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garden babble
Apr. 11th, 2011 10:04 pmLast night I sat down with mom and we finished working out a sketch for the roughly 4'x 54' bed along the south wall of Sunnyside. (Mom was boggled by the length...she seemed to think it was only 40' or so. *snort*)
We've been planning for quite a while to put blueberries in there, but it keeps getting shuffled to the back of the list, due to timing or money problems. We almost did it last fall, but most of the things we're planting are spring planted, so I pushed it to now. Or rather, I pushed it to a month or two ago, and it's taken this long for mom and I to get the measurements and sit down and hash it out. :P
I bought three fairly good-sized (well, they will be when they mature, anyway) blueberry bushes at a local nursery a couple of weeks ago, when I bought the fig and papaya for my own container garden. Mom didn't really want any blueberries that big, but nothing but low bushes would look really kind of dippy on a wall that long on a 3-story brick house. Just saying.
So, final plans (right now, anyway), involved those three (2 bluerays and a bluecrop, I think), and three low-bush (northland), and three 'groundcover' blueberries (ruby carpet and little crisp, not sure which there will be two of, it's a set). Those are all on order if they're not on my porch. When mom found out about groundcover cranberry this winter, she went gaga, so there are 9 plants of that on order as well. I picked up some 'mosquito-repellent' thyme groundcover for another low-lying spreader to tuck in there.
Then the fun part. I kept butting up against a problem of what to do with the big blank section in the middle, where there's a slight change in bed depth, and, well, it just looked wrong. We started talking about putting a climber or two there, then I had the ultimate light-bulb moment. There's a climber I've been panting to try for a few years, but haven't the space for. Hardy kiwi. :) It's 8 feet of wall. D and I will design and build a trellis, and we have 3 kiwi plants (2 female, 1 male) on order. I am thoroughly pleased.
Last stop on that bed (aside from some annuals that I'll interplant in the first year or two, while the perennials slowly fill in) is to pick out and locate or order the 6 hydrangeas, which will frame the ends of the bed, and each of the two windows. Mom wants some mophead style that will be blue (blue is no problem, the bed will be highly acidic for the fruit, anyway, I just need to find some good coloured mopheads), and I want a couple of classic whites. If anyone adores hydrandeas and has recommendations, that would be awesome.
( and back here on the homefront )
The garden has been eating a lot of my spare brain-power lately. I'm enjoying it tremendously so far, though we're a bit away from seeing more than a sprig of rosemary (it's still alive!!!) or dill for cooking purposes. The mesclun, if the squirrels will quit digging in it, might be productive in another couple of weeks. The spinach won't be far behind that, and the bok choi is a 'baby' variety that will be harvest-age in less than 50 days.
Cabbage and chard are hardening off nicely, and the first round of each will hit the raised bed later this week.
Time to go back to cleaning or something that looks like it.
We've been planning for quite a while to put blueberries in there, but it keeps getting shuffled to the back of the list, due to timing or money problems. We almost did it last fall, but most of the things we're planting are spring planted, so I pushed it to now. Or rather, I pushed it to a month or two ago, and it's taken this long for mom and I to get the measurements and sit down and hash it out. :P
I bought three fairly good-sized (well, they will be when they mature, anyway) blueberry bushes at a local nursery a couple of weeks ago, when I bought the fig and papaya for my own container garden. Mom didn't really want any blueberries that big, but nothing but low bushes would look really kind of dippy on a wall that long on a 3-story brick house. Just saying.
So, final plans (right now, anyway), involved those three (2 bluerays and a bluecrop, I think), and three low-bush (northland), and three 'groundcover' blueberries (ruby carpet and little crisp, not sure which there will be two of, it's a set). Those are all on order if they're not on my porch. When mom found out about groundcover cranberry this winter, she went gaga, so there are 9 plants of that on order as well. I picked up some 'mosquito-repellent' thyme groundcover for another low-lying spreader to tuck in there.
Then the fun part. I kept butting up against a problem of what to do with the big blank section in the middle, where there's a slight change in bed depth, and, well, it just looked wrong. We started talking about putting a climber or two there, then I had the ultimate light-bulb moment. There's a climber I've been panting to try for a few years, but haven't the space for. Hardy kiwi. :) It's 8 feet of wall. D and I will design and build a trellis, and we have 3 kiwi plants (2 female, 1 male) on order. I am thoroughly pleased.
Last stop on that bed (aside from some annuals that I'll interplant in the first year or two, while the perennials slowly fill in) is to pick out and locate or order the 6 hydrangeas, which will frame the ends of the bed, and each of the two windows. Mom wants some mophead style that will be blue (blue is no problem, the bed will be highly acidic for the fruit, anyway, I just need to find some good coloured mopheads), and I want a couple of classic whites. If anyone adores hydrandeas and has recommendations, that would be awesome.
( and back here on the homefront )
The garden has been eating a lot of my spare brain-power lately. I'm enjoying it tremendously so far, though we're a bit away from seeing more than a sprig of rosemary (it's still alive!!!) or dill for cooking purposes. The mesclun, if the squirrels will quit digging in it, might be productive in another couple of weeks. The spinach won't be far behind that, and the bok choi is a 'baby' variety that will be harvest-age in less than 50 days.
Cabbage and chard are hardening off nicely, and the first round of each will hit the raised bed later this week.
Time to go back to cleaning or something that looks like it.
