#3 The Final Walk Around

The sun is shining, the temperature is 42˚, and the wind is calm. Looks like a perfect day for the final walk-around. Yes, we have already buttoned up the garden, but we always like to take a final stroll because try as we may, we always miss something. Like the new garden spade that got its worn patina by spending the winter outside. Or, the garden scissors we spent a winter looking for only to find under the apothecary rose when the snow melted. We arm ourselves with a fresh cup of coffee, our Felco 8s (or Felco 9, since the madman is left-handed) and a basket for any waste.

First stop – front garden

Front garden first. We discover some seed pods from the giant Datura that the madman swears came up “all on its own” (not sure I believe that!) – in all the years we have grown datura, we have never had one this big. The seed pods go in the basket (10-1 he’ll rummage through it when I’m out of sight to save a seed or two, or three, or four…). The kale plants will stay in place until the ground freezes or the deer get them first. Here’s a few onions we missed – they will be perfect for supper.

Found some deer damage in the garlic bed; that’s a quick fix-madman doesn’t like hoof prints in his beds. Here’s a couple of leftover bamboo stakes (how did we ever miss them the first time?) We straighten irrigation hoses and repair one the madman hit with the lawn mower. This bed is truly ready for winter.

On to the Folly

Next stop the folly plants – they have all been buried by bark mulch to keep their roots from freezing. What are folly plants, you say? Plants that go on the folly. And, what’s a folly? An interesting architectural element in the garden that we will discuss in a future post. Just note that we made ours with a living roof of individual pots. Every winter we take the pots off the roof and mulch them.

Side Yard

Now to the side beds. The conifers are safely laid in with their banks of bark mulch. Edge of forest looks good. The berry rows are in good shape – pruning here is a task for February. Beds for the new cactus garden are in place – we had hoped to finish them this fall, but life and weather got in the way. The old cactus garden got too shady for these sun loving plants and the madman refused to cut down the trees. When the new cactus garden is complete, we will transform the old cactus garden into something yet to be determined – we only know it will be shady.

The stone garden needs some cutting back – out come the Felcos. We also find more bamboo stakes here. The meadow looks good – some of the seed heads we leave for the birds. We have already cut back the hops that grow up the treehouse, and stored the garden benches underneath it. Out come the Felcos again, have to finish cutting back plants near the house and in the herb garden. We smip a few branches from the old apothecary rose so we can access the path, but any major pruning is a task for February.

Back Gardens

Then to the back. The madman heads into the house to refresh his coffee – this is my area, and usually the last to be put to bed. All the seeds have dropped from the milkweed so I finish cutting back the stalks. I am still in the process of establishing healthy milkweed patches for my ever increasing monarch butterflies. I find a few missed garden chotskies (iron bird and fairy shoe) that were hiding the last time through and bring them to the shed. These beds are done until the ground freezes.

The madman returns with fresh coffee and the announcement that he has to clean off the solstice brick.

Observing the Winter Solstice

Today is December 20. The winter solstice begins at 5:23 p.m. tomorrow, but the weather promises to be bleak. We have a series of bricks set into the lawn marking the extent of our our house’s shadow at noon on the solstices and equinoxes. We have marked the winter with our solstice pig because the ground is usually covered with snow, making it hard to see the brick. At 5:23 tomorrow we will be ready to celebrate the winter solstice: it is the shortest day of the year. Things get better from here.

As the sun gets higher, the shadow gets shorter. Watching this is good for the madman’s morale.

Mulch

You’ve heard us mention the word mulch a few times. We use a lot of mulch, but we use different mulch materials for different things. Let’s start with leaf mulch because we have been working on that the most. In the fall we use our ground leaves around the passion flowers near the house to protect the plants from getting too cold. With a combination of the South facing foundation and heavy leaves for protection we have created a micro-climate that allows two passion flower vines to survive our Zone 6 winters.

In other beds we wait for the ground to freeze and use the leaves to protect the plant roots from damage caused by winter thawing and refreezing. When the Christmas tree comes down we’ll put some of the branches over the leaves for more protection.

For the folly plants and potted conifers we use a heavier bark mulch for two reasons. First, we will never have enough leaves to go around. And, second, the heavier bark mulch will better insulate the potted roots. In the summer our choices of mulch changes, but it’s not summer yet, so we will end this discussion.

Besides the cocoa is on.