Mysteries of the Garden

I knew going into this gardening thing that I couldn't control all aspects of the garden at all times. Plants grow and plants die. I was even prepared for plants to be eaten by animals or bugs. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining when I write this but some parts of my garden have been monkeyed with which has created a mystery for me that I can't solve. That nibbles at me a bit but I'm working on the whole 'let go and let God' thing so I'm trying to let it go.

Some of the mysteries are not really mysteries. For instance, some of my garden plots don't have enough buffer space between them and the grass. So when the man comes to mow the lawn, sometimes my plants get caught in the blades along with the grass. I understand that and I can remedy the situation by widening the buffer space and putting in bricks or some other border around the beds.

Other mysteries are slightly more baffling. The other day I planted some catnip that I had in my home as a houseplant. But it wasn't enjoying the air conditioned great indoors so I figured I would plant it in the kitchen garden. The plant was doing fine and seemed to be adapting well to being transplanted. However, I went to water the catnip yesterday and it was gone. It looks like something ate the catnip down to the ground. None of the other herbs around it were disturbed. My heart would just sink if it were a person who did this so I prefer to imagine a hungry deer sauntering over and nibbling it down to a nub.

The second baffling mystery is in the children's garden. My mom bought this cute little humming bird with wings on springs so they flap up and down. It's on a long metal rod so you can stick him in the garden so that's what I did. Some days when I came to water the garden I would find it with a marigold on its beak. Other days I would find it moved to other parts of the children's garden. I didn't mind any of this because to me it meant that the kids were enjoying the humming bird which was the point of it. But again, the other day I go in to water the plants and the bird is on the ground and the rod is nowhere to be found. I thought one of the kids might have played with the rod and dropped it somewhere on the playground (which is concerning since kids shouldn't play with long metal rods). But, I couldn't find the rod anywhere. So the poor bird is now perched on top one of the topsy turvey planters.

I don't know what to make of it all. I know lots of people use the church. I also know a vast majority of the people really enjoy the gardens. So I'm not going to throw in the towel or anything and I'm not going to give up on planting new herbs or improving the children's garden. Actually I was just thinking that I should put signs in the children's garden identifying what is planted there. I think through understanding and education that perhaps we can come to a mutual respect for the plants and ornaments in the garden.

There's nothing I can do about the deer though. I decided when I started gardening at the church that I would really prefer not to use chemicals or deterrents. I think if the deer ate everything, I would consider using a humane form of deterrent. However, that hasn't been an issue yet. One catnip plant isn't the whole garden. So time will tell I guess and nature will be nature (and people will be people). And as my friends keep telling me about mysteries 'more will be revealed.' If it isn't than I am okay with that too. But, perhaps part of the revelation is learning to just let it go.

Topsy Turvy Children's Garden

I started work in the children's garden that lines the playground. So far I installed three Topsy Turvy planters on shepherd hooks. Two planters have tomato plants and the third has cucumbers. I had two extra cucumber plants so I planted them in the ground on either side of the topsy turvy as an experiment. Then I planted some marigolds around the shepherd hook with the tomato plants to add color and to deter pests. On my trip home from the beach this past weekend I bought some watermelon plants and I am going to plant those today since it has finally stopped raining.

Last week I also added some flower pots outside of the old chapel entrance. There were only empty pots stacked on either side of the door before. I just hope that people don't put their cigarette butts in my plants like they did in the empty old pots. I might have to put a pot with sand in it and a little scooper for the smokers. If you can't beat 'em you might as well give 'em a sanitary and acceptable place to extinguish their cigarettes. After planting the pots I ended up with an extra pink flowering plant who's name slips my mind. So I planted it on the edge of the main garden to add some color until the Dahlias start to flower.

5-4-10 Rearranging Things

So a little bad news, the seedlings I was telling you guys about don't appear to be coming in next to the tower entrance. I don't think they got enough water. Oh well, it was an experiment anyways. Growing things from seeds has always been a challenge for me.

I decided that instead of leaving that spot bare for another week that I would move two of the geraniums from the elevator entrance and the snapdragons from the big planters over to the tower entrance. In place of the snapdragons, I planted Martha Washington geraniums which go nicely, if not mono-chromatically, with the violet violas that are already in there.

After all of the planting, I walked around to check on the other flowerbeds. I found an orange gerbera daisy growing next to the mushroom-cloud-shaped boxwood. It doesn't look real but it is a nice touch of color in an otherwise boring patch of garden. The irises are also blooming right now in the main garden. They're gorgeous while they last which is not very long. It's a pity really. There are a couple of other things blooming right now but I don't know what they are so I couldn't tell you here.


