In My Dream Garden...

...I'll have wisteria trained up the wall of my house. There will be a shady, green oasis with hosta, a fountain with stepping stones, and a stone bench. An enormous vegetable garden will be off to the side and it will be enough to feed the family. The veggies will be in raised beds, (built by my husband). The fruit will be the vegetable garden boarder: trellised blackberries and raspberries, cherry, pear, fig, and apple trees.

All around the house there will be flowers, in a cottage garden style. Enormous hydrangea bushes will run across one side of the house. On that same side, climbing hydrangea will be trained up the wall. There will be an espalier on every sunny side of the house: pear and cherry trees. A clematis will climb up the mailbox and honeysuckle will climb up the fence.

In the spring, pots of tulips and daffodils will welcome guests at the front door. The pathway up to the house will be flanked by flowers. There will be lilies interspersed throughout the garden- fragrant, show-stopping lilies. Ground cover will be all over, like moss, creeping thyme, creeping jenny, and other low-crawlers.

I'll have window boxes full of seasonal flowers. There will be lavender bushes all around, to harvest and fill our house. Blueberry bushes will be along one side of the perimeter of the garden and there will be a magnificent magnolia tree with flowers the size of basketballs.

So it's obvious I love plants that climb! I have a lot to learn about gardens, so to some more seasoned gardeners this might sound ludicrous, or even wrong (is it possible to fill a flowering garden with ground cover?). Somehow, though, it feels very good to document it and get it off my chest, even if it may need some revising along the way.

Some privacy, please?!

Finding a good-looking curtain for our 3x1' bathroom window has been a tough decision. It seems like every color except a transparent white makes the room look drab. Of course, the white affords us no privacy. I finally realized that I could use a plant to shade us from the public's eye.

After much research, I decided on "Thunbergia Alata," which is also called "Black-Eyed Susan Vine." I already purchased the seeds a couple of months ago, it's an evergreen vine, it has cheerful, orange flowers, and it's a hardy grower. I found a pot big enough to fit a three-foot tall trellis, and I planted a seed. Right now all we have is a pot of soil. I'm just hoping it will sprout in fall weather.

Reusable Leeks

Michael loves leeks. Maybe it's a newlywed thing, but I find this adorable. When we got some at the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago, I decided to plant the root-filled base. It was a whim, and I forgot about them, but they sprouted! I love self-sustaining plants. I guess we'll see what happens.

The Poor Man's Garden...

...or woman's, in this case.

Recently I was on the phone with my mother, lamenting the fact that Michael and I are renting. Thus, we'll be moved out by the time the garden is thriving. "And I've spent so much money on the garden!" My mother replied, "Why are you spending money? You don't have an income!" Touche, mom.

It's kind of a relief to not be able to spend money on the garden. I have unimaginably big dreams for the garden, but we're probably moving in a year or two. If I were to realize my gardening dreams within this time frame, it would be nearly impossible, financially and physically.

This means I'm going to have to use tried and true propagation methods- mainly seeds and cuttings. I don't have to feel so bad about my sparse and fledgling garden. As they say, "First year it sleeps, second it creeps, third it leaps." Well, I'm going to have to be okay with a sleeping, creeping garden for now.

A couple of days ago I blogged about planning to buy a couple of hydrangea bushes and a climbing hydrangea. I later learned that climbing hydrangea takes three years to even bloom. And hydrangea bushes cost about $30 a piece. Maybe in our next house... when we have an income. In the meantime, I've put hydrangea, lavender, and african violet cuttings in dixie cups (see above pics).

There's something wonderful about asceticism... and making do with what you have.

Ground Cover Obsession

For the record, I have a weird obsession with ground cover of any kind. I love the idea of plants creeping along the ground, smothering out weeds, keeping in moisture, generally acting as a mulch, and being beautiful. Why doesn't everyone use it?

Midway through the summer I began spotting a scrumptious vine in my neighbors' window boxes. It had neon green, crumpled leaves, which made it look something like curly hair. After a little research, I found it was called "Creeping Jenny" or "Moneywort." Some use it as a vine, but it's found as a ground cover in the wild. In fact, I spotted some growing on the banks of the Potomac River.

Well, I finally decided to do what any self-respecting gardener does: I stole some. Well, steal is a bit of an exaggeration. Actually, I snipped off an unnoticeable under-piece of my neighbor's that they'll never miss (hopefully). Then I ran home and put it's snipped-off end in dirt. It showed promising signs of growth, but in an overzealous attempt to speed its development, I fertilized it. I've never seen a plant wilt and die with such speed. Needless to say, I stole some more.

The second cutting did quite well, so I put it in the yard to spread to its heart's content. I read that it's invasive and a nuisance to some, but since I can't get enough of it, bring it on.

Strawberry Suckers?

In most cases, the name "sucker" has some pretty negative connotations. Well, not with strawberries! Somehow, through no effort of mine, my not-so-productive-but-quite-beautiful strawberry bush became a mother! I potted the baby yesterday, and I'm hoping it will live through the winter in the safety and warmth of our kitchen.

The other picture is of another baby bush that apparently self-produced via compost. Kind of a miracle, no? I'll keep it there to see what happens.

All this excitement aside, the fruit it produces are incredibly small and they taste like fruit snacks.

Planting Asparagus!

