Doing Something Right!

 

Here's a view of our Long Border. I admit to yanking a few deceased annuals from its ranks and I think Bob chopped down a couple of Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) stalks that had fallen over, but it's pretty much left to it's own devices until next early spring. I always allowed for a certain gardening laziness that creeps over me by late summer. Early September finds me shrugging and suggesting it's too late to prop things up or edit and reorganize. 

Yup! That's me casting a long shadow on a kind of unsightly aster clump (the cultivar "Purple Dome" a half tall variety.) And while I admit to an unwillingness to walk back to the house and get pruners to remove the desiccated remains I also suspected that the seeds were possibly good food for birds. And I was right!

I just read an article in The Connecticut Gardener (#1) that confirmed my thoughts and applauded my laziness. The authors of the article in question averred that insects (hopefully beneficial) nest in the hollow stems and birds do indeed feed on seeds left behind. 

(This grass (Miscanthus sinensis) makes me look tiny; it IS tall and the inflorescenses look good all winter- until an ice storm beats them down!) So I've been vindicated in my waiting 'til next spring to clean up. Yes, sometimes when we get a warm February day, Robin the Good and I get out and start cutting down things that look particulary rough. Some plants don't age gracefully!

Here's another very poofy grass; I think this is one looks rather nice with the late day sunlight hitting the tufts. So... lesson learned: don't be in such a big fat rush to tidy up. There's plenty of time ahead to do that and the birds and bees will thank you!

(*1) The Connecticut Gardener is a really good resouce for all manner of garden information. Please consider subscribing! And I don't just say that becasue I write the occasional column for it!!

There's a Garden Under There Somewhere!

I started cleaning up the garden this afternoon. So late in the season! Sometimes, by the very beginning of March, all the beds are raked and expectant. However, this winter will not leave and it's late. I got two beds cleaned; perennials and tall grasses cut down, leaves removed... just a rough, first clean up. It was overcast and not especially warm, but I needed to be outside.

Here's the initial tarp filling up. That's the hard part, dragging it all away into the woods. Somethings can be composted, but this debris is full of sticks and grasses and tough oak leaves. they take a while to break down. It's better to just dispose of them in the woods.

Maggie looked unimpressed but Robin was eager to jump into the middle of my leaf piles and chew on twigs. Very helpful! It's hard to believe that we have had Robin the Good in our lives for a little over two years. She's still really hard to photograph; as I lift the camera thinking she looks particularly cute, she immediately moves her head...

And what's that white stuff? I am ignoring the right hand side of the garden. The glacier is receding  but there's still too much snow for my liking. I'm ignoring it! But wait! There's more!

It's going to be a while before I get to clean up the Long Border. It's still buried. But I have plenty to do on the left side of the yard. And there are tulips emerging! And daffodils! There will be a garden after all!.