do.
My last day outdoors I examined my roses, to see how they were doing, and discovered some problems (black spot?), so I had Jim get some herbicidal soap to treat them with, but haven’t had an opportunity to do so yet.
They’ve also had no pruning done, and I need to be checking into that some more. I have several roses that are not Hybrid Teas; I believe they are probably some kind of rambling rose. They have long arching canes, and bear clusters of roses rather than single blooms. Beyond that, I don’t know much about them. To me it seems like they would not be pruned as a tea rose would, however. I’ll have to do some additional research. I don’t think roses are pruned until early spring, so I have some time with that yet.
Shortly after we moved and I became ill at the end of summer, I began planning what I’d like to do with the garden, and making lists of plant selections I’d like to have. Because I grew too ill to continue, I just left that off, too. And that was probably a good thing. Mostly because in the flush of being where I could garden, my plans were quite grandiose, I’m now thinking.
It’s pretty clear to me that I need to rethink all that, given how fast my strength and energy were sapped away this fall. So, in what little time I’ve had to give it any thought at all, I’ve been mulling over options that are more practical, and therefore will be more likely of success than what I originally planned.
Beyond having the one long terrace wall, all the roses out there are planted directly into the ground. Getting down to that ground to weed is beyond me most of the time now. That’s a serious consideration to have to allow for.
I had given a little thought to raised beds, but since the roses are firmly in the soil, I left off thinking about it. I thought about adding more terracing, using river rock that costs nothing and is in a great abundance around here, but that would require a lot of time and energy that most likely will not be available, and I had no clear idea as to how or exactly what I wanted to do with that.
After watching a show on television about creating an unusual raised bed for a woman, I saw more possibilities in that. To create this raised garden they used I guess what you’d call landscape timbers, at least I think that’s what they’re called. Sort of like railroad ties, but made up of fairly short posts. They created an unusual shape for the bed with them, bracing the sides up so that it was easy to sit along the edge to weed the entire bed area. There were several “compartments” that jutted out here and there in the bed giving it interest and diversity.
For some reason that idea is staying with me, as perhaps a solution to my problems here, and how I might use a variation of this idea to help me make a better garden area.
In addition to the two long rows running across the house, there is a section at one end where I’d like to put a bed for raising vegetables and herbs since this area is probably the sunniest in the yard.
While I realize that wood will not hold up here as well as rock would, if the rock is beyond your capabilities, then you really don’t have the option to do anything else.
Anyway, I will be giving this more thought, and look into the pricing of wood for something like this to see if I can develop the plan. And, it might be that I would use a combination of things. Roses and other sprawling things in the ground, where weeding is not too much of a problem, interspersed with raised beds in other areas for ease of use.
With raised beds I can eliminate weeds coming into the individual garden beds, as well as other pests such as critters.
So that’s where I’m at as far as planning is concerned. I need to send for some catalogues so I’ll have them to read, and help define my selections better with that information. Often the photos they have are a big help in planning.
Copyright
© 2006, 2007 |
October
2, 2006
