Spring plans for my garden
Last Saturday, the ground was mushy enough from the storm earlier in the week that Martin and I were able to go to my garden and REMOVE. THE. FENNEL. At last!!!
I love fennel, I really do. I love its smell, and the big feathery fronds, especially when they are colored both bronze and green. It's beautiful most of the year, as long as you remove the dead, dry bits. But it's one of the most incredibly invasive plants I've ever met, and it was taking over my garden big time. As it is, it will be awhile before I get rid of all the babies, sprouting everywhere from the seeds that the birds didn't eat. But at least now I have a fighting chance.
He also removed the yarrow plant that's been there for several years. It was old enough that it wasn't producing very well anymore, and it was in the way of me moving the bench over and giving the lavender area more room. I love blooming yarrow, but never could find any use for it other than dried arrangements, although it's supposed to be medicinal. I guess I need to be more aggressive in studying herbalism.
Hopefully I will soon be in a position to buy some bark chips and totally mulch the paths around the plot. We're saving our cardboard boxes to put underneath; the two together should kill the grass and weeds that are just outrageous this spring. I'm also planning on either moving my currently potted lemon verbena into the space just vacated by the fennel, assuming it survived, or buying a new one if it didn't. it will be tall enough to provide some shade in the area, but not so aggressive that I have to take a machete to it to keep it cut back.
My final, and biggest project, is to remove my dying lavendar goddess, compost her entire enclosure, and then install a new lavender plant. This will be the hardest part of all, because she is more than just a plant to me, and I'm trying very hard not to feel like I'm plotting a murder. Martin has offered to remove her when I'm not there, but I just can't do that; it's too cowardly. So then he suggested that we save as much of her branches and stump as we can put into the large empty trash can we have, and then take her to a beach and send her off in a magnificent bonfire. If we can find a beach to do this safely (and legally), I would be very happy. She deserves it.
I love fennel, I really do. I love its smell, and the big feathery fronds, especially when they are colored both bronze and green. It's beautiful most of the year, as long as you remove the dead, dry bits. But it's one of the most incredibly invasive plants I've ever met, and it was taking over my garden big time. As it is, it will be awhile before I get rid of all the babies, sprouting everywhere from the seeds that the birds didn't eat. But at least now I have a fighting chance.
He also removed the yarrow plant that's been there for several years. It was old enough that it wasn't producing very well anymore, and it was in the way of me moving the bench over and giving the lavender area more room. I love blooming yarrow, but never could find any use for it other than dried arrangements, although it's supposed to be medicinal. I guess I need to be more aggressive in studying herbalism.
Hopefully I will soon be in a position to buy some bark chips and totally mulch the paths around the plot. We're saving our cardboard boxes to put underneath; the two together should kill the grass and weeds that are just outrageous this spring. I'm also planning on either moving my currently potted lemon verbena into the space just vacated by the fennel, assuming it survived, or buying a new one if it didn't. it will be tall enough to provide some shade in the area, but not so aggressive that I have to take a machete to it to keep it cut back.
My final, and biggest project, is to remove my dying lavendar goddess, compost her entire enclosure, and then install a new lavender plant. This will be the hardest part of all, because she is more than just a plant to me, and I'm trying very hard not to feel like I'm plotting a murder. Martin has offered to remove her when I'm not there, but I just can't do that; it's too cowardly. So then he suggested that we save as much of her branches and stump as we can put into the large empty trash can we have, and then take her to a beach and send her off in a magnificent bonfire. If we can find a beach to do this safely (and legally), I would be very happy. She deserves it.