Random Thoughts from a Garden

This is one of those post-weekend days when I roll my eyes, have a second cup of coffee and listen to my back ask, “What was I thinking?” when I decided to tackle the front landscaping. It’s a morning when tons of stuff is rolling around in my head so I thought I’d share all those random slightly-sore-backed thoughts with you.

The vegetable garden is now all dug, nicely turned over and waiting for warmer weather. The peas are in as are a few of the really cold weather seeds such as spinach. The grow lights are lighting up the basement and it’s starting to look like a grow-op down there with all the vegetable and flower seedlings. An old Christmas tree, all cut-up, was laid over the pea bed to act as pea supports and give the vines something to crawl up. It’s going to make it a tough area to weed but, on second-thought, given I seldom weed the peas anyway, it should be fine. What was great to see was the result of last year’s soil building exercise in this area. As I’ve written about ad nauseum we have no soil in many parts of the garden so this raised bed was constructed by laying cardboard down over top of the few inches of topsoil. This was intended to stop the weeds and grasses. Then layers of composted manure, bark chips and peat moss were laid down and mixed up to make “soil”. This spring, the cardboard is totally gone. We have no weeds but we do have some pretty good soil in there and now the underlying soil is slowly being mixed into this created topsoil. The digging was easy and I think we’re going to have a great crop this year. The deer should be pleased.

And that’s the other good news. The deer didn’t touch the cedar trees last winter. This may be because I sprayed the heck out of them and the surrounding area with Liquid Fence (a deer barrier product) or it may be because they were shot in the fall. We haven’t seen them yet this spring so I have no idea where they are or what’s happened. The tulips are up and they too have been sprayed with this noxious smelling material. Some of these materials also protect against rabbits and other creatures who believe flowers are not ornaments but rather a fine gourmet lunch. The bad news is that while I planted some 200 new bulbs last fall, I can only find about 4 clumps that appear to be popping up. There are large number of tiny holes where the bulbs used to be and I know there are some very happy voles out there. Mind you, the head gardener isn’t amused and he wishes nothing but the best for our local fox and hunting cats. The fox has been seen hunting in the long grass and is looking in good shape after this winter. Go fox!

The bucket loader and I took on the front garden this past weekend. Whacking, sledg-hammering and bashing away at the cemented-in rocks. Got about half way down the garden area and stopped for another week. There are a rather large clump of second year tulips throwing a nice bunch of buds and I decided getting those flowers was more important than digging the garden out. So I’ll wait till they start to show colour and then cut them for the house. Then the rest of the garden wall will be removed and the soil moved out. Why move the soil? It’s badly infected (and that’s the only word) with seeds from such monsters as crown vetch. It’s easier to move it and spread it where it can’t be a problem than to try to fix it. There comes a time in every endeavor when you just have to cut and run; this is that time with the front garden. If it were just poor soil, I’d get out the compost and peat moss but this is so bad, even I’ve given up on it.

And that’s another lesson from this past season. Because my garden soils are based on limestone, they’re quite alkaline. The vast quantities of peat moss I’ve been adding have simply done an amazing job of improving soil quality and haven’t really been a problem with acidifying the soil. You might not be able to get away with doing this if you had a slightly acidic soil to begin with but with that limestone, digging two to three inches of peat into the soil has greatly improved soil structure and growth. If you think I’m writing too much about soil this week, it’s because all the problems and remedies for your garden start there. There’s little point in putting expensive plants in poor soil. Heck, there’s little point in putting any kind of plant into a poor soil. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you get the soil right and everything else falls into place. Diseases go down, insect problems go down and plant health and performance go up. And while the levels of peat I use because of my limestone base might not work for your garden soil, it will pay off in the long run to find a way to improve the organic matter as much as you possibly can.

Finally, for those who want to rush the season, let me give you two bits of advice. The first is, “Don’t.” Your average annual or vegetable transplant really should wait for that May long weekend. And the second is that if you must, then start now and get some clear plastic laid down on the soil to warm it up. Then remove the plastic just before you want to plant. Warm soil will help your early riskier transplants.

Now, where’s that other cup of coffee?

Guest Cottage Garden Construction