gardenthoughts

sometimes .. things just seem to work .. well, at least, in our own minds ..

where some have a gift of vision .. to see what isn’t yet manifest .. a gift i have .. (or, at least that’s how i see it) .. is that i do not see what isn’t there until it is in front of me .. for instance .. the lily bed frank built .. he could see it before he even started putting it together .. i could not .. consequently, i often am surprised .. delighted .. touched .. when i do see .. whatever it might be .. appearing before my eyes ..

this gift comes with me to the garden ..  i think that’s why i have no interest in designing gardens .. it would take me years .. i can plant the seed .. plant the plant .. and yet, not quite “see” the end result .. and so, i merrily plant .. see what happens .. and then spend time replanting .. moving plants .. all in an attempt to create a certain affect .. a feeling .. a colour combination .. i’m not really sure what .. so far .. in this yard .. it’s been five years of planting and moving and playing around .. catching a glimpse of a vision of what could be .. and now, this year i am rewarded with a few visual delights ..

at the entrance to the yard something lovely is beginning to happen .. well, at least i think so .. it’s one of those things that i didn’t imagine .. a lovely dark pink ernest markham clematis nestled in the abundance of a blue bell clematis that scrambles across the top of the fence .. the blue bell is a sale clematis that came to me with no tag .. and it’s absolutely delightfull .. more abundant every year .. and now that ernest is making himself at home the combination is more that i ever could have imagined .. had no idea what the two would look like together until this year ..

the bell clematis has completely covered three quarters of the fence .. made it’s way over the arbour .. mingled with ernest .. mingled with the self pollinating kiwi .. (another story) .. it is “a very vigorous specimen,” as phil would have said .. it’s gorgeous, really .. the stalk of it climbing up five feet or more before it stretches out .. a profusion of stems .. leaves .. flowers .. it engulfs the top of the fence .. it’s taking over the arbour .. and it’s wonderfull ..

earlier in the year .. on the other side of the fence was another bit of pleasantry .. again, a sale plant .. a rambling rose with no name .. lovely thing .. more flowers this year than ever before .. brilliant deep pink .. almost to red .. buds .. open to a pastel .. antique pink rose flower ..

and not only this

.. yet another, unknown clematis .. (though i have a notion it is ‘etoile violette’) .. began blooming shortly after this lovely rose made her appearance .. and one day as i stood admiring the two of them ..  i could envision what they might look like in a few years .. intertwined .. initially .. the blooming of the rose .. then .. the clematis making an appearance .. eventually .. the rose fading out ..  and the clematis carrying on ..

that, dear readers, was akin to a revelation for me ..

it takes many years to make a garden .. does me, at least .. and i’ve barely scratched the surface .. i can hardly wait to see what emerges ..

i love making compost more than i love doing anything else in the garden .. well, maybe a little more .. in fact, i love doing whatever i do in the garden .. i do, however, recognize that all gardens begin with soil .. that soil is the foundation of any garden .. that soil is the building block of a garden ..  you get the idea .. and the magic revealed through the process of composting astounds me .. composting, to me, is magic in action .. compost piles, in and of themselves, can even be art ..

i had attempted, at different times in my younger gardening days, to ‘make’ compost .. for whatever reason, it didn’t work for me .. then, i started to work with/for phil .. well, phil was a gardener from lincolnshire, england .. had gardened from a very young age .. knew vegetable gardening, mostly .. (although he did create the beautyfull winter flowering shade garden) .. and he knew composting .. one of the first things he taught me .. much to my delight .. i mean, after all, we needed somewhere to put garden debris .. kitchen waste .. we even brought in straw from across the way .. “straw’s got carbon,” phil told me .. we layered the pile with all the ingredients at hand to let the magic happen .. we started off, initially, with a four by four by four pile .. just on the ground in the back yard .. it was as square as i could make it .. (i was so eager to please) .. it turned into a work of art for me .. sometimes we would just stand and look at it .. once we got it where we wanted it, the pile would sit .. and work .. and every once in awhile we would put our hands into the middle of it .. to feel the heat .. that in itself so amazing to me .. we did the compost piling for a couple of years .. when frank came into my life he built a three bin composter in phil’s back yard .. i felt as if i’d somehow graduated .. to the next level of composting ..

i’ve worked many compost piles since those days .. the picture above shows one bin of the three ‘binner’ frank put together at the community garden .. it’s made out of pallets .. simple to put together .. even i could do it .. (lol) .. we’re using the basic layering method .. my favourite method .. although you can’t see it, there are layers of garden debris .. with layers of maple leaves .. with layers of seaweed .. layers of some strawlike grass clippings .. layer upon layer .. no particular order .. just as the layers come .. people bring their kitchen waste .. dig it into the layers .. cover it over .. and eventually, the layers all blend in together .. working in the heat they create together .. coming out as beautiful earthen material for the garden .. i love composting .. and it’s free .. even better ..

