First let me say, sorry about my lack of proof reading, I have been catching a lot of flack about it and I promise to do better.
So now talk about gardens north end. (Just kidding)
All right down to business, enough of this fooling around. In "Let's catch up Part 1" I covered the south end of the garden, now on to the north. I continued my mission of removing the landscape fabric and turning the mulch in with the soil. This time around I had some plants to contend with. The Hydrangea we brought with us when we moved, a Ornamental Chinese Maple I pickup up at the Kits Farmers Market, a Potentilla that I rescued, and a Begonia that was given to us as a house plant. I carefully removed these plants to deduce the risk of damaging their spring buds or roots during the soil turning process, I planned to relocate them anyway.
With the soil turned and a layer of the leftover mulch spread on top it was time to start replanting. It is a good idea to draw out a layout of your garden plans before you get started. I like to use graft paper and a number 2 pencil and start by drawing out the shape and size of your garden to some sort of scale, whatever you have room for and works on your paper. Next add on the existing elements of your garden, like a tree or gate or whatever. You don't have to be an artist. A simple circle that represents the drip line of the tree is sufficient. Now you will want to take an inventory of the plants that you already have and start placing them on your layout. Remember if you don't like how things are turning out you can always erase the plant and put it somewhere else.
Once we have your plants on the plot and are happy, its time to start thinking about the things we want to add. If you know exactly what you want then start plotting. If you don't and you prefer to wonder through nurseries and farmers markets and pick up whatever makes your green thumb quiver, thats fine to. But it is a good idea to plot out sizes, shapes, and colours that you want to mix and match first. Anything can change as you go, but with out some sort of plan your garden can become clumpy and disorganized. Some may ask it works in nature why not in my yard? Mother nature has spent thousands of years designing her gardens, treating her soil, and planting seeds. She has had her share of failures too. Not to mention that she has the most difficult pest of them all to deal with, us!
My garden design is simple. As it is long and bordered by a sidewalk on one side and fence on the other there is not much to do with its shape or size, and with all the trees in the backyard limiting the amount of sun to different areas has some say as to what I can plant. The further north down the garden the longer the sun time is received. I label that area with the title of "partial sun." I plan to layer my garden into three rough rows. The back row against the fence is for taller plants and flowers. Down the middle is smaller to medium plant and ground cover down the front. I am planting spring bulbs threw out for a sprinkle of spring colour.
As I mentioned in my last blog I planted seeds along the back row and eagerly await their arrival. The Potentilla I rescued still needs some TLC. Last year it did pretty good but only bloomed and grew foliage on about 3/4 of its branches. Last fall I cut away the dead sections and now I planted the bald area against a fence post.
At the next post north I planted the Hydrangea. When I pulled it out from its previous home I notice the one of the low growing shoots had been partially pushed into the soil and was taking root. For now I left this baby attached to its mother and replanted it as well. I will elaborate on this propagation process in a later blog
The Chinese Maple I replanted in the middle row about halfway between the north end and the Potentilla, giving it plenty of room to do its thing. I will not plant anything around it for about three feet, although it is just a baby tree and has many years ahead of so I could have put in some bulbs or bedding plants around it.
Down the centre row I placed the Begonia, a Astilbe Chinensis from last years farmers market, and another plant who's name I can't remember and I have lost the tag for. Its I little pink flower about 16 - 18'' inches tall. It bloomed straight threw the fall until it snowed. Its leaves are very thin and long and still green from the winter. Late summer, early fall last year I divided this plant so now there is two of them. I also planted Gaultheria Shallon "Salal," that I picked up from David Hunters Garden Centre. These I planted about 16" apart and will move them apart as needed.
Japanese Spurge
For ground cover I picked up a few different varieties to experiment with. I got Japanese Spurge, Blue Periwinkle, Wintergreen, and Bugleweed and planted them 12" apart as I plan to let them grow into each other, letting the different foliage, berries, and flowers intertwine and compliment each other. I only hope that the can find away to coexist.
I have decided to make the south end of the garden Cillian's garden. My 2 year old son is always eager to help out and I can find jobs for him there. We can get into that in a later blog. Here is a picture to keep you interested.
Cillian and his Friend Nickolas gardening up a storm
Well that pretty much catches us up on the main garden. Stayed tuned for my next blog called Instant Gratification," when I will get into more detail about planting some of my spring bulbs.
First Iris to Bloom
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