{"id":55,"date":"2007-07-09T05:25:55","date_gmt":"2007-07-09T13:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/garden\/?p=55"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:33:25","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:33:25","slug":"milestones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/milestones\/","title":{"rendered":"Milestones"},"content":{"rendered":"

MILESTONES
\n<\/font><\/font><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>Eight weeks ago I wrote about my resolution to spend this calendar year making a concerted effort to perfect my garden. \u00a0By agreeing to open the garden for a local garden tour in early September, I managed to suspend an additional small but sharp sword of Damocles over my head.\u00a0 This in turn led me to speed up my evaluation of the whole layout, create lists of chores and necessary purchases, and put together a timetable for getting the place in shape.\u00a0 After four weeks I almost broke my arm patting myself on the back for my vigorous efforts.\u00a0 A new fence was already installed, replacing its predecessor, which was in the last stages of decrepitude.\u00a0 I was in the process of repairing the damage caused by the fence installers’ dainty feet and I had purchased a number of beautiful new plants.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The back patting came to a screeching halt when I got a call from Lynne, my former college roommate, who is also a dear friend and my daughter’s godmother.\u00a0 “I’m getting married in August,”\u009d she said.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After the congratulations were over, Lynne told me that she wanted to have a simple civil ceremony on a Friday, followed by a small afternoon reception the next day.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

“I don’t want you to feel pressured,”\u009d I said, as an emotional high tide of hearts and flowers swamped all practical considerations, “But we would love to host the reception here.”\u009d\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

She agreed to think about it, and after we hung up, I started thinking too–about the realities of hosting a wedding reception in the house and garden.\u00a0 In my dreams that night I had visions of a tornado, its funnel full of swirling to-do lists, touching down in my garden and uprooting all the plants.\u00a0 When morning finally arrived I decided not to get really upset until Lynne called back.\u00a0 Then the phone rang. \u00a0“I’d love to have the reception at your house,”\u009d she said. <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I looked at my timetable, carefully plotted so that everything would be done by the first week in September, and wondered how I could possibly get most of the jobs finished a month earlier.\u00a0 After some amount of thought I came up with the answer–a little simplification and a lot of mulch.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Simplification means that there are some big things that just won’t get done before the wedding reception.\u00a0 The ornamental wishing well in the back that I planned to decapitate and turn into a raised planter will remain a wishing well until after August.\u00a0 The long narrow strip behind my garage, which will someday make a lovely ribbon border, will stay unplanted for now.\u00a0 I’ll block the area off with a couple of big plant pots full of colorful annuals.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

My plan to eradicate all the English ivy on the property has been scaled back.\u00a0 \u00a0I may not have time to smother all of it with layers of newspaper and mulch, so I’ll save the mulch for places where it will count the most.\u00a0 The area between my front privet hedge and the sidewalk is a no man’s land where grass grows sparsely and broad leafed weeds spread rapidly.\u00a0 My plan to make this entire long strip into a new garden bed will not come to fruition until after the celebration.\u00a0 I’ll content myself with getting the area weed-free and mulching the privet. <\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Trips to the nursery take time, so until early August comes and goes, I will concentrate on planting the specimens already in my holding area and using divisions from existing perennial clumps to help fill in the gaps.\u00a0 <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Every garden looks better with neat hedges and edges.\u00a0 I set clipping and edging goals for each day, even if I only add a few feet of clipped hedges or newly defined edges to the total.\u00a0 If I am persistent, I should get all the hedges and most of the edging done.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I love weeding and find it relaxing–most of the time.\u00a0 However, right now my goal is to get each bed weed free and keep it that way.\u00a0 I try not to leave bare earth, because weeds from as far away as Nebraska can smell it and will project seeds in this direction in the hopes of covering that earth.\u00a0 I mulch as I go, and if I am out of store-bought mulch, I revert to the time-tested newspaper and compost technique, using the piles of newly plucked weeds as the compost. \u00a0\u00a0This controls new weeds, and can even stand in for more expensive mulch behind big shrubs and in other out-of-the-way areas. Eventually the weeds turn brown and wither, and begin to look like regular mulch.\u00a0 In more public areas I use the newspaper and trimmings as a temporary weed blocker until I can put shredded cedar bark or other “fancy mulch”\u009d on the spot.\u00a0 The dried out weeds then go in the composter, and the newspaper goes back into recycling.\u00a0 This cuts curbside waste as well as bagging time.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The week before the reception, I will see if anything is blooming, and augment the offerings with whatever colorful specimens I can find at the garden center.\u00a0 Hopefully the end result will say “conscientious gardener”\u009d and not “desperate housewife.”\u009d\u00a0 After all, on the day of the celebration the garden will be a mere backdrop–and not even a big clump of crabgrass can detract from a really good party.
\n<\/strong><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MILESTONES \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Eight weeks ago I wrote about my resolution to spend this calendar year making a concerted effort to perfect my garden. \u00a0By agreeing to open the garden for a local garden tour in early September, I managed to suspend an additional small but sharp sword of Damocles over my head.\u00a0 This in turn … 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":[6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-summer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55","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=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1723,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions\/1723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}