oh, yes .. and it is a work of art .. a living work of art, if you will .. this particular one created by many hands ..

i realized this morning, while i was on a walkabout our garden, in the july 1st rain, that i hadn’t given the veggie garden much due yet .. as far as writing a bit about it .. it’s as lovely and different a garden this year .. as it was last year .. another wonder of gardens and gardening .. every year is different from any other .. that’s why i wonder .. sometimes .. about all the complaining i hear from time to time .. “nothing is as good this year in the garden as it was last” .. or .. “that plant is blooming so much later .. or earlier .. than last year” .. and on and on .. i wonder why we think that every year will be the same as the last .. i mean, really .. haven’t we lived enough years .. and gardened enough gardens .. to have noticed that none are the same .. hmmm .. more grist for the mill ..

anyway .. i was wandering through the garden in the rain .. just to see what’s happening there .. because there is always something happening .. in fact, i find that when i don’t visit the garden .. other than to water .. when i’m not peering on a daily basis .. or twice daily .. i’m always surprised at the growth that occurs .. when i’m not looking ..

for instance .. the tomatoes .. i have to admit now that when i entered into the garden this morning .. in the rain .. (i know .. i keep reiterating that element) .. that i was immediately called to the tomatoes .. to pinch off suckers .. to remove bottom leaves laying in the dirt .. to tie up the next tie on the vine .. that’s always a surprise .. i mean, i’m sure i just tied them up a couple of days ago .. now they’re tall enough to require another tie .. no wonder they were calling to me ..

this tie is not the most camouflaged of ties that i often use in the garden .. however .. it was a gift from an arborist/gardener friend .. he said you could just rip a piece off and use it .. it’s sort of like tape but not sticky .. so that’s what i did here .. ripped off pieces to tie up the tomatoes .. i couldn’t find the velcro .. which is my preference for tying .. and i’m out of string at the moment .. so .. you use what you have at hand .. and it works .. so really, what does it matter .. practicality wins over aesthetics ..

the suckers grow out of the crotch of the branches ..  every once in awhile .. while you’re peering deeper into the plant ..  there will be a sucker .. growing right where the branch hits the stalk .. as sweet and as succulent as it can be .. little beauties .. however, there is no place for suckers on our tomato plants .. it’s an energy thing .. when we plant a tomato we want tomatoes .. so the main stalk is like a vine .. and branches grow off the main stalk .. enough branches to supply the plant with whatever it requires to grow .. i trust .. suckers, on the other hand, take some of that energy to sustain themselves .. and they don’t really contribute much in return ..  as far as producing tomatoes goes .. so we pluck them out .. and, the energy that would have gone into the sucker is returned to the rest of the plant .. making fuller, sweeter tomatoes ..

the majority of  tomatoes we planted are two of our favourites .. early girl and money makers .. we also planted two san marzana/o (?) ..  plum tomatoes .. and frank picked up an organic russian heirloom named ‘sasha’s pride’ .. which is turning out to be a very sturdy thing .. and then i picked up a stupice at a local nursery .. i was told that this was a very popular tomato .. so we’re going to find out how popular it is for us ..

she or he .. the stupice .. is a very long and lanky tomato .. even the flowers come off a long and lanky stem .. and so beautyfull .. so yellow and fresh .. so full of the promise of tomato sandwiches ..

the broad beans were another plant that caught my attention .. they are also quite long and lanky plants .. i believe that’s an effect of not quite enough sunlight .. our veggie garden gets sun for about five hours .. not too bad .. we’re happy to have that, let me tell you .. being as we live in a forest .. however, the community garden which is out in the open gets sun all day long and man, the difference is mind boggling .. days of warmth and lovely rich soil are an unbeatable combination for vegetables ..

so .. again .. we work with what we’ve got .. and still the broad beans make beans .. and stunning flowers ..

i’m beginning to realize that i could go on here for what might seem like pages .. the newest addition to the veggie garden is our pea trellis .. which doubles as an arbour for the clematis that grows on the garden fence .. this clematis is actually in our neighbour’s yard .. and we have the benefit of it in our shared garden ..

the peas will grow merrily up the trellis frank put up .. mmm .. i love peas .. fresh picked .. raw .. again, i am so looking forward to peas ..

to make the trellis stronger frank ran cedar from the fence across to the top of the trellis .. this is where the clematis will climb ..

so .. even though it was raining it was obvious that the veggie garden was where i needed to be .. sometimes you don’t hear them calling .. until you are right inside the gate .. where time becomes irrelevent ..