The lilies of the valley are settling in okay. I might lose one or two of them. But, the beauty of lilies of the valley is that they multiply each year. So, in a few years that whole patch of garden will be filled. I also noticed the dahlias coming up. I haven't seen the freesia but it might not be warm enough for them yet or I might have not planted them right. I'm not sure what echinacea looks like when it sprouts so I couldn't tell you if that is coming up yet or not. It might not be getting enough sun now that the tree has leaves.

Stay tuned for my next post which should be about the children's garden. I am hoping to get that all worked out this month.

4-19-10 Finally, More Planting & Another Visitor

As promised I returned to the church to trim the plants in the tower entrance garden. Of course I ended up doing a lot more than that. When I started pulling some weeds away from the building I noticed the soil felt rich and perfect for planting. No wonder the weeds were thriving! How perfect then that I packed a bunch of my seed packets this time. I looked on all of the envelopes and found three flowers that like sun/partial shade. After clearing the weeds and loosening the soil a bit I planted a bunch of forget-me-nots,snowmen hybrid marigolds, and some cantebury bells.

I haven't done much gardening with seeds so this is going to be an experiment. I'm going to make sure to water the seeds every day as directed. I guess I should feed them as well. I'll have to remember to pack my Miracle Grow drops for watering tonight.  

  My mom brought some lily of the valley plants over on Saturday that had been graciously donated by her friend Diana. I didn't have time to plant them until yesterday though which didn't hurt them at all. Mom had put the plants in long planters with potting soil loosely packed around the roots and then watered them once she got them to the churchyard. I planted three of the heartier lillies on the far edge of the old chapel garden where there was a big space of nothing. I planted the rest of them in a row along the main garden on the side facing the pastor's parking space. I had a little help planting. One of the daycare teachers and her three sons were leaving as I was planting and the boys were eager to dig holes for the plants, look for worms in the holes, and then use the watering can to give the plants a drink when they were planted. It turns out these guys are doing a project about earthworms at school. They had a covered plastic box to collect them in and I think when we were done they had at least ten in there including a little baby one (not a segment of one I chopped in two by accident; I know my earthworms).

Anyways, This little guy is of course not a worm but he was the visitor I was talking about in the title. I'm pretty sure he's going to turn into a moth one day but I haven't been able to identify him yet. If anyone knows what he is then please leave that info in the comments section. I'm just amazed at how good these closeup pictures are turning out with my new camera. Thanks again to my mom for giving me the camera as a birthday gift this year. I used to be wary of digital cameras but now I am beginning to embrace them. Working on this blog definitely helps with that.

4-16-10 I've Got Blistas on My Fingas

  No really, I do actually have blisters on two of my fingers on my right hand. But, it was totally worth it. I got all of those border plants trimmed along the old chapel garden, the elevator entrance garden (which I also call the kitchen garden), and along the church sign. I still need to trim the plants near the tower entrance but that can wait until Monday.

  If you look at the picture above you'll notice a few stray daffodils have popped up. I must confess that I planted them last month knowing full well that I was supposed to wait until the Fall to plant my spring bulbs. With our roller coaster Spring weather the bulbs can't tell which season it is. So, they've started to bloom...a month late (or later than the daffodils planted by other gardeners in the Fall). Some of my flowers were chopped down by whoever mowed the lawn. But, I was warned when I planted them that they might get trimmed by accident.

I've also included some before and after pictures of the old chapel garden. The plants sprouting up between the azaleas are irises I think. Whatever they are I remember them being beautiful last year. I guess we will all find out soon enough. 

The shaggy before picture

The tidy after picture

4-15-10 The Old Chapel Garden and a Surprise Guest

I could kick myself yesterday. I got up to the church and noticed that I had forgotten my clippers. One of my main objectives was to trim down the rest of the border plants. Oh well, I had limited time to garden anyways (the first Caps game of the playoffs was on at 7) so it was just as well that I had to weed instead of trimming. Below are the before and after pictures from my weeding in the rest of the old chapel garden.




I also found this little guy behind one of the azalea bushes. I had found another one down near the decorative grasses when I was raking leaves last week but I didn't have my camera. So I was pretty excited to find one again. He is a Giant Leopard Moth caterpillar.

4-12-10 Before and After Weeding

I am a big fan of before and after pictures. So from here on in I am going to try to remember to take pictures before and after I do work in the gardens. Let's start with the less dramatic pictures of the garden in front of the old chapel window. I only managed to pull the weeds from a few feet of the right side. I also trimmed down the border plants under the old announcement board.



Here is the main garden that runs along the driveway. I pulled a ton of weeds and trimmed the border plants. If you look closely you can see the little crepe myrtle sapling that's in front of the big crepe myrtle. It just looks like a leafy twig right now.



And here are the shots of what it looked like after: