Dreaming dreamy dreams of anise, apples and artichokes
This year's garden consists mainly of last year's leftovers. Some tomatoes sprouting in the alley, transplanted to more friendly quarters. Volunteer squash and gourds. Garlic that wasn't fully harvested last year. Parsnips and carrots bedecking their flower heads with lace to invite pollinators to tea.
Oh, we've made some changes. A wonderful retired farmer and woodworker has made us some birdhouses and will be providing a martin house soon. A square of sunflowers are struggling in the clay; moonflowers are training along a fence. A birdbath, popular with feathered and footed neighbors alike, is continually in use in the front. But the halting beginner's steps I've taken over the past few years, so like a toddler's first few wobbles, haven't resulted in anything tangible--just enhanced knowledge and confidence on my part, and greater tolerance on my husband's.
I'm not discounting such benefits, but there's so much more our yard can--and should--be.
This year's immersion reading project has taken me to the home front of the two world wars. Victory gardens are excellent at providing an abundance of food for a family. Combined with permaculture principles, a cottage garden seems like the most logical outcome. Garden books on my want-to-read list now include:
Gail Harland's "Designing and Creating a Cottage Garden: How to cultivate a garden full of flowers, herbs, trees, fruit, vegetables and livestock, with 300 inspirational photographs" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1903141710/) and
"The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage" (www.amazon.com/dp/1604692367/) which appears to bulk up the basic starter course with info on what to interplant for four seasons of fuel and beauty.
What a wonderful pastime--dreams made true every day, and every day something tangible to see, to taste, to touch and delight in.
What are your gardening dreams?
Oh, we've made some changes. A wonderful retired farmer and woodworker has made us some birdhouses and will be providing a martin house soon. A square of sunflowers are struggling in the clay; moonflowers are training along a fence. A birdbath, popular with feathered and footed neighbors alike, is continually in use in the front. But the halting beginner's steps I've taken over the past few years, so like a toddler's first few wobbles, haven't resulted in anything tangible--just enhanced knowledge and confidence on my part, and greater tolerance on my husband's.
I'm not discounting such benefits, but there's so much more our yard can--and should--be.
This year's immersion reading project has taken me to the home front of the two world wars. Victory gardens are excellent at providing an abundance of food for a family. Combined with permaculture principles, a cottage garden seems like the most logical outcome. Garden books on my want-to-read list now include:
Gail Harland's "Designing and Creating a Cottage Garden: How to cultivate a garden full of flowers, herbs, trees, fruit, vegetables and livestock, with 300 inspirational photographs" (http://www.amazon.com/dp/1903141710/) and
"The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year-Round Beauty from Brandywine Cottage" (www.amazon.com/dp/1604692367/) which appears to bulk up the basic starter course with info on what to interplant for four seasons of fuel and beauty.
What a wonderful pastime--dreams made true every day, and every day something tangible to see, to taste, to touch and delight in.
What are your gardening dreams?
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