Garden

2009 Gardenpalooza (part II)

/ wvfurandroot / 2 Comments
The White Garden has come a long, long way in 20 years

The White Garden has come a long, long way in 20 years

The white garden is up and running. It’s not done done, but it’s as done as I’m likely to get this year. Up next is reclamation of the neglected cottage garden that is just outside my kitchen window and fully visible to anyone who drives up the road. Here’s what I know about cottage gardens: you can’t turn your back on them. While they look low maintenance, they’re not.

The cottage garden was inaugurated in either 1988 or 1989. It grew and it grew and I added to it and added to it until it was rather impressive for something done with no money.

Kitchen cottage garden a year or so after creation,

Kitchen cottage garden a year or so after creation.

With $100 as a Mother’s Day gift, I went to Sunshine Farm and Gardens in the early 90s and bought a lot of plants. Barry’s prices were quite reasonable and the farm was spectacular. I was inspired.  His farm and gardens were spectacular beyond belief.  I think it was then that I realized exactly what a garden could be if done right.  (Not that I had the means or the knowledge to come close to right.)

[I just looked googled to see if he was still in existence and it seems he is. I’ll have to go visit again soon.]

I came home with at least 60 plants. Included in that was Goosenecked Loosestrife and Ajuga reptans. Barry had warned me about both. He actively discouraged me when he learned where I was intending to put them.

Their selling feature was they’d grow anywhere, liked shade, and would spread quickly. I had poor soil, a lot of shade, and a lot of garden to fill. Both of them sounded perfect and I bought several of each – ignoring the warnings.

This was a Mistake of Grand Proportions.

The first couple of years I was pleased.

Then they took over.

I spent hours ripping them out, only to have them return in full glory in about 7 minutes. The loosing battled waged for years. By 1998, both had taken over about 30% of the garden space. It’s a big garden. I could corner the market on these two plants if I could surrender my ethics and inflict them on unsuspecting souls.

Kitchen cottage garden now (See Janis? I told you.)

Kitchen cottage garden now (See Janis? I told you.)

In 2000, I decided to return to school fulltime on top of a fulltime job. The garden was neglected. In 2003 when I returned to it, the mess was daunting. Wild rose, wild raspberry, poke weed, ironweed, Shasta daisies, honeysuckle and ivy had run amok with the loosestrife and ajuga. Poison ivy and Virginia creeper had also joined the party.

It’s a mess. My formerly spectacular garden is now an eyesore. (And I can’t prove it was spectacular, because I can’t find the photos of the mature garden.)

The poison ivy and Virginia creeper attacked me with a vengeance two years in a row and it became harder and harder to convince myself to get in there and start creating order. Though out of school, my life got even more chaotic and the reclamation didn’t happen.

Now it’s 2009 – the garden has been neglected for nearly a decade.

The beauty of the white garden inspires me to reclaim the kitchen cottage garden.

The beauty of the white garden inspires me to reclaim the kitchen cottage garden.

As I said before, it’s going to be a righteous bitch straightening this out. Though I hate chemical solutions, I did consider using RoundUp. There are far too many plants I want to keep for that to be a solution.

I’m starting today. The white garden happened relatively quickly and I’m optimistic that the kitchen garden restoration will be well on its way to controllable chaos in a few weeks. Nonetheless, I expect to be at the ER tomorrow with severe skin reactions.

Wish me well.

The Evil Empire Strikes Again

/ wvfurandroot / 8 Comments
The Evil Empire Strikes Again
The Evil Empire Strikes Again

I hate Walmart. I hate this mega corporation for the standard reasons (the new millennium version of the company store), but I also hate it because I can’t seem to go in there and NOT spend a boat load of money. I’ll go in for one or two items and walk out with a car load of stuff that was deemed necessary while under the influence of the Walmart atmosphere.

In a 2008 New Year’s resolution, I resolved to quit watching Law & Order. Like too much news, L&O provoked apathy and/or despair. Uncharacteristically, I actually kept the resolution. I haven’t watched the show since a surprise snowstorm stranded me in a motel in a Cumberland Gap motel in early January of 2008.

Due to the success of that resolution, 2009 found me resolving not to shop at Walmart unless absolutely necessary. I’ve been successful. I quit doing my food shopping there. And even though they have my favorite off-brand shampoo, I’ve resisted and have run around with less than stellar hair.

Between January and May, I have made purchases at the Walmart exactly twice. Once for an emergency dog food run at midnight and once for corn tortillas (nobody else seems to carry them). [Note: I frequently have a strong compulsion for fried corn tortillas stuffed with sharp cheddar and slathered in salsa.] 

I wish it was a K-Mart blue light special.
I wish it was a K-Mart blue light special.

I have felt virtuous.

Then the masthead rose died.

The masthead, a Glamis Castle, was originally purchased at Walmart in 2008. I searched everywhere for a replacement and finally gave in and went to the Walmart. No luck. But they did have a plethora of plants on clearance that were healthy and borderline necessary for the white garden. I indulged and assuaged my feelings of guilt by telling myself that since the plants were deeply discounted, Walmart’s profit margin on my purchase was minimal. [Note: Smith & Hawken’s is shipping me a Glamis Castle rose sometime this week – I’m very excited.]

feeders
Hummingbird feeders.

Then yesterday there was the hummingbird feeder emergency. I searched everywhere for the small glass globes that I prefer. No luck. So I toddled off to the Walmart. No luck there either, but they did have these kick ass solar lights. For $4.

Oh my.

I love solar lights. I think they’re one of the truly great inventions. I’m particularly fond of the copper ones with the blue-white light. I have 8 large ones in the retaining wall bed and they’ve stood the test of the time. At present, the batteries are weakening and the light doesn’t last as long, but they are still a favorite feature in the garden. I’ve been looking for some more to place in the new beds.

And damn it all – Walmart has a nearly perfect solution at the affordable price of $4 each. They’re far smaller which will work quite well for the effect I want. I gave in and bought one. To my credit, I resisted buying the entire display until I verified that it was indeed a perfect solution.

They’re perfect. Damn it all.

Damn it all, they're perfect
Damn it all, they’re perfect.

I’m going to check Target, Lowe’s and Home Depot first (all three only marginally less offensive than Walmart, but less is less), but I suspect Walmart has a lock on them.

I have so few principles and the ones I do have are falling like dominoes. I really, really hate that I’m probably going to purchase a plethora of little $4 solar lights at the Evil Empire. When it comes to the garden (and shoes), I have little self-control.

Damn it all.