lHow to take a trash-filled, overgrown and run-down pseudo-garden and turn it into a structured, carefully laid out Colonial-style physick garden? Besides a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, I don't know. The first time I laid eyes on the Northern "garden" I just winced. Bittersweet and brambles and poison ivy, oh my! Perennial sweet pea and half-strangled roses and shards everywhere, oh very my. And don't forget the highly invasive mugwort and tansy and a half-dead weigela. Oh, my. In an artistic effort (all I can figure. Either that or plain daftness.) three apple trees were planted too close together, nearly on top of an old maple, and then interplanted with trumpet vine and bittersweet. Oh, and faux-espaliered with light weight lath that looked like pull-out muntins, then a picket fence intertwined along all three. On one side, one tree and a heap of bittersweet choking out a montauk daisy hedge. On the other, two trees, more vines, and don't forget the glass and ceramic shards everywhere. Must have been one heckuva party. So, in the past two years, I have eradicated the vines, both bittersweet and trumpet. Moved the two smallest apple trees and the fence. Moved the daisy hedge. Moved the half-dead weigela. (They are near-impossible to kill, and this one looks like it had gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson, poor thing.) That's just the prep work to date. I still have to pull up the ferns and create a border for the remaining rhododendron. I created the first three raised beds, now have to fill and plant. With this section, I will drag you along on the construction process, what I'm doing and why, so you can duplicate it yourself, if you like.
March 2013 Recap & Update
The weigela survived and is very happy in its new home. I yanked out the ferns and seeded the bare spots, established a small border for the rhododendron and made a reading nook behind it. I planted the beds with various herbs and proceeded to mow the daylights out of the lawn, which really helped establish it. This Spring, I'll set out the herbs in their permanent home ( I just stepped some in for the winter) and add some more.
March 2013 Recap & Update
The weigela survived and is very happy in its new home. I yanked out the ferns and seeded the bare spots, established a small border for the rhododendron and made a reading nook behind it. I planted the beds with various herbs and proceeded to mow the daylights out of the lawn, which really helped establish it. This Spring, I'll set out the herbs in their permanent home ( I just stepped some in for the winter) and add some more.