Productive Day in the Garden

Day Two of the Stay-cation was much more productive than Day One—even though we had temps in the 90s with dewpoints in the 70s. People were wondering whether this was Minnesota or Florida. My game plan was to work in the shade as much as possible for as long as possible and quit when it got unbearable.

I got two more monarda “Marshall’s Delight” planted in the Fragrant garden and moved the last “Magnifica” from the west side of the house to the Fragrant garden. I had gotten one Marshall’s Delight last year and I love the height and color of it. Adding the Magnifica gives me five roses in the garden and a deeper rose color to play off the monarda.


I added a juniper on the west hill. It’s tiny, but adds a different color and texture to the hill. The biggest part of that job was building up the rock wall to hold the soil.


After a passer-by (apparently a regular) asked Friday, “Are you ever going to plant these hostas?” I figured that should be my next project. So, I got the hostas planted on the west side of the front walk and moved the trollius in for some texture and color.

In the evening, I got the last rain barrel installed and stopped up the leaks on two others to get ready for the rain we were expecting (and did get this morning). There’s still more to do, so I’m feeling grateful for a few more days off. I think I’ll wait on the stone steps until the humidity drops, and will stick with planting and weeding until then.

Hope everybody has a safe and happy Fourth of July!

Natives

The city of Minneapolis offers a class on creating rain gardens and planting natives in your yard. I took it last year, not expecting much, frankly. I was pleasantly surprised not only by the quality of the content but also by the credentials of the presenter. I didn’t elect to plant a rain garden – I’m using rain barrels instead – but I did elect to plant some natives in all of my gardens and all natives in two of my gardens, including coneflowers, rudbekia, liatris, asters, monarda, and anise hyssop. The colors are fabulous and they attract birds, butterflies, and bees.

“What’s a Native?!” you ask. Well. A native is a plant that has its origins in your region. These are typically great plants because they will thrive with very little care. (Trust me on this one.) And, they’re typically resistant to pests. I don’t know a lot about natives in other regions, but in my region, the natives are an awesome way to get the water way down deep into the earth, which is where we want the water to go.

The most fascinating piece of information I learned from the rain garden workshop was that roots of native prairie plants are on average twice the depth as their height above ground. This means that if you have a plant that’s two feet tall, the roots will be at least four feet deep! And, a portion of the roots die off every year, leaving straw-like tubes for the water to run into, getting the water deep into the earth, reducing both runoff and erosion! How cool is that?!

And, lest you think that only prairie plants are native to Minnesota, here’s a list of natives for prairie, meadow, woodlands and wetlands from the University of Minnesota Extension service.

Cool rain -- filling up the rain barrels

It’s raining this morning. And, that always means a struggle to get the dog to go for a walk. He hates when the droplets get into his ears. I love the rain, though – especially during the day – on a work day! And the plants need it. Things were getting a little dry. Rain perks up the droopy plants and makes the weeds easier to pull up.

It also fills up my rain barrels. I first became acquainted with rain barrels when I lived in Norway. My grandmother used the rainwater for washing – clothes, dishes, and us! Each morning, we got a ladle of water to wash with. It took a few tries to get the hang of washing my entire self with a ladle of water, but eventually, I was able to do it. I didn’t know it then, but I was learning a lot about water conservation. And, I’m sure those memories helped me decide to get a rain barrel of my own. (I’m up to 5 rain barrels this year.)

I don’t use my rain water for washing. I do use it for the gardens. And, with 16 beds, every drop counts! I’ve put down soaker hoses in each of the beds and then just run a hose from the nearest rain barrel to the bed and let it run.

I also use the water from my de-humidifier for the gardens. But, instead of lugging it up the stairs from the basement, I pour the water into the sump pump well and every few days, the sump pump kicks in and waters one of the gardens through the PVC pipe I configured to empty into the garden bed.

Anybody else have creative ways to water the garden? Or creative water conservation ideas?