#29 The Garden at the Lake

The Cactus (Opuntia humifusa) is blooming, much to the madman’s surprise – with the moving of the cactus garden he didn’t expect any blooms this year. But, its yellow blossom signals, “Summer is here!” Time to focus on the garden at the lake.

Short Season Container Gardening

The garden at the lake is a totally different type of garden. It’s a short-season, 90-day container garden planted mostly for pleasure. Planting time is around the first week of July. The property at the lake is unique – it’s a small lot with a backyard like everyone else’s – a grill, patio and lawn. The front however is the lake. Sure, there is a grass lawn and a stone retaining wall, but the focus is the lake.

Front Side

This area was never a good spot for a garden. Kids were always running through the grass to jump in the water. Life preservers, tubes and other floating toys were thrown here after use. At the lake no one is an adult. The madman still runs through the grass to jump into the lake. His life preserver, paddle board and water ski are thrown on the lawn. As I said, not a good spot for gardening.

But the madman says “never say never,” so we have managed to eke out a couple of garden spots away from the lake access. The stump of the large maple that once shaded kids playing in the water is now a fairy garden – although as it decays, its days are numbered. And, along one edge of the property we planted an arch for our hummingbirds using two large planters sunk into the lawn.

Back Side

One day, the madman looked at the back and had an aha moment. What if we had a walled-in patio like the Cloisters in New York? We sat on the porch and did some thinking, then hashed out some ideas. Some were good, some were not.

First we had to address an old unused asphalt parking area which had been there for as long as the madman could remember. Its sheltered location made it a great spot for a grill and a fire pit, but we hated the look. We were discussing plans for a wooden deck until we visited the home of our former Master Gardener Coordinator, Vicky. We loved her pea stone patio and brought the concept to Bill who was in charge of building our patio.

Special Stone

Bill suggested that instead of pea stone we use a product called Delaware River stone. The stones were nice. We didn’t have to scrap the idea of wooden planters at either end – we just had to scrap the wooden deck. So, our final design consisted to two 17’ long wooden planting boxes on either end of the “patio”. Delaware River stone filled the area between the boxes.

Self-Watering Planters

At first we were going to fill the boxes with soil to create permanent beds. But we were concerned that these beds would dry out if we weren’t there to water them. Then, we discovered self-watering planters at Gardeners’ Supply. Their large reservoirs meant that we would not have to water every day. We ordered four square self-watering containers for each side, planning to use the space between the planters for seats or other potted plants.

The next problem was how to get the walled-in effect. As you can imagine, cottages are close to each other at the lake and building a wall was not an option. Instead, we put poles on either end of the planting boxes for outdoor curtains. The effect was amazing. We had our enclosed garden. Then one day it got windy and the curtains blew all over the place. The madman thought of the nylon trellis netting he used for his cucumbers – maybe they would control the curtains. Brilliant idea!

Container Planting Soil

With the backbone of the garden in place, we tackled the planting. Because we are growing in containers, soil requirements are a little different. Regular soil is too heavy and won’t drain well in containers. We need to use something that will retain moisture, but not drown the roots. The first year we mixed potting soil with peat moss and compost to create our planting medium. But, we have since learned that peat moss, which is harvested from areas similar to the bog we visited in our last blog is a non-renewable product, making it a bad choice for our environment. We have used perlite and vermiculite in the potting mix with good results. This year we are experimenting with shredded newspapers in place of the perlite and vermiculite. We’ll see what happens. Whatever mix we use, we do add fertilizer, both liquid and time release.

Food and Seasoning

The box closest to the grill is reserved for culinary plants – a combination of herbs, peppers and Malabar spinach – a delightful vine with hummingbird friendly flowers and tasty madman friendly leaves. Each of the other boxes contains one center plant, usually a Dalia or Datura and a small selection of other flowering plants. Somehow the madman always manages to sneak in a hot pepper plant or two, or three… He thinks I won’t notice until it’s too late. I just humor him.

Morning Glories and Passion Flowers

Over the years we have found that morning glories and passion flowers are so prolific that by midsummer the curtains are no longer necessary. The trellises are covered with bright green foliage and red trumpet-shaped blooms (we like the Ipomoea coccinea variety) – peppered with the exotic passion flower blooms. The hummingbirds love our flowers.

Thinking of the Hummingbirds

In addition to the red blooms, we put up two hummingbird feeders. The hemlocks planted by the madman and his mother along the eastern border many years ago have apparently become a popular nesting spot for migrating Ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris). We spend late afternoons watching the antics of the hummingbirds while the madman plays his guitar. Last summer the madman was able to film five hummingbirds at the feeder at one time.

Since we typically start planting this garden in early July, we have just begun to fill the hummingbird feeders, so visitors aren’t very frequent. Our neighbors, on the other hand, put feeders out much earlier so we know these little guys are taken care of and will definitely stop to nest. As our garden fills out, we expect more visits from the hummers.

New Fixture

• 

• 

New to our garden this year is a three tier planter we got at the Hartford Flower Show. Made by Maine Garden products, the planter is made of eastern white cedar and came in a ready-to assemble kit. The madman and I always struggle with these kits, but after finishing it we are quite pleased to have it in a corner of the patio.

Searching for Ideas

As we sit on the back patio we continue to hash out ideas for the rest of the backyard. A few years ago, we built a wooden xylophone that actually plays. At some point we want to build a garden bed around it, but the perfect idea hasn’t hit us yet.

We are also hashing out ideas for the old stone stairway that is no longer used. At one time we had potted plants on the stairs. But, when neighbors went on a tree-cutting frenzy, our shaded staircase suddenly got full sun. We do have hops and wisteria growing up the old iron railings, but the plantings in pots required too much irrigation and drought loving cactus would just look out of place.

We know that eventually the planting ideas will come, but now it’s time to sit on the dock and watch the sun set.

The lemonade is ready.