The Garden Effect

[kimberlysteele]

A nasty fog has descended upon Illinois over the last few days because of the Canadian forest fires, and the local news media has worked itself up into a hysterical lather, declaring the air as nearly unbreathable and issuing ominous warnings about it being as bad as smoking eight cigarettes.  Like with most slow-moving disasters, I have adopted an attitude of LOL shrug move on.  The evil mist that is on Illinois like white on rice seems an appropriate metaphor for the state of the astral plane right now, for what it's worth.

When the collective astral is bad, and I believe it is as bad as I have ever known it to be in my fifty year lifetime with no end in sight, there is no other recourse except being the change you want to see in the world.  Fighting it outside of defensive practices like a banishing ritual is pointless.  Which head of the hydra do you fight today?  For me, being the change means learning how to garden.  I am grateful for the home I bought eight short years ago, which was a blank slate with no trees save two dying elms.  It has come a long way since then, I think, and it is only this nice because of the help of my family and my neighbors.

Despite my neighborhood being a little sketchy, with the hanging question "was that noise gunshots or fireworks?" being a thing especially when we're nowhere near a holiday, I have not invested in a round-the-yard fence as many of my neighbors have done.  Though we've had annoying incidents of people running through and sometimes even loitering in the yard, I am not a fan of fences because they prevent people from seeing my gardens.  I love seeing other people's gardens and it's possible someday I will make myself a bumper sticker that reads "I NOTICE YOUR GARDENING".  It's true.  No matter how small the effort, I notice people's gardens.  I notice gardens around office buildings and gas stations.  I notice the plantings around the Olive Garden (arbor vitae and catmint) and the bank (tall grass and daylilies).  I hate lawns.  When I see a lawn or an ugly, overlarge house, it seems to have a pall of sadness around it not unlike a Canadian fire fog.  When there is a beautiful garden, it slows people down.  Not all of them, but when there is a lovely garden, there's always a few who will take a stroll who would not have done so otherwise.  If they have a home in the area, it's possible the sight of a lovely garden will get them outside to work on their garden and a healthy, win-win competition will arise.  

The herb garden.  Top left corner is pink and white yarrow.  Top right has catmint, red sorrel, ubiquitous milkweeds (Asclepias syriaca from seed foraged from the forest preserve) and a new lemon balm.  Bottom right is sage and wild monarda/bee balm.  Bottom left is mint.  Stella d'Oro daylilies in the middle: every single Stella in my yard is from plants I divided from the overcrowded plants in the front of my old music studio commercial space. The raised beds were originally from Walmart, I believe.  They're cedar but they've seen better days.  The 2 story cat condo/feeding area attached to the shed features heated cubbyholes that we stuff with straw for additional insulation.  The heat comes from dog warming pads inside the cubbies.  Obviously we only turn the heat on in winter.  The cats also have a heated water bowl that gets a lot of traction from raccoons, squirrels, bugs, the occasional woodchuck and coyote, etc.

 

The pear tree finally produced more than a few fruits this year.  Last year the squirrels ate what few fruits were on the tree, so we will see what happens.  I have been giving the feral cats some food near the tree in hopes of chasing the squirrels away.  I recently planted a peach-colored climbing rose you can see by the fence.  I'm hoping the rose will climb and deter squirrels from using the arbor to get up to the pears.  That said, I'm not one of those people who truly gives a damn if the squirrels eat my pears.  I have better things to do with my time.

The front yard.  Mostly this is daylilies, some boxwoods, an elm shrub that is actually the leftover of the elms that used to be in front of the house, spirea bushes in the middle of each planting area, and Autumn Joy sedums, which is what is in the fake copper urns.  I started putting perennials in containers this year and I may never go back to buying annuals again.  Perennials don't require anywhere near as much water as annuals, even when they are in containers.  The Autumn Joy sedums are another plant I don't buy: most of them are divisions from one or two donated plants.  Sedums are extremely easy to start: just snip off a cutting and stick it in the ground!

My baby oak tree, Mr. Oakinawa, surrounded by Echinacea purpurea.  He is about three or four years old.  I found him growing in one of my garden beds and transplanted him and kept him watered for a few years.  Now he's more of a sapling.  Yes, you guessed it, the E. purpurea (also known as coneflower) are from seeds collected from my neighborhood.  I don't buy coneflowers.  

In the beds, besides Tommy the feral cat, I'm growing brussels sprouts (left nearest), cucumber, tomato accompanied by some renegade borage and dill, and Jerusalem artichokes.  The Jerusalem artichokes are a perennial but they've been very disappointing, so I am thinking I will pull all of them out this fall.

On this side of the beds, the nearest are some early bush tomatoes, buckwheat (not sure what to do with it, it was a free seed from Baker's Creek), another tomato growing with some calendula and dill, and elecampane.

