Out-Doors
by Elizabeth Bassett,
June 16, 2011, page 14.....

Diary of a Garden Wedding

August 2010:
Wedding in our yard in one year. OMG. Our panoramic view is spectacular, centered on Camel’s Hump from Mount Mansfield to Breadloaf. The foreground is the issue. Casual would be a kind description.
August wedding not ideal for perennials. Beans, basil, tomatoes and chard abound but, alas, the bride vetoed my suggestion of veggie bouquets. “I don’t want beet juice on my wedding dress.” Good point.
I visit Horsford’s to see what blooms pink in August. I’d rather be biking, hiking, kayaking, walking, swimming…
Jessie Bradley to the rescue. We survey the disorder and make long lists: dig up scraggly daylily beds, three of them; weed perennial bed (roots ensnarled in fabric lining of stonewall); transplant lilacs, lots of them; plant hydrangeas and hostas; buy window boxes (to distract the eye from overgrown perennial garden); re-do gravel driveway; mow another acre of meadow for festivities. Edge, edge, edge. Mulch. Labor and expense will be temporary, the improvements, we hope, long-term.
Think pink: hydrangeas, zinnias, geraniums. I solicit pink geraniums from friends. Twenty-nine will overwinter in our south-facing windows.

October 2010
Horsford’s delivers five yards of mulch. No need to do push-ups, just shovel. Learn about “lasagna” mulching to control weeds, thick layers of cardboard and newspaper beneath bark mulch. Many trips to supermarket for boxes. I’d rather be hiking.
I dig up one daylily bed. At Horsford’s I buy four Twist and Shout hydrangeas with huge pink blooms to replace daylilies.
A small perennial bed in front of the house used to be in partial sun. A robust sugar maple now shades the garden. Remove scraggly plants. Another trip to Horsford’s. Plant hostas and add pink impatiens next spring.
November 2010
Nothing grows. I feel calm. Everything seems possible.

December 2010
Blessed snow veils my challenges. Great cross-country skiing!

January 2011
Skiing still glorious. I order pink zinnia and cosmos seeds from Johnny’s. Also vegetable seeds. I cannot imagine a summer without a veggie garden. Take cuttings from geraniums, dip in rooting hormone and poke into planting medium. Cross fingers.

February 2010
Sun works its magic, and geraniums bloom in a riot of pinks. Skiing fabulous.

March 2011
Still skiing behind the house. I remain in denial about yard and gardens.
Visit Gardenside Nursery with pink color swatch. Mary Lou designs window boxes and hanging baskets that will be in full glory in mid-August (I hope).
Hack vines out of woods, trying not to get ticks in my hair. I weave two grapevine wreaths.
Plant two varieties of pink zinnias in 72-cell flat. Also leek, tomato and parsley seeds.
March 26: vegetable garden is dry enough to rototill. I plant spinach, lettuce, radishes and mixed greens in freshly tilled soil.

April 2011
It rains. With the ground damp I dig up a second overgrown daylily bed. Great weather for digging and little else. I transplant a dozen lilacs. Still raining. Lake Champlain rises to historic levels. Several transplanted lilacs drown in sodden clay.
April 28: Rain gauge overflows. Little lakes dot our lawn. Leastwise I haven’t needed to mow yet. Rainiest April on record. Some vegetable seeds have rotted. Radishes and green leaf lettuce emerge.

May 2011
Did I mention it’s raining? The lake recedes, then rises again. Lawn needs mowing but puddles are too deep. I dig up third daylily bed. Still too wet to plant. I kayak instead, paddling over roads and farm fields, through forests and into the back yards of submerged camps. This horror puts my garden woes in perspective. We eat asparagus every night – hallelujah!
Listening to “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me,” I mow an acre that is usually meadow. Lots of holes in this new, so-called lawn.
Horsford’s delivers another upper-body workout: five yards of mulch, two of topsoil and three of compost. I buy a dozen day lilies to replace the invasive ones I’ve removed. Still too wet to plant them or much else.
While trying to avoid poison ivy, I dig burdocks, pull down Virginia Creeper and wild grapevines, and remove buckthorn from our little woods. I “gown and glove” before weed whacking – reminds me of my rescue squad days. I smother poison ivy the old-fashioned way with rhubarb leaves. I also use poison.
First salad of lettuce, spinach and tender radishes. Yum. Eating asparagus daily. I plant peas, beets, more spinach.
Have I noted that it’s raining? It is now the wettest May and wettest spring on record. Clay soil still sodden.
June 2011
Finally I plant daylilies. Edge, mulch, magic! Looks like grown-ups might live here. Peas are up, bunnies eat beets as they emerge, new grass ready to mow – if it would stop raining long enough.
Transplant zinnias into vegetable garden for a touch of pink. I’d prefer a row of beans.
Perennial garden in full glory: peonies, iris, gas plant, baptisia, lupine. Too bad it’s not August.
Pete and John from Vermont Walkways arrive to tidy up 15-year-old stonewall and driveway. Must move the remaining two yards of mulch from said driveway STAT. Busy day.
Help arrives in the form of the bride and groom. Hooray.