Summer and Fall Recap

Journal Entry No.7
A long hiatus

I feel perfectly awful neglecting my blog! But to be fair, this past year I spent far less time in my garden and twice as much time trying to do things for the house. Even now I'm "housebound", we're currently faced with a possible leak/condensation problem, and with the prospect of more rain on the horizon I feel my anxiety growing. Usually I take this time to start planning out the new garden goals for the year. I hit none of my goals last year. At all. It's amazing I managed to rake up the leaves in the fall. 

Our personal lives took a hit late last winter, hubs got laid off and things were intense for several months. We are okay right now (touch wood) but our priorities changed. There were fewer leisurely pursuits between us and the focus shifted on that which had to be done versus things that could be deferred to a later date. Oh, how I wish I had done several things in the garden. For starters, not trying to be shady, but I really want a privacy wall built around the deck. Our neighbors had their deck renovated and it now sits above fence level so we have zero privacy. I'm sure it's awkward for them, too, but I find I'm less inclined to spend anytime on my deck because it now feels like a performing arts stage. And their kids are small and want to talk to me when they see me and well, damnit I just like to be left alone sometimes. The backyard is an oasis. A retreat. But last year it felt different. The plan is to erect either a trellis attached to the deck, or a hedge row tall enough to obscure the view of our deck. The hindrance here is that if I do put in some cypress or the like, it will block any sun from reaching one of my only sun beds. There is much problem solving to be done in regards to the deck...Which is aging terribly, hubs did his best to "rejuvenate" it but it already looks like shriveled up driftwood again. I just don't have the funds to replace the deck this year, or probably the next six years.

The other major undertaking was that I was supposed to overhaul the side garden. I have to take out the ninebark, and level off the garden bed, replacing it with a concrete pad. I have a fierce goutweed problem. I'm told the only way out is to tarp it, but half the neighborhood is covered in this crap. We tried tarping for two years and all it takes is one rogue goutweed and it explodes. Last year was truly exceptional, we have never had so much rain before, and apparently it was perfect for the weeds. I tried to get out and weed whack but it was overwhelming. My garden looked atrocious. It really made me long for the flat, empty, uninspired backyard we had in our first rental. One day I'm going to have a blank slate for a garden where I can plant whatever I desire and hopefully won't have to contend with seventy varieties of weed (we live near a naturalized woodlot so a lot of weirdness spills into my garden and it's near impossible to control).

One thing I can say I mastered last year was the memorial garden for my late friend. Honestly, every garden in my backyard is a memorial garden, it's beginning to look more like a cemetery every day! The goth in me is proud. :) I think memorial gardens are a beautiful expression of love and I'm not planning on stopping them anytime soon! It's a great way to focus one's attention, too, you can't ignore a memorial garden! This wasn't a planned project, it just felt like the right time. You see, we had this sad, scraggly little side garden bed that had been long neglected. In fact, I believe when I moved in the only plants in the bed were yellow tulips and I think that might have been due to the squirrels more than anything. I half heartedly transplanted some hostas into the bed in the spring, but it really needed polishing off. I don't know if I needed a reason, but it seemed like the prefect time to close a chapter in my life, I had grieved the loss of a high school friend for over a decade and it was time to let her go and allow her to rest. It was time to dedicate the space to her. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do so I just sort of winged the whole process. Luckily my parents' neighbor was landscaping and pulled out a few dozen really good bricks from their own yard, we repurposed these to build a small retaining wall around the bed. We then filled the bed with gravel. I buried my friend's ashes beneath a rose - I selected the Martin Frobisher rose because it was the only really pretty fragrant rose left at the nursery, and it's named after a privateer, or a pirate. Yep, a pirate rose. For my goth friend who shared my dream of becoming a pirate. I can't make this up lol, it just worked out that way. I hung a pretty medallion on the gate next to it. I often think of her when I see it. It feels like the perfect tribute to her. I also buried her pictures and a few of our shared items in a box with her ashes. It was a proper burial. Apparently not illegal, either. Who knew?

The summer was surprisingly cool and oh, how I welcomed that fact. I'm sure the lakes stayed cold. It was too cold to swim. I shed no tears. The fact most of summer felt like autumn was dreamlike and awesome. I will say the foliage in autumn was not as good as it had been the previous year. Our rain and humidity levels were atrociously high and as such we had mass amounts of fungi and molds. The trees were badly damaged as a result and most leaves dropped at the first frost.

Plant wise my new Rose of Sharon - planted where the cherry tree stood - put out its first blooms. They were gorgeous periwinkle flowers but sparse as the plant is quite young. I look forward to it growing proudly in the sun bed and adding a bit of colour at the end of the deck. A few of the coral bell seedlings took root, the pulmonaria on the rocks performed exceptionally and I will now be planting more of them there in the future. Likewise, I'm working on transplanting and expanding the ground cover by the pond using creeping sedum. It looks like moss in the spring, utterly captivating and thankfully likes to choke out all the weeds. My plan is to get it growing all the way around the pond. After some research we found it's unlikely we'll ever get the waterfall going again, so I have to make new decisions regarding that in the future.

I've added a few of my plant successes in the photos below. My highlights of the year that aren't pictured would have to be the impatiens, I plan on buying more impatiens and adding them to the preexisting beds in containers, it fills out beautifully which is a nice treat when other plants fail. Like the daffodils, my double bloomers failed to show themselves due to the warm winter temps. This year proves to be similar thus far so I'm not expecting miracles in the spring. I hope all is well with those who read this!

With kindness.

Happy Gardening!