Asiatic lilies are blooming but my larger daylilies are not.  The big plant in the background is a Russian sage I bought from a fellow gardener who sells seedlings on Facebook.

Tommy the feral cat -- he's a funny guy.  He likes to greet my students.  Irises in the front are sadly bloomed out.  They were pretty.  They were from a local plant swap last year.  The front garden has a bit of everything.  Hostas, catmint, daylily, roses, bugbane, spurge, catmint, English ivy, vinca, ferns, coneflowers, some yew bushes I started from cuttings, hydrangea, and grasses kindly given to me by my parents' neighbor.  I am working on extending the perennial garden across what is left of the front lawn.  

Comments

[methylethyl]

It's lovely! When we were house-hunting, I also gauged neighborhoods by how many gardens I could see. Not landscaping, but trellises, peas, tomatoes, neat little rows of corn...

I wish I could make mine pretty, but I'm happy enough with lush and verdant growth, and a few flowers-- right now I have a red hibiscus, a little wild-looking red canna, and a bigger fancier orange-and-yellow canna all blooming, and it keeps things cheerful. They're marking the borders of the giant rambling tomato plants, basil that's trying to turn into shrubbery, and pumpkin vines bent on world domination. And I told myself I wasn't going to plant anything this year...

The tomatoes taste like the distilled essence of summer, though. Magic.

[kimberlysteele]

Thanks! Good for you -- it sounds very healthy and happy. There's nothing that compares to home grown tomatoes. It's like they're not even the same vegetable as the store bought ones.

[methylethyl]

Store tomatoes are like the sad ghosts of tomatoes.

[kimberlysteele]

LOL so true... I wonder if my brussels sprouts will be any better than the store-bought ones though?

Brussel's sprous

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Kimberly,
At one time, breeders produced Brussel's sprouts that could be machine harvested. they had very straight, sturdy stems. They also tasted really awful. If you get Heritage seeds, your Brussel's sprouts should be tender and have a pleasant, delicate flavour.
Maxine

Re: Brussel's sprous

[kimberlysteele]

Yes, they are heirloom seeds from Baker Creek. Fascinating!

[(Anonymous)]

There is one delicious way to find out!

[causticus]

I remember being absolutely floored the first time I tasted a tomato I grew myself. Lush deliciousness doesn't even begin to describe it. You're eight, there is simply no comparison between the real deal and whatever it is that is sold in supermarkets. Unfortunately, where I was living at the time was not an idea spot for gardening; not enough consistent sunlight. Many of the tomatoes I attempted to grow succumbed to rot before they became ripe.

[kimberlysteele]

I've had bad years for tomatoes when they refused to ripen and or had some rotting issues. I do wonder if a pop up greenhouse would have solved it?

[(Anonymous)]

I used to have awful trouble with my tomatoes dying in the subtropic heat by July. Solved it beautifully by simply finding a *regional* seed company (Southern Exposure-- there's probably other ones for other regions) that specializes in cultivars that are well adapted to the heat and humidity. So I'm limited to tiny cherry tomatoes now, but by golly they *survive*! It might be worth poking around for regional strains that like growing where you live.

I didn't even plant any tomatoes this year-- but I have a dozen plants that simply sprouted on their own from last year's fallen fruits.

My one technical problem this time around is the huge population of feral cats-- they like to crawl under the tomato jungle and pee there. I've learned the hard way to just avoid any fruits that are too close to the ground :(

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Kimberly,

Nice garden but check that the cats aren't grazing your buckwheat. Too much is not good for them.I grow a little pot of winter wheat for mine to keep them out of plants that might not be good for them.

Kevin

[kimberlysteele]

Interesting! They don't seem to be very interested in it. What do you use buckwheat for?

[(Anonymous)]

I use it for soil improvement and weed suppression. And it's great for attracting bees to the garden. One of these days I plan on getting a mill for hulling then I can start putting it on the menu.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, you are wealthy, look at all that ground, look at all that garden.
I am stuck in Southern California in the impossible housing market, all I have are groundcherries in four pots on my balcony, plus some violets that date from my childhood, plus some short-leaved aloes from my beloved, now-departed cousin.

I hope to buy a house someday and fully garden, but that is not yet.

If you also have a library (I'm betting you do), then you are complete according to Cicero.

- Cicada Grove

[kimberlysteele]

Thank you! Yes, I do feel wealthy. It's not possible to have a bad day that begins in a garden that pretty. And since I have a library, I am utterly complete. As Steve Martin said in The Jerk, "I'm somebody now!"

