Phaedra's 2021 Garden

[Phaedra]

i would say that gardens are things that don't include lawns, wooded areas, bushy plantings that aren't really maintained and various other things often including rusting cars on blocks and random bits of towing chains, hubcaps and bits of wood stacked at odd angles.

aka grasses (even ornamental sounds mental to me as i do not like grasses much at all and don't want them in my gardens) are lawns and backyards or the yard in general is often more considered the grassy areas and not the flower beds or vegetable patches.

now for the really fun part things get very interesting when you consider permaculture and food forests and other edible shrubbery and such. those i do actually more consider gardens than many other things that people do. i for one don't really consider a rock garden a garden at all. it's mulch, decorative or not, and i do like rocks so it's not like i'm biased against them (see the website for pics of how much we do like rocks )...

i hope this helps, or perhaps helps confuse things further?

Thanks for the sharing and explaination. It gave me a clearer picture for different terms.

I have no love for the nice and pretty lawn, it has too little fun for me. Ppermaculture and food forest concepts attract me very much and might be one major reason I decided to have chickens, and consider now to have few bee hives next year.

 

[baymule]

I never thought about planting the whole seed head of chives. What a good idea!

 

[Phaedra]

I never thought about planting the whole seed head of chives. What a good idea!

Yes, it's handy and effective. Also it can easily plant them in a row. I will plant them outside the chicken run, as a small boarder

 

[flowerbug]

i will never willingly plant chives ever again... long story in the past of me having to remove a few hundred square feet of chives that were planted originally as a deterrent to keep the chipmunks from eating some sunflower seedlings (it didn't work). the smell of the roots makes me rather sick to my stomach so it was quite a challenge but it did get done. i stacked up the pile of chives to disintegrate over the next winter and buried what else i could because it was way too much. the worms really loved it out there the next few seasons.

 

[baymule]

I like chives chopped up in scrambled eggs. Yummy! But the flat leaf garlic chives give me horrible indigestion—and I usually can eat anything.

 

[flowerbug]

Thanks for the sharing and explaination. It gave me a clearer picture for different terms.

I have no love for the nice and pretty lawn, it has too little fun for me. Ppermaculture and food forest concepts attract me very much and might be one major reason I decided to have chickens, and consider now to have few bee hives next year.

we're down to 5-10% of the original grassy areas as the rest has been turned into gardens and decorations (and areas mulched with rocks or crushed rinsed limestone). i much prefer the gardens and have always been happier weeding and gardening than mowing. i mowed lawns as a kid to make extra $ so the less of that i have to do now is better.

there is a beekeeper who puts hives along our northeast property line (the person who owns the land to the north gave them permission but didn't mention to them that it might be a good idea to ask us about it ). i'll not rattle off here again about that all but yesterday i heard a vehicle pull in that road and voices so i went over to see what was up because sometimes people think that is a dumping area and i want to catch whoever is doing it. it was the beekeepers treating their hives. they have 20 of them back there this year. in previous years they've had as many as 60.

 

[Phaedra]

i will never willingly plant chives ever again... long story in the past of me having to remove a few hundred square feet of chives that were planted originally as a deterrent to keep the chipmunks from eating some sunflower seedlings (it didn't work). the smell of the roots makes me rather sick to my stomach so it was quite a challenge but it did get done. i stacked up the pile of chives to disintegrate over the next winter and buried what else i could because it was way too much. the worms really loved it out there the next few seasons.

a few hundred square feet, wow, that's a lot! Among all the herbs, I use chive most often,fresh or dried, so my plan is use them for the boarders of chicken run

 

[Phaedra]

I like chives chopped up in scrambled eggs. Yummy! But the flat leaf garlic chives give me horrible indigestion—and I usually can eat anything.

flat leaf garlic chives!!!----> this also kills me! But...I just planted some because my daughter loves them

 

[Phaedra]

we're down to 5-10% of the original grassy areas as the rest has been turned into gardens and decorations (and areas mulched with rocks or crushed rinsed limestone). i much prefer the gardens and have always been happier weeding and gardening than mowing. i mowed lawns as a kid to make extra $ so the less of that i have to do now is better.

there is a beekeeper who puts hives along our northeast property line (the person who owns the land to the north gave them permission but didn't mention to them that it might be a good idea to ask us about it ). i'll not rattle off here again about that all but yesterday i heard a vehicle pull in that road and voices so i went over to see what was up because sometimes people think that is a dumping area and i want to catch whoever is doing it. it was the beekeepers treating their hives. they have 20 of them back there this year. in previous years they've had as many as 60.

same here, we also reduced it a lot, especially the ground isn't even, everytime I mowed, I always worry that I will fall over somewhere. So, two areas with trees and shrubs became chicken kingdom, i guess they don't mind a bit slope. This year I also tried several wild flower patches, the effect is quite nice, not only for pollinators, but also some extra materials for cut flower arrangements.

 

[Phaedra]

Before it rains again tomorrow, collecting flowers for next arrangement, finally it's lily time. The varieties I've planted should be able to supply till the end of August.

Snapdragons and lupines are also awesome, the side shoots grow very well. I don't know lupines can last for such a long time, and those are planted in the shaded areas, only indirect sunlight. Other lupines planted in the full light enviornment are all generating seeds for weeks.

I quickly made two bouquets for neighbors at two sides of us. I enjoy a lot planting, harvesting and arranging them, and they are happy to receive flowers, so it's absolutely a win-win.

Also kept saving seeds from annual plants, to create flower patches and boarders next year.

Then, sowed veggies for fall, salat and leafy greens mainly, also some carrots.