Gardens Build
The first year the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I had our backyard garden, it looked a bit…bare. It was mostly tomato plants and marigolds and nothing was planted between those tomato plants.
The second year, we had the tomato plants and the marigolds but we also added raspberries a perennial and some perennial flowers and a few more annual vegetables.
The third year, the raspberries and the perennial flowers returned. We didn’t have to plant them. So instead, we planted some more perennials, along with the tomatoes, marigolds, and other annuals.
The fourth year, those perennials came back also. So we added more perennials.
Years later, our garden is quite full. We have a base of perennials that come back whether we’re out in the garden or not. And we also have some plants that self seed. (We need to manage that a bit better which I will talk about in another post.)
Gardens build. They become fuller every year.
If this is your first year gardening, don’t get discouraged. Your garden will likely be fuller next year!
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Gardening – Perennials And Compost
I’m very much a lazy gardener. (grins) So the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I plant a couple more perennial vegetables or fruits/berries every year.
One of the (many) benefits of perennials is
they don’t need as much compost or fertilizer.
Perennials usually have deep roots. They can draw up nutrients and minerals from deep within the ground…like trees do.
And they aren’t growing from nothing every year. Even if the vegetation dies back over a snowy cold winter, the root system remains.
We can save our precious compost for annual vegetables or newly planted perennials.
(smiles)
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Changing The Iris Bed
Our backyard is mostly a vegetable garden now. The individual plots are gradually expanding until there will soon only be walkways between them.
I love this!
Tending to that takes time.
So we’re trying to create a fuss-free front yard, filled with small perennial plots.
One of those plots is the Purple Iris bed.
I like the greenery of Iris plants so my initial thought was to have it be ALL Irises.
It is very green right now. All green. Too green.
It needs a couple pops of color.
My revised plan is to have one pop of color be a hydrangea we were given when we first moved into the house. That’s a fairly easy-to-care-for later blooming perennial.
Another pop of color will be a cat’s pajamas cat mint we invested in a couple years ago. That’s another easy-to-care-for perennial that blooms all season long.
I need a third easy-to-care-for mid summer+ blooming perennial that overwinters well.
I’m having a lot of fun searching for that perfect plant.
(smiles)
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