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Garden journal entry

 

I think I'll call this the Curve Garden
March 20, 2010. The last few days the weather has been divine - sunny, with temperatures around 70 degrees. It feels like we should be well into all kinds of spring flowers, but so far only bulbous irises, crocuses, and hellebores have been providing color. But of course the weather has drawn everybody outside - including me! I've been wondering ever since last summer how I'm going to manage the sun-loving perennials that are getting too much shade in our side garden (that weeping cherry is getting mighty big!), and decided not too long ago that at least some of them could go into what we have usually called the cutting garden: a bumped-out border along the fence that runs the left side of our garden. Although its intended use was for cutflowers, that's not how it ever worked out; instead, it has been a playground for self-seeding and indoor-sown annuals, with a few perennials thrown in somewhat at random. A pleasant jumble, to be sure, but never a showpiece. Eyeing up the space a few days ago, I decided to go one step bolder, and join the cutting garden and the herb garden to its right (another bumped-out border, separated by a giant boulder left over from the big pond construction), enlarging both to form a wide curvaceous (two-bump) border. So I spent today suffering the consequences from my decision: stripping sod, digging into the exposed clay soil, pulling better soil from my storage pile behind the compost bins, mixing it all together, and putting the plastic edging back in place. Is it just me, or are those projects always defined by soil logistics? Where do I put the pile of sod, and what do I do with the rocks that I excavate in droves? Where does the clay soil go before mixing with the crumblier stuff, and how do I keep that trench open enough that I don't have to dig once again to get the edging in place? Somehow, a whole lot more dirt gets moved around than seems necessary, but by the end of the day, a few sore muscles and a red neck later, the job is done. Amy even came out and pitched in! It will be a few weeks before we figure out what new plants will inhabit the space, but at least the hard work is out of the way!


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