South Eastern Connecticut Landscaping

“I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June.” – L. M. Montgomery

Today is the summer solstice here in the northeast.  This is the longest day of the year when the sun is highest in the sky and the garden is in all its wonderful glory. 

It is the start of new beginnings in the garden as new buds open day after day and continue until fall.  It is a time for getting the hands dirty and not caring as long as you’re in the garden.  It is a time for dreaming of the next addition and how it will give so much joy. 

I can stay in the garden for hours without even realizing the time that has gone by. It is a time of relaxation and solitude.  It is a time of satisfaction. 

It is really the most wonderful time of the year here for the gardener.  There is so much to look forward to.  Enjoy your garden for it will bring you joy.

“Then followed that beautiful season… Summer…. Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light; and the landscape lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.”
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Happy Summer and Happy Gardening!

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I’ve always been a big fan of raised bed gardening. There are significant advantages to gardening in raised beds which is why when Greenland Gardener offered to send me one of their raised bed kits to test out I said “yes please!” My vegetable garden is almost completely made of raised beds built from non-pressure treated lumber which only lasts about 2 seasons before it completely disintegrates. Are there better ways of building a raised bed? Let’s see how the Greenland Gardener raised bed kit stacks up.

First you should know that I have not tested the raised bed for growing anything yet. It’s really too early to plant it according to their kit (which offers up a neat planting plan for a salsa garden and another regular garden) but I can tell you about the installation and compare that to building my own raised beds. First the Greenland gardener raised beds are made from composite lumber which will last decades. That’s an obvious advantage to the home built ones in my backyard. The composite lumber is made from recycled plastic bags which is another plus for it’s environmentally friendly origins.

The kit I tested came with 7 – 42″ boards and 6 joint pieces. Each joint piece was routed to fit together with the routed ends of the composite lumber. The idea is to make these beds as easy as possible for the consumer to put together – that’s another plus. Anything to encourage a new gardener and help them be successful is good to me! But this is also where the kit had some issues. When putting the pieces together I found that some of the routers grooves were routed backwards. The lumber can only fit together in one way and it just didn’t fit together smoothly. It required several different adjustments by moving the boards from location to location. At one point I had to get out the old hammer to “gently convince” the boards that they really do fit that way.”Yes boards, I insist” I said.

Also a level surface is a must since some of the routered joints fit loosely and others very tightly – if the surface is level it’s not an issue.

The instructions for putting the beds together are so simple that I’m confident that anyone could easily assemble them. No tools or cutting is needed to put together the raised beds so even those with deficient carpentry skills can build these raised beds.

My Junior Gardener Assistant!

Overall I think the concept is great. Greenland Gardener designed a raised bed that will last, is easy to assemble, and should function perfectly well. My only misgiving with the product is the corners and the misrouted grooves. It’s possible that the beds I received with the rough joints were an anomaly. I really like the seed planting concept that Greenland gardener kit has, but I’ll save that post for later – when the weather is safe for planting!

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Posted by mgervais

There wasn’t a gardener around to grill when I took this photo of a cutleaf japanese maple at Boscobel Restoration in Garrison, New York, a few years ago. I assume the trunk didn’t grow this way on…

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For a couple years now I’ve watched and waited for our hellebore to bloom. Every year I jealously read the posts of other gardener bloggers who are happily displaying their hellebore blooms but alas, I had no flowers to share! But now the single Lenten rose I have has grown into an 18″ little bush with glossy green leaves and has finally flowered.

Shade is hard to come by in our yard – at least in the cultivated areas – and so the space where other hellebores could grow has been occupied by other shade loving occupants, namely hostas and heucheras, which left little room for Lenten roses. But perhaps I should make some room?

I do have a location that might be perfect for more Lenten roses. There’s a little garden in the very back of our yard near the garden shed that could be a new home for hellebores. The deer have feasted there before on my hostas but since hellebores are deer resistant plants they might be safe. (Hellebores are poisonous so do not ingest!)

My hellebore may reseed and if that happens I could move any offspring to the back garden but most likely I”ll have to propagate more hellebores through division. Although from what I’ve read about dividing hellebores it could be tricky and it may be easier to make more plants with seed.

When the leaves aren’t frost bitten they really make a nice groundcover. My poor plant somehow managed to get itself singed by the cold. I’m sure it will bounce back with new growth once we have consistently warm temperatures. The only real downside to a hellebore is that fact that the flower face down! As you can see I had to hold up the flowers for the pictures.

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• Vegetable Garden Layout with Raised Beds for 2011
• FAQS
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For a couple years now I’ve watched and waited for our hellebore to bloom. Every year I jealously read the posts of other gardener bloggers who are happily displaying their hellebore blooms but alas, I had no flowers to share! But now the single Lenten rose I have has grown into an 18″ little bush with glossy green leaves and has finally flowered.

