One of the hardest things I had to leave behind was my Elemental Garden that I designed and made with the help of Jon and my good friend Rebecca. It had a garden to represent each of the 4 cardinal directions North (Earth), East (Wind), South (Fire) and West (Water) with perennials and herbs signifying each direction planted in a specific garden. When we moved I had to wait until the ground thawed and plants started to grow back before I could even think about transplanting them at the new house.
Once the snow melted at the new house and I was better able to get a lay of the land, I had to figure out where in the world was I going to plant all my perennials, herbs, strawberries, orchard, shrubs and trees! And the bigger questions was going to be, will they survive?
When the side of the driveway thawed, I was able to see what looked like an old line of a garden that had dead stumps sticking out of it. It was buried under leaves from many years, saplings, and brambles. At the foot of the bed stood a very tall spruce that had seen better days. I figured this was a good a spot as any to reclaim and set to work clearing it out.
When the side of the driveway thawed, I was able to see what looked like an old line of a garden that had dead stumps sticking out of it. It was buried under leaves from many years, saplings, and brambles. At the foot of the bed stood a very tall spruce that had seen better days. I figured this was a good a spot as any to reclaim and set to work clearing it out.
After quite a few hours of work trying to reclaim this bit of earth, I was rewarded with a beautiful fresh pallet in which I could begin to transplant some of the plants ready to come over from the other house. The soil at this new place is ten times better then the other house as it is full of lots of organic matter and worms!! Yes lots and lots of worms and night crawlers were everywhere! This makes me very happy and excited as there were no worms at the other house as the soil was much too sandy. We ended up cutting down the big spruce tree which allowed for more sunlight to hit the garden. We also unearthed a few big granite looking rocks that I ended up using in the garden to add a bit of character to it.
We next moved over the raised bed frames that we had set up for the last few summers. As most of our time has been spent packing, moving and then deconstructing the old house, having a full sized garden this first summer was not going to happen. So it was important to me to get what we could in as fast as we could so we could at least get a few things growing to eat later in the summer and fall. Since the pine