{"id":299,"date":"2012-04-02T04:01:05","date_gmt":"2012-04-02T12:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=299"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:33","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:33","slug":"fifty-one-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/fifty-one-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty-One Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

FIFTY-ONE DAYS<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The journey to a perfect garden starts with a single bag of mulch.\u00a0 And from now until the Garden Tour, fifty-one days away, “mulch”\u009d will be my middle name.\u00a0 I am determined to get the entire garden covered, despite the absence of the burly young men generally employed to handle the chore in my neighborhood.\u00a0 Even if I damned the expense and hired the muscle, I am afraid plants would be stomped in the mulching process.\u00a0 So, for better or worse, I will do it myself.\u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In fact, I have already laid down the first three bags of shredded cedar mulch and was pleasantly surprised at how far they went.\u00a0 Since I started this garden thirteen years ago, I have encouraged–or simply failed to discourage–various groundcovers.\u00a0 Ajuga romps through the back gardens, as do violets and forget-me-nots.\u00a0 My love affair with hardy geraniums has led to them spreading, carpet-like through some of the beds.\u00a0 Even in spots without “green”\u009d groundcovers, the plants are sufficiently close together to make mulch unnecessary.\u00a0 A mature garden is a beautiful thing.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The back garden is cleaned up and weeded–ready for mulching.\u00a0 The onion grass still holds court in the lawn, but it has been mostly banished from the beds.\u00a0 The front, largely unattended until now, still awaits its spring facelift.\u00a0 Luckily the hordes of late daffodils and tulips are blooming, so nobody notices anything else.\u00a0 The front borders will need less mulch than they would have five years ago, but will require considerably more than the beds in the rear.\u00a0 Still, I think that I can get it all done ahead of the Tour and possibly even before my back and pocketbook give out completely.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Now that I have less than two months until the big event, decisions must be made.\u00a0 An elderly rose of Sharon in the front has lichens all over its trunk and bore far fewer flowers last year than in years past.\u00a0 It is also rather crowded in its current situation, so it may be time to remove it.\u00a0 Doing so would make mowing and transit through the front yard easier.\u00a0 Still, removing any plant gives me pangs.\u00a0 Before I chop, I will spend a few more days wrestling with my conscience and waiting to see whether buds are forming on the little tree.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have a pair of rampant ramblers, both grown from cuttings made from an established rose at our summer house.\u00a0 The parent plant was installed by my green-thumbed aunt and has been extremely vigorous for many years, rambling far and wide on an ivy-covered slope.\u00a0 The offspring are equally vigorous, regularly overwhelming their allotted spaces, extending their canes far and wide and causing trouble in other parts of the garden.\u00a0 I really don’t have room enough or patience enough for two of them, so one should be given away.\u00a0 I would never foist such a rambunctious plant off on just anyone, so I will have to find a knowledgeable rose lover who likes the challenge of wayward varieties.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Poor performers may also get the boot.\u00a0 It is hard to give up hope on something you have nurtured for a year or two, but in fifty-one days absolutely everything has to look fabulous.\u00a0 Besides, every plant that dies opens up a space for something that may be a lot more hardy and exciting.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Most of the lavender plants have been cut back to encourage new, young growth and I am primed to do the rest shortly.\u00a0 A couple of the shrubby specimens appear to be near death, but I will wait until they have spent some quality time in the warm sun before I consider taking them out.\u00a0 \u00a0
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This past week an unexpected cold snap sent temperatures dipping as low as twenty-nine degrees.\u00a0 I was worried about the emerging perennials and all the tender young growth on the roses.\u00a0 All came through with nary a drooping leaf, though some of the tulips looked rather aggrieved in the morning.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The longer daylight hours of early spring make it possible for me to get out at the end of the weekdays and do weeding or other chores.\u00a0 Progress comes in small but satisfying increments and terror about The Tour only sets in on rainy days.\u00a0 Plant vendors are shipping the new plants that I ordered last month.\u00a0 The used cat litter that I dumped down the groundhog hole ten days ago seems to have deterred that garden marauder–at least for the moment.\u00a0\u00a0 As March goes out like a slightly shivering lamb, anything and everything seems possible.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FIFTY-ONE DAYS \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The journey to a perfect garden starts with a single bag of mulch.\u00a0 And from now until the Garden Tour, fifty-one days away, “mulch”\u009d will be my middle name.\u00a0 I am determined to get the entire garden covered, despite the absence of the burly young men generally employed to handle the chore … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299\/revisions\/1493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}