Shade is hard to come by in our yard – at least in the cultivated areas – and so the space where other hellebores could grow has been occupied by other shade loving occupants, namely hostas and heucheras, which left little room for Lenten roses. But perhaps I should make some room?

I do have a location that might be perfect for more Lenten roses. There’s a little garden in the very back of our yard near the garden shed that could be a new home for hellebores. The deer have feasted there before on my hostas but since hellebores are deer resistant plants they might be safe. (Hellebores are poisonous so do not ingest!)

My hellebore may reseed and if that happens I could move any offspring to the back garden but most likely I”ll have to propagate more hellebores through division. Although from what I’ve read about dividing hellebores it could be tricky and it may be easier to make more plants with seed.

When the leaves aren’t frost bitten they really make a nice groundcover. My poor plant somehow managed to get itself singed by the cold. I’m sure it will bounce back with new growth once we have consistently warm temperatures. The only real downside to a hellebore is that fact that the flower face down! As you can see I had to hold up the flowers for the pictures.

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• Vegetable Garden Layout with Raised Beds for 2011
• FAQS
• Organic Lawn Care

Posted by mgervais

Today’s photo, our 3th runner-up in the Garden in Winter photo contest, is from finegardening.com member Wife_Mother_Gardener, who says, “When the first snows fall, I grab my camera and capture the…

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,

 Asters*,  the stars of Autumn,  have a  have a second life at Clay and Limestone each winter. 

 Asters (as they were known then) and other endemic Central Basin natives grew with happy abandon in the forested woodland where C and L now stands.  Sixty years ago a neighborhood was carved from the woods and a house was built.  Homeowners came and went,  while  the asters grew quietly  on the woodland  edge.  Twenty five years ago this brand new  gardener fell head over heals in love with the blue clouds of flowers that were covered with bees and butterflies in the yard of her new home.  They  so captured my heart,  that I built a garden  around them.   I’ve allowed them to  root and seed  themselves with abandon.  Symphyotrichum shortii, Symphyotrichum cordifolium, Symphyotrichum dumosus, Eurybia divaricata, Symphyotrichum lateriflorum, Symphyotrichum priceae, and Symphyotrichum ericoides var. ericoides  have  spilled into the paths,  crept into the wildflower beds and  cozied  up to the benches all over Clay and Limestone.

Each fall they fade to  seedy gorgeousness.

They  spill over  into the paths, 

they creep into the wildflower beds and,

 they cozy up to the benches.
 

Where they have become the stars of my winter garden.

Isn’t nature grand!

xxoogail

More on Clay and Limestone’s asters
Little Asters Everywhere (here)
Natives For Fall Color (here)
This Is The Place To Bee (here)
Central Basin Wildflowers (here)

This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011.This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.

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Posted by CoolGreenGardens

I’m sorry. I’m really late. I should have posted this blog before you sent your letter to Santa. But there’s a book that needs to be in every California gardener’s collection, right next to the big green one I’m not going to mention by name. (Hint: it rhymes with “Unset Cistern Pardon Crook”).

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Posted by mgervais

Here is the second in our series of four awesome container designs by New Hampshire gardener Deanne Fortnam. Here’s what she says about this masterpiece: “This arrangement features from the top in…

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When I started putting together our first garden areas in our blank slate of a yard I always second guessed myself. Every planting was met with the oncoming thought “is this going to work like I want it to?” or “does this look right?” Ideas flow freely from my mind all the time and I always try to imagine what they will turn out like when everything is finished but there have always been those nagging thoughts. After several years of gardening I still have those thoughts that eat away at my confidence each time I do something new in the garden. Sometimes I’ll stare at a plant that I just bought and place it in 4-5 different locations before settling on a final spot for the plant. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered what my neighbors think of my garden. I’m always my own worst critic.

But I’ve learned a little something over the years. It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter. There isn’t anything in the garden that can’t be changed or fixed to fit another idea or plan. Any “mistake” can be rectified. Every plant planted in the wrong location can be moved or replaced at any time! I can’t tell you how many plants I’ve moved over the years. I moved a willow tree three times, a maple at least twice and many perennials have migrated to different locations. I guess that’s another reason why I like to propagate the plants – so I can just plant a new one where I want it!

My vegetable garden is another example. I’ve changed it’s design every year. It started off as an “L” shape then moved to more standard potager feel and hopefully will become something even better as it changes. Maybe change isn’t the right word but rather “evolves.” A garden evolves and grows – constantly.

I’m finding that as I garden more the idea of something being “right” or “wrong” in the garden just isn’t true. “Right” and “wrong” are matters of personal taste and what looks right to one person might be just plain wrong to another. It’s up to the gardener. If you happen to be a new gardener who has had similar thoughts don’t worry so much. Whether it’s wrong or right, it’s all up to you, the gardener!

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