~Grandmother Never Bought a Plant~
I suppose that is not literally true since in the beginning she bought vegetables and fruits for eating and then used their seeds to start plants.
Grandmother's garden was filled with many plants--I wish I could remember all of them--including Sweet Gum, Peach, Fig, Weeping Willow, and Magnolia trees; white and blue Hydrangeas, Azaleas, various Roses, Bleeding Hearts, Ferns, Periwinkle; Weigelia, Privet, and Barberry shrubs; succulents, and a vegetable garden.
Grandmother's garden was developed from "found" items, so to speak. My grandmother knew that plants could be started from the seeds they produced (no sterile hybrids for her). She also exchanged plants and cuttings with her neighbors. If she liked a plant, she made as many as she wanted from cuttings or seeds. Her neighborhood was filled with open fields (nowadays, almost gone for the rest of us), and these areas were great places to find plants.
Obviously, one of the things my grandmother brought to this garden and learned from it--was patience. In this era of instant gratification, we forget that good things are worth the wait, that patience really is a virtue, and that there is nothing wrong with frugality, either!
~Biographies~
*My grandmother started me down the garden path and Gertrude and Jim push me along. I do know that while all my mentors are deceased, I hear their voices loud and clear -- know the environment in which you want to garden, gardening is hard work, gardens take time to develop, start plants from cuttings, and that nature is not always on our side. In other words, be realistic, be frugal, and have patience.
*Gertrude Jekyll (1843 - 1932; photogragh from her book: Colour Schemes for the Flower Garden) has had the most pronounced influence on English and American gardening. She studied the landscape and designed flower borders, woodlands, and specimen tree and shrubery placement with regard to color, vista, soil, and year-round pleasure. Gertrude Jekyll approached the garden as a canvas. It has been said that Monet planted his gardens to paint them while Gertrude Jekyll's garden was the painting.
*James Underwood Crockett (1915 - 1979; photograph from his book: Crockett's Victory Garden) was the original host of PBS's The Victory Garden, then called Crockett's Victory Garden. I was fortunate to see his weekly shows. He showed that while gardening was work, it was also enjoyable with great rewards. While reading gardening books is informative, it was great to see and hear a gardener in action and see the results. It was good for morale! Jim made a statement on a show about asters that has become famous in my family because not only does it apply to gardening -- it applies to many things in life: Life is too short to stake asters.
*Painting of a child who reminds me of myself and grandmother in her garden: Monet - The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil.
~Gardening in Connecticut~
The Ice Age was not a good thing for gardeners in this area. On its march to Long Island and the sea, the glacier removed the soil down the bedrock and then when it melted, it dropped terminal moraine (rocks) in its wake -- except for southern Long Island where it was nice enough to deposit a glacial outwash plain (sand).
My family gardened on Long Island. When I moved to Connecticut and wanted to garden, I bought a shovel. What did I know? Quickly after that, my husband bought a pick axe.
Gardening here means "digging" out rocks and then going off to buy a truckload of topsoil--and while you are at it: sharp (not play or all-purpose) sand, and a ton of peat moss--to fill in the holes so that your plants may live long and prosper.
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After more rain fell here than Noah had to contend with, things have tapered off and the ground is moist in some areas but not mud.
We decided that the first thing we had to do was to repair the fence. We decided that the chicken wire was too hard to work with and never made a really neat fence. We replaced it with 5’ tall welded wire (non-coated) on heavy green metal stakes. Since I have to get into the garden we made sections that could open by unlatching the wire on one side and pulling the wire out of the way. The other side is permanently attached to a stake. My garden is 8-9’ wide so I have to get in on both long sides. It looks very neat and the wire doesn’t interfere much with the look of the garden.
I am testing out some deer repellents so that I don’t need a fence. The problem is that the reviews of almost all products (not including electrified fences and moats with alligators) have the product working for some people, somewhat for some, and not at all for others. I picked the products that seem to have the most of the positive reviews. I am trying “Deer No No”—a solid sachet type that you hang on your plants and Deer Scram—granules that you sprinkle around the garden. We shall see! I will try it on a smaller, unfenced garden.
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| The new fence. |
I was surprised at the number of plants that didn’t make it through the rainy winter and spring. I guess the soil was just too waterlogged. Of course, the weeds had no such problem.
I did start the garden with a definite layout but I have now decided I will mostly buy what appeals to me at the moment, plant it where I think appropriate and see what grows happily, and most importantly, makes it through the winter and rainy spring. I shall have a “semi-controlled chaos” cottage garden!
One plant that did not have any problem getting through into spring is this snowball-type blue hygrangea. It is absolutely covered with flowers! It is also over-running its place in my kitchen porch garden!
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| One happy hydrangea! |
I used to have a wonderful and large vegetable garden and I thought that perhaps this year I would at least make a small one. Well, the fates intervened so it did not happen. I did make a “vegetable” garden though—I bought one Big Boy tomato plant and basil and Italian parsley and planted them in my small perennial garden! It's hard to see in this pic due to the Helenium in the way--but the tomato is happy and growing and has some flowers on it already!
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| Tomato plant in a cage for support. |
