Here was our first full summer at the House. This was WAY before all the perennials grew up and so we planted lots of annuals for color and cut bouquets. Many I started inside in little seed beds on warming pads. Still, that was a pretty expensive proposition and a LOT of work every year. Now the work is mostly a pretty good fall clean up, a real good spring clean up and pruning, and plant a few annuals and/or new items here and there. So, a fair amount of work, but one of my hobbies I enjoy.
All the veggie gardening is done in raised beds* - they are down at the end of the path headed to the right. Only way to fly. I can keep the soil nice, keep the weeds away, and they look pretty neat and tidy too. Picture tomorrow. Someone suggested a camellia instead of the pampas grass. I need another suggestion .. I don't like camellias - too messy when the flowers fall.
* except for volunteer chard which seems to sprout many places and makes for great picking for evening greens. I plant the kind with many colors of stalks and leaves so they are nice color spots where they choose to be as well!
7 comments:
All your hard work has certainly paid off. The garden is lovely.
raised beds are definitely the way to go. I love coloured chard too!
Wow! Look how far you've come.
The buns must love the chard. I hear most do. Mine don't seem to care for it. I guess they're weird.
I've been wondering about your beautiful bunny condos. Did you build them yourselves? I really haven't seen any like them, but I think they're great. They look like furniture, organic to the home, instead of looking like some sterile aberration.
How about Pieris Japonica? Evergreen, low maintenance, the new growth is either red or pink (depending on the variety), cleans up nicely after blooming in spring, and the deer don't go for them (at least the deer around here don't). The variegated varieties tolerate full sun better. I'll have to look for the colourful Swiss chard you mentioned!
@Lisa .. Yes - we built them ... got the design from another guy who had made one. Our first one was not so hot, but the design has been modified to work pretty well. They are very sturdy, look pretty good, and the doors open to expose the whole thing for easy cleaning.
@Anon .. might try it. We have some in our front area, but it has not gotten real big yet. Deer not much of a problem. We see one now and then, but there is quite a coyote population and we are also quite near the agricultural fields where deer don't go because too much activity.
Your garden is beautiful! It reminds me of Paris :)
How good it must feel to have accomplished so much. The desire to garden and the ability to achieve, when paired together, are a gift. You have created something many fantasize about and fail. - Including me :)
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