Jun
15
My tiny townhouse backs up on a wooded area, a mini-forest too rocky for development. I live in a city, yet my place is totally silent at night and when I look out the windows I see nothing but lush green. It makes this home enormously appealing after years of apartment living.
In terms of available outdoor space, tucked behind the house hides a postage stamp deck. Off to one side there’s a sad, dark bed. It doesn’t see much light through the trees. The area became an inadvertent compost heap as leaves piled up down there and me not raking it out. For once, laziness wins!
Beyond the deck there’s a rocktop soil-covered expanse covered in ivy that stretches almost clear back to the fence. The ivy made me nervous. It hid things, small animals, bugs, a ‘64 Ford, a dead body. Who knows. I wanted it gone. I wanted to see if I could coax anything to grow on top of those rocks.
I’d been thinking for a long time about what I wanted to do in the yard, but I had some trouble getting started. I learned a lot in Florida watching my stepdad gardening the courtyard. He’d come home with a flat of one thing or another every time he’d go to Home Depot, and the next morning there’d be new flowers planted.
Or he’d decide that he didn’t appreciate the placement of one sort of flower and the next morning they’d all be moved to the other side of the pool, like they’d marched there themselves. He didn’t seem to mind too much when something died, it was more of an opportunity to him. I asked him once how he chose the flowers and he looked at me like I was sort of slow. “I point and say, that’s pretty! And I take it home and try it.”
And I thought, I could probably do that. But first, I had to clear out the ivy. Which I’m still doing. And which is giving me spaghetti arms. But, hey, it’s nature. I’m outside. Go me. I spent hours today clearing the ivy, but the ground is so root-bound I am unsure how well things will take hold. I’m also not sure how deep the soil is. I’m feeling slightly dubious about basically planting things on top of rocks.
But it’s almost gone now, and I hosed out the rocks so now they’re all pretty and clean again. I wonder too if anything would grow out of those spaces.I’m tilling as much as I can, but I’m not sure how far the soil goes down, and it’s really root bound. So I’m digging and pulling, but I’m thinking I also should probably get some more matter on the ground before I plant.
I picked out some ground cover steppable sort of plants to plant down in the sad bed. The others will be divided between pots, the window box, and the berocked garden. As opposed to a rock garden. Which this is not.There’s some pictures up at Flickr, linked to the right.
Finally, as for the trip, I think I’m a little traumatized or something. Granted, this was a rough one, but I am really tired.
Comments
10 Responses to “Hoe hoe”
Leave a Reply
You’ve been a busy body. What are spaghetti arms?
Print that shot of the rock infested garden (heh) and take it with you to Home Depot (or anyplace else) and they may be able to make suggestions, too.
Good for you for being outside and working! Spaghetti arm and sewing machine leg. Ahh, nature…
I am in awe — that is a boatload of work.
I’m all about the container gardening myself, and that’s what makes me wonder if you might not want to use large containers on top of the cleared areas. That would help you get better soil to the plants, and there would be less interference from the ivy and the rocks. It would also make it easier to move the containers and get at the ivy if it makes a comeback.
I belive the Dot Moes are the ivy experts, though.
I was also going to suggest containers atop the ivy, and asking ro. Amelia, as usual, gets there first.
It might be worth it to pull the top stuff off, and then get someone to till it deeply to get the roots broken up. That is damned hard work.
A Secret Garden! Lovely.
Your stepdad gardens how I buy wine: oooh, odd label, must try!
Nice work, Sara… It was a great weekend for gardening. I also spent the weekend attempting to tame the wild flora threatening to take over around our place. I hope your new plants bring you joy!
And I’m commenting after myself. michiganbulb.com is a cheap place to buy stuff for your growing zone, including rocky areas.
After two more days of dealing with the ivy I’ve decided to stop where I am and leave the rest of it to the gardeners. My building has community gardeners that handle all the shared spaces, but I am sure they would take care of the ivy, too. They used to clear it back every year, I think they just need a reminder.
Meanwhile, I’m planting an assortment of lavender and thyme on the rocks. I’m hoping some of the lavender will take even though the sun is filtered back there. My neighbor was dubious.
If none of this works I am considering building a bed on top of the rocks.
I’ve planted half of the containers, will finish the rest today or tomorrow.
There are plants that like to grow in rocky/shallow soil. I am not much of a plant expert, but the same community gardening people would probably have some recs for what will grow there. As a bonus, if you start with that kind of plant, over time they will help create a little more soil and make the spot more hospitable. Lavender especially and most herbs like a lot of sun, so they might not do so well if it’s shady back there.