On
a recent cold, raw day, I looked out onto our backyard and imagined
how it will look this spring and summer. The weigela, hibiscus,
honeysuckle, lilacs, forsythia and wild roses will be blooming in
pale pink, deep red, lavender blue, fragrant white, sunny yellow, and
old-fashioned magenta. The great, leafy branches of the hawthorn tree
will shelter singing, chirping birds. Tall sunflowers will turn their
faces to the sky, and hollyhocks and sweet peas will add color along
the fences. On the patio, tomato plants in big green pots will flower
and bear fruit (I desperately hope.) And our backyard lawn will
stumble into its summer hangover: brown grass, nearly dead and
studded with weeds and nettles.
Faithful
readers know I tend to be an optimist about all things garden-esque,
but the state of our lawn tempts me to remember all the bad words I
do not say. Nearly six years of hard use by two big dogs (now only
one) has left the grass patchy, shredded, dying, yellowed, and
overrun by weeds that seem to share the same death-defying genes as
cockroaches and BadKittens. Our lawn is an annual eyesore. My husband
mows it regularly, but we don't irrigate it during the dry months,
because it just feels wrong to waste water. We haven't spent time or
money on fertilizing, reseeding or weed-killing because our elderly
Old English sheepdog, Rags, would lumber outside and pee all over the
newly seeded soil. Simply barbecuing the cash, instead of investing
it on lawn care, would be quicker and more cost-effective. (We could
toast marshmallow over the flames as the dollar bills turned to
smoke.)
It's
been too cold and rainy lately to do any late-winter gardening, so
I've had even more time than usual to think about garden projects.
The backyard disaster of our lawn has risen to the top of my thoughts
and left my brain thundering. What if we (meaning my husband) built
raised beds in the backyard, added gravel paths, and did away with
most of the lawn? I broached this idea to Lee last weekend and then
sat back as his builder's mind considered and engaged. It didn't take
long. Curved paths, he said, with the path-side of each raised bed
also curved to follow the lines. I loved it already. But can you fill
the new beds? Lee asked me.
Several
springtimes ago, he built eight fabulous wooden, raised beds in our
side yard, including a big, tiered central planter for flowers. I
have grown vegetables in the rectangular beds every summer, always
with mixed results, crop-wise, but with joy and hope every time. Of
course, I'll be able to fill the new beds, too. I can plant a kitchen
garden of lettuces, peas, beans, zucchini, broccoli, carrots –
maybe even corn, if the weevils can't find the new corn patch.
So
what would you plant in the beds we already have in the side yard?
Lee asked. I just looked at him for a moment. I would plant more
flowers, I said finally, and barely stifled myself from adding: Duh.
More roses. An old-fashioned cottage garden. A cutting garden. Lee
raised his hand in a stop sign. Got it, he said. I beamed at him,
hesitated, and then went for it. Do you think you could start on the
new raised beds this spring? He answered, with great patience,
Absolutely. Just as soon as I finish painting the walls of our
bathroom, the walls and ceiling of the downstairs bath, sanding and
painting the cupboards, drawers and woodwork in our bathroom,
painting the kitchen cupboards' doors, and hanging the flower art you
want in the kitchen. (He also has a full-time job as managing editor
of the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.)I thanked him, hugged him, and went
out to buy more flower and vegetable seeds.
BadKitten
for President update: After the results of Super Tuesday earlier
this week, my fluffy, black and brown Maine coon cat Is ready for the
pleading to begin. Any day he expects to hear party bigwigs beg him
to accept a draft as the only candidate who can stop Him Who Must Not
Be Named. The BadKitten is already racking up some promises of
write-in votes from readers of my Impetuous Gardener blog. While he
awaits the call to serve his country, Benjamin is considering a few
changes to the Oval Office. Job One will be a new litter box,
embossed with the presidential seal.
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