Meet my REAL Garden

Shooting closeups allows a garden photog to avoid warts in the garden..

Gardening used to be the way I escaped everything.  Now, since everything I do is around gardening, the escape isn’t the same.  I love gardening with the same passion.  But there is a bit more pressure on me to have good looking gardens since….  well…  I’m supposed to be a bit of a pro at gardening these days.

This spring, I’ve wanted to make-over a couple areas of my gardens.  The projects are still in the works.  We had an old plum tree die last spring. Losing that tree created a need for a full sun garden where a shade garden had lived.  That’s a big project.  I am growing-on small plants in a temporary nursery to rebuild that garden. 

The other big project is motivated by the rebel in my soul.  One week after my chickens disappeared, our small town decided to continue it’s history and be completely backward.  Instead of following all the progressive towns though out the U.S. and celebrating the backyard chicken, our town wants to REVERSE our laws and FORBID chickens.  In the back and forth on a the Patriot-News forum about the proposed changes,  someone railed against, “mini-farms” emerging throughout our town. 

So…  I’ve torn out an ornamental bed close to our street and I am planting corn, beans and pumpkins in direct view of one of  the busiest streets in our borough.  Friends want me to run for borough council.  I’m pushing it through my brain.

There is nothing more beautiful than growing food for your family.  I plan to grow the beans up the corn stalks adding a morning glory here and there.  I know my immediate neighbors will continue to love my “mini-farm” but my hope is that other neighbors will see how pretty vegetable gardens can be. 

That’s a long explainer for the fact my gardens are a wreck.  I am re-doing so much of it.  Hope you can draw some comfort from the fact that even PRG central can be a complete mess from time to time.

Here is another problem in my garden.  Love colorful foliage but this yellow is TOO much!!!

Ok… now here is a mini-success in my garden this year.  I love this tiny hosta with my forget-me-nots.  I am actually very happy with two shade beds this year.  I have lots of baby hellebores! My creeping hydrangeas that I use as a shade ground cover, have been slow to establish, but they are looking fab this year.