Very busy over here

Last year for Mother's Day I asked my family for help in the gardens for the day. It worked so well that we are doing it again.

Many of you may remember my Raspberry patch and how my hubby and Mia cleared out a new area next to it for me to use to thin out the berries. That is until my hubby forgot what it was for and planted his tomatoes there!! Well, his tomatoes did not like the area, (may have had something to do with my contempt for them), and most of them died!

This year there will be no tomatoes there!!

Yesterday we did a pavers run, only one more truck load and we will be done with the hauling! We have moved hundreds of pavers over the last weeks, and I have been busily using them to surround the new raised veggie beds and for paths in the gardens. What a marvelous addition they make! Thank you, Babs, for your generosity. You have also provide compost and soil to use to fill some of them!

After the truck was unloaded we worked on the gardens. Mia loaded up my black gold compost from the purchased compost bin, to have ready for my choicest plants, while hubby scraped a path area for more paving to be done!

Then we all proceeded to the Raspberry patch, where we dug out a pathway and developed rows for easier picking and less crowdng of plants. These berry plants just love their location. They have spread so much that we are extending the area out towards the veggie beds. OOPS!! That means we have to get rid of more lawn! Too bad!! LOL I have been gunning for it for years.

Then Mia and I worked on the Fruit guilds. We moved a large Rhubarb, splitting it into four plants to provide mulch for the guilds. Also had moved Fennel there during the week, to attract beneficial insects. A Lupine had seeded itself under the Apple tree, which is perfect as Lupine is a nitrogen fixer, so I moved more under the Pear tree as well.

Then added lots and lots of violets, also a nitrogen fixer. What a great time to move them as I could play with all the colors! I love the creative side of gardening. Using the plants as paint, you can create masses of wonderment for the eyes! During this process, I sort of lose myself to the flow of the work. I seek out just the right plants, dig and replant, knowing that I have just what I need in the gardens to create just the right environment for these fruit trees which have yet to be productive. Already they are producing lots of flowers, for the first time, aided by the blooming bulbs, planted last fall which suppress the lawn from encroaching into the area. Right now the Allium is just starting to open up, with a glorious deep purplish pink bloom!

Okay, I cold go on and on, but it is now light out and I need to get moving - so much to do, so little time these days.

Just wanted to let you know what I have been up to!!

Email from Krissy

I am experiencing the empty nest syndrome, and I don't have any of my kids away at college. But I have Krissy, and Logan and Matt, my gardeners who are now away at college. I am missing having them here in the gardens. Krissy has been great in staying in touch, and since I have been delayed in keeping my blog updated with all my recent activities, there are just so many photos, standing in line for showcasing, I decided to post her email and my response here so you can all see what I'm up to.

Hey Marna just wanted to say hi and see how everything is going... So after further investigation into to variegated pachysandra it is indeed that. Do they produce seeds? If so i could grab some when they produce them i am sure lots of people would like them. It is variegated Japanese pachysandra to be exact. Also i looked at your post yesterday and saw that people were interested in butterfly weed! I have pulled a couple seeds pods off of my plant I'm not 100% sure if i pulled them to soon but your more than welcome to them if i can find them i had put them in the cupholder of the lawnmower but with my moms crazy driving who knows if they are still there i will check when i go home on Thursday.

So what else is new? I am sure there is something going on in those gardens. Well i am going to go study but look forward to hearing from you and take care!

Krissy


HI Krissy. It's always so good to hear from you. I really appreciate that you take the time in your busy college schedule to stay in touch. Pachysandra is propagated by division and root cuttings. They are real easy to transplant and multiply by the roots. I couldn't find any info on seeds.

The butterfly weed's seed pods are not ready to be harvested yet. They are in the milkweed family. Those pods will turn brown and then the seeds will be dispelled like the other milkweed plants. I have my eye on the ones over here. I have lots of them and will have plenty of seeds to share.

I have been learning more about wild edibles. Found out that what I thought was Deutzia, as I was never able to see any reference pictures, is actually Autumn Olive, a banned tree in MA!!! Well it has the best berries for making into fruit strips!! It'll be ready for picking in the next few weeks. Got a taste sample from the guide on my recent hike through Birchwold Farms here in Wrentham.

The Crapapple bed is just about ready for layer mulching for edibles for next spring!! Had lots of help with it over the weekend. Thanks Ann Marie and Maureen yesterday for doing so much of the digging to help me move those large hostas so they are no longer crowding each other. The Elephant Ear Hosta immediately stood so proud once unencumbered by the other large specimens. I even got to dig up and split one of my large White Bleeding Hearts, and all who helped this weekend got to take some home. I finished off by moving small mounds of Thyme throughout the bed to get it established for a wonderful living mulch under the Hosta and Bleeding Hearts. Then I proceeded to throw my back out again. But, thankfully, all the work had been completed.

So today I am resting the body and getting ready for tonight's class on soil. We will be testing everyone's soil for pH and Nitrogen levels, and discussing different ways to enrich and to prepare the soil for next spring's gardens.

I figure there will be plenty of time over the winter to get to posting all the wonderful pictures I have been taking.

STOP THE PRESS!!! Krissy, you are going to love this. I was cutting down the Fennel for Ann Marie's arrival yesterday - she uses the seeds for sausage - when I found ---- an Anise Swallowtail caterpillar!!! Then in another patch I was cutting, I found another. Two at this time of year is most unusual, but they will be overwintering. How great I will have 2 Anise or Eastern Black Swallowtails, plus a Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies to look forward to in the spring, before any plants are up enough for new little caterpillars!!

Remember all, if you want Fennel for next years brood, you need to put it in first thing in the spring, and you know where to get it. HERE!!!