Well, it’s been a while since I shared any garden views, or was able to read much about everyone else’s garden on The Propagator blog.
Let’s blame it on many (in)decisions about redesigning the garden.
Seasons Change
Fall turned suddenly to winter, literally, overnight.
Just the day before, I did a quick job of mulching the leaves with the mower, then bagging them, and composting.
I never used this method before. I always raked or used the blower to move the mountains of leaves that cover our yard. But, I didn’t feel there was enough time.
Chopping the leaves up and then collecting them in the bag was amazingly efficient. Even more amazing, they all fit into the compost bin.
Next year’s black gold.
Do Fences Really Make Good Neighbors?
Spring and summer were spent considering whether to replace the wooden boards around the raised beds, whether to put a fence around the entire property, whether to take the plunge and invest in a swimming pool, and on and on.
I visited some beautiful public and private gardens. I saw amazing garden photos online.
But, my garden kept getting more and more shabby and inaccessible as I added net and fence to keep out deer. I wasn’t enjoying crawling under plastic net to get to the plants; or trying to enjoy the garden view through the plastic, wood, and wire.
Finally, I decided I just needed to take the garden fence down and start again.
The garden will be a herb garden. My experiments this summer taught me that deer won’t eat mint, basil, thyme. oregano, sage, rosemary, tobacco, borage, onions, garlic, chives, alyssum, ageratum, artemisia, and the like.
For It Was Grassy, and Wanted Wear
Another thorn in my side was the brick paving. It let weeds through constantly, so I was spending more time weeding the paths than the beds themselves. I love the way the brick looks, but it needs redoing.
I’m leaning toward planting grass in the paths and edging the beds with the brick. The bricks are set lengthwise and at ground level, so that the mower can be run over the edge. I can see that next year I will be getting my exercise by digging a lot, to properly set the bricks.
What do you think of these ideas?
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