The last few weeks have been spent getting our garden together for spring. Much of the work is cleanup and maintenance, which is exhausting, but always ends up being incredibly satisfying. We also indulged a bit and bought some plants for a few bare spots in the yard and it’s made a world of difference.
Vegetable Garden Beds
When we first started planning the veggie gardening the location HAD TO BE the driveway. The driveway gets the most sun and it would be the best space, away from the yard and trees, but we realized it was ridiculous to block the driveway, even though we don’t use our garage for our cars. The only other spot that makes sense is the sunny portion of the back lawn. I’m obviously fine with covering up the lawn, but it’s a bit awkward for it to be there. I’m trellising as much as I can, then we don’t need so many boxes (and it can be better for the plants too), so we now have this big tall trellis in the middle of our yard. It’s not ideal, and I might change it up next year, but for now, this is what we’ve got. I believe strongly in minimizing space, using less water and growing as much of your own food as possible, but I also believe is creating an environment that has a bit of feng shui. And right now, our trellis is impeding on our view of things.
We also planted all of our veggies and berries. I’m trellising my tomatoes, starting out right for the first time. I’m also growing zucchini, which I never thought I’d grow. I’m hoping for lots of cucumbers, basil and successfully growing tomatillos. I’m also hoping to trellis those, but I haven’t found the right trellis.
You’re probably wondering how this person who hates grass has so much green grass. I have grass! Yes. Don’t hate me. I’m the worst. Actually, I’m not. Grass is not horrible in small quantities. This is bad grass. Acres and acres of lawn, mowed daily, covered in herbicide and fertilizer and watered and watered and watered. Here’s another example. Don’t do this. Landscape it. Add trees. Mulch. Shrubs. ANYTHING. Weirdly, I think people in these areas are so socially judged for having anything but grass, it’s nearly impossible to break free. Anyway, I’m trying to justify our grass, and I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, but it is nice to have a little. We’ll have even less soon. We’re going to fully cover our front yard with mulch and plants and add a little gravel space for a fire pit in the back, so our grass is going to shrink down to about 10 feet square.
We also planted some hydrangeas on the shady side of the garage. I can’t wait too how these climbers grow and take over this wall.
Trellising is great, and I’m going to continue to experiment with it. I’m also trying out new nightshade pruning techniques, similar to those I used on my basil. I learned this technique from @UrbanFarmstead. Keep your basil shrubby and dense by pruning just above the crotch of the plant where you can see suckers starting to sprout. I prune weekly and get so much basil I can’t use it all. According to him you use this same trick on peppers to keep them shrubby and sturdy, and they’ll produce more fruit. We’ll see how it goes with my jalapenos! You can see above that I’ve already pruned my basil and after just a couple of days the new leaves are pushing out.
Planting and Filling Dead Space
We bought an amazing tree to fill a blank space, a Cercis Canadensis var. Mexicana (Mexican Redbud). Not a common tree, but purchased from one of our favorite plant nurseries, thicket. The other day someone asked me what my favorite thing about Portland is, and I didn’t know! I thought a bit and here is what it is: local plant nurseries. There ARE SO MANY. Some are indoor plants, some are both, some are boutiques, some are wholesale. They’re ALL amazing. They all offer different things and I love to go to all of them, rain or shine, winter or summer. Thicket is particularly amazing because it is situated in, arguably, one of the best spots in all of Portland. There is a brewery with the best outdoor patio (weirdest beer), a massage cart (not a food cart, but a massage cart), a juice/smoothie cart, Pine State Biscuits AND a vegan bakery within about 20 feet. This little slice of our city embodies what makes Portland so fabulous.
Anyway, we also added some other perennials to the space where the old wisteria was, and voila, it was transformed. You can’t tell from this angle because you’re blinded by all the grass (This is judge-worthy grass. Judge me. I need to get rid of it. Give us time!).
ROSES! OMG THE ROSES!
I was never a rose person. Kyle always wanted them and I poo-pooed them because they look ugly when they aren’t flowering. Luckily, I was forced to give them a second chance. The previous owner took very good care of her yard, including planting a bunch of rose bushes. I pruned them a few weeks ago, you can read my guide to rose pruning here. The great thing about roses is that they’re resilient, grow very fast and it’s hard to screw them up. The perfect plant for any gardener, with the added bonus that they’re beautiful, smell amazing and come in a million varieties, sizes, colors and shapes. Portland also happens to be the rose city, we have the perfect climate for roses and so many places to go see them. (My second favorite thing about Portland is its parks. Two are rose-specific, Peninsula Park and the International Rose Test Garden). We bought one more rose to fill in the spot where we removed a tree. We took out a Boulevard Cypress that just wasn’t working for us.
The first rose bush pictured below shows growth lower on the plant. I butchered this plant, it was attacked early by aphids and had some black spot on the leaves. I pruned out everything that impacted, which opened up the middle to get more air. I sprayed all the roses with copper fungicide (organic) to keep the black spot at bay and an organic pesticide to keep the aphids away. They’re all looking much better and I’m seeing a lot more growth from the lower parts of the plants. All of the bushes are six feet or taller, and I’d like to get them back down to a manageable and shrubbier height. The colors on these roses and amazing. The red one below was so bright and rich that I can’t get a good photo of it. Not pictured: the amazing rose fragrance. I can now so that I’m pro-rose.