[(Anonymous)]

It's so true! At the beginning of this year, contemplating yet another growing season with just a few plants in pots, I was so depressed-- and feeling poor and grumpy about it. It is weird how just deciding to screw the rental deposit and start digging and mulching changed all that. Food and flowers in the yard is the difference between helpless poverty and deliberate frugality.

[(Anonymous)]

I found a penny on the back steps today. Not sure if that counts as good luck for me or bad luck for Sonkitten, the only person who could have dropped it.

Garden looks great, I’m getting hungry!

—Princess Cutekitten

[(Anonymous)]

It is good luck for the household! Because it returned to you instead of getting lost in the grass :)

[kimberlysteele]

Interesting!

Smoke and gardens

[(Anonymous)]

Here in northern New Hampshire, we have received a smoke advisory for today and tomorrow. While I can't really see any haze, I can definitely smell the smoke. I learned long ago to ignore the histrionics of the news services (mostly by not watching TV). Okay, there's smoke. Don't overdo it if you have lung issues. Got it.

Your garden looks wonderful, especially with all the brickwork. I live in the home I inherited from my parents and have been pretty much letting the lawn go to pot which is pretty easy since thanks to the pine trees surrounding the property. The soil tends to be acid so there's lots of moss instead of grass (hey, it's green, right?)

I skirt around patches of daisies and have lupine and other wildflowers growing on the bank. Along with the flowers in the flower bed, it's been a long time since I've bought cut flowers since I can get them for free at home. There's a patch of light orange day lilies but I have no idea what variety. My late mother transplanted some from my grandmother's house and they have been growing ever since.

JLfromNH/Heliotrope Addlepated Centipede

[(Anonymous)]

Beautiful! Thank you for sharing the pictures.

Heloise

Your garden is lovely

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Kimberly.

I particularly like the raised beds and the brick work. What a wonderful place for you and your feral!

Annette

[sinners4diseasecontrol]

Nice, Kimberly!
We have a garden by the house and then another that we can see from the house, out in the middle of the rice paddies. We have one greenhouse on each. I grow many herbs, like you. The apricots I've had for more than five years finally produced a nice crop. I've produced literally gallons of raspberry and blackberry juices, with two more raspberry crops coming in the fall.
We moved from a very rainy part of Japan to a prime agricultural area three years ago, bringing my perennials with us. I could eke out enough to enjoy myself and perhaps share with a friend at our old place. Now I get so much I'm having trouble finding people to give it away to. Many of the things I grow are hard to find in Japan (artichokes, black currants, raspberries, apricots). It now occurs to me that the reason for that is they just don't like them. Oh well. Artichoke blossoms are really lovely!

[kimberlysteele]

Very cool! I grew cardoons last year, which are an artichoke relative. Pretty foliage. Do hostas grow wild in Japan? I just started eating some of mine this year, they're delicious.

[sinners4diseasecontrol]

I've got cardoons blooming along with artichokes. I really ought to run out there with my new camera.

In Japan, I have seen hostas high in the mountains, which they call "giboshi." I've seen cultivars in gardens too, but the voles here would get them even quicker than the artichoke roots. I've known about them being edible, but have never tried them, as I'm not certain of their identification yet. I'll have to pay attention and give them a try.

[roobyalien]

Hi Kimberly,

Thank you for writing a post about gardening. Your garden is lovely.

I would not survive these days if not for my garden-which is more of a mini-farm. My favorite thing to do is to chuck seeds around and leave piles of spent plants in the fall to see which volunteers I will have in the spring. This year I have a very robust crop of tomatillos and am working hard to keep comfrey from taking over the neighborhood. My stinging nettles are starting to spread and I imagine them pushing out the poison ivy someday (wishful thinking, but I'll take a healthy sting over that itchy, blistery rash any day.)

I did sow buckwheat in my back flood-plain pasture this year and the bees love it. It makes very dark honey. So your buckwheat is helping the bees. :)

In my zone I have to make peace with critters beyond the squirrels. I plant decoy plants and need to plant early to evade squash bugs and squash vine borers who decimate my zucchini and make winter squash nearly impossible. Have you ever heard of a place that cannot grow zucchini?

I can talk gardening all day.

Thank you again for this post.

[methylethyl]

Have you ever tried growing Seminole pumpkins? The vine-borers get everything here, but these pumpkins put out long fast-growing vines, which will root at every node, so that by the time the vine borers inevitably get the pumpkin plant at its point of origin, the thing has already put down roots at so many other places, that it will survive the original length of stem being completely eaten/killed. It's the only squash I even try to grow these days, the pumpkins are delicious, and because it's a landrace and not any kind of purebred thing, it still has a fair amount of genetic variety which means that I save my seeds from year to year, from the pumpkins that were healthiest and turned out best, and each year, I've got vines that are just a little bit better adapted to local conditions.

The leaves are also gorgeous :)