My loving and obliging husband, Michael, planted my purple asparagus for me this morning! We unwrapped the crowns from damp newspaper, rinsed them, and soaked them in a bowl. Michael dug a 1x8 foot ditch, filled it with compost, vermiculite, and fertilizer, and mixed the goodies together. He made six mounds and then laid the octopus-like crowns over top.

Now, God willing, we'll have hundreds of spears in the spring. It should then turn into six bright green ferns over the summer, and then turn orange and red in the fall. It's so fun I could SQUEAL!

Big plans?

As many of you know, I'm a person of extremes. I'm not one to wait a couple of years to slowly decide what fits perfectly in the garden. I'm "extratensive," as psychologists say. In other words, I prefer trial-and-error and hands-on problems solving.

My style translates very directly to how I've gone about gardening. I dragged my sister-in-law to a nursery in late June and drove home with the car full of plants. They were all whims of mine: the berries, a grape vine, a tree peony. Meanwhile, I had absolutely no plan as to where I'd put these treasures, or when I'd have time to plant them. So these gorgeous plants sat out in the boiling sun for several days before I planted them and consistently watered them. Let's all pray I won't parent like this...

"Garden Tales" is my effort to plan ahead. I can show you all the pictures I want of single plants, but who really cares if they don't all look good together?

The above picture is of my backyard this July. My neighbor cut all the vines from our adjoining fence, so we lost the vines you see there. My goal is to find the perfect vine to cover each fence in our yard. I was thinking about climbing hydrangea for the north-facing wall, 'cause it's said to do well in shade. I think I'll fill in the shady area in front of it with three humongous hydrangea bushes.

Yay! Thanks for helping me plan! I'll let you know how it goes. Meadowbrook Farm is having a 40% off sale...

Clematis

I absolutely love this clematis. It hasn't bloomed since early August, and grows excruciatingly slowly, but I love it. I love that its baby leaves are neon green, I love it's curling tendrils, and I love it's hardiness. I plan to coax the clematis into wrapping itself around our front banister. Hopefully it will be covered with its purple blooms next year.

Strawberry, Raspberry, Blueberry, Blackberry

I planted the raspberry and blackberry hoping to trellis them next year. I don't expect bounty, but possibly enough to satisfy a family of two. I'm planning to pot the strawberry in a hanging pot even though the fruits are meager.

About the blueberry- I think it needs a pollinating friend of a different breed. I guess I'll buy another!

The Katharine Begonia

Katharine gave me several cuttings of her begonia plants and they've gone buck wild. I'll have to repot them soon... into 30 separate pots! Katharine must be passing on her green thumb.

Baby African Violets

We finally have baby african violets sprouting, and it has been a long time coming! They are the most adorable little guys, I'll have to work on refraining from hugging them.

It's the most simple propagation I've seen: cut a leaf and stick it in soil. The less I pampered it, the happier it looked. Now it's made babies!

Mama Ficus Lyrata

This is the mother plant. I got it at Meadowbrook Farm (a place as close to heaven as you get on earth). The plant came with several stalks and I was all, "What the HONE!?!" I have NEVER seen a ficus lyrata with this many stalks. It's supposed to be a freaking tree!

So today I called Meadowbrook and asked them what's what. It turns out, they planted several very close together to make a bushier plant. Thus, I own not one, but ten ficus trees. I am a blessed woman.

Air Layering of a Fiddle-Leaved Fig (Ficus Lyrata)

This hot mama was successfully air layered about a month ago. I haven't seen any growth, but I also haven't seen death. Let's count that a success. I assume it's working on establishing its roots apart from its mother plant. I'll keep you posted.

If you're interested, air layering is a fascinating propagation technique. It is taken from one of nature's means of propagation, which is simply called "layering." A tree is layered when its branch is 'injured' and stuck in the dirt. Roots then grow from the injury. Air layering simulates this natural process; you wound a branch and gather damp sphagnum moss around the wound (securing it there with cellophane and twistie ties). Eventually, roots grow! You cut just below the roots and put the new plant into soil. The one pictured here is exactly what it looked like when I cut it from its mother plant. Don't worry, they see each other regularly.

The 26th Birthday Sweetheart Rose

This is a rose bush with history. My generous mother sent me a bouquet of 42 sweetheart roses for my 26th birthday. As they were wilting away, I noticed several neon green baby leaves shooting out of leaf nodes. "Life!" I thought. Out of the 10 I tried to root, one successfully (somehow) did! It is currently bushier than I've ever seen it, and still going strong. In this picture it has three roses past their prime, but still gorgeous (if I do say so myself).

Buy Fresh, Buy Local

After reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle," I have become acutely aware of the distances my food travels to get to me. Yesterday I ate matzo that was actually made in Israel! I was assuaged when I learned that the butter I used was only from north Jersey.

In her book she lists groups espousing the worth of buying local food. I'm pumped. So, what I can't grow in my own 150 square foot garden, I hope to get from a farm not much farther away than Lancaster. Does anyone know of co-ops or farm markets nearby?

My first blog ever...

Good day to you!

The mission of this blog is to document the tales of my gardening adventures. So much has already happened, so this story begins in medias res.

You'll find pictures, conundrums, harvests, and celebrations. I'm excited to record the growth of my plants in pictures, and keep track of when and why they do well. Hopefully, both the reader and I will learn from history.

Please feel free to comment, as I can always use more gardening knowledge (and of course, knowledge of how to be a better blogger).

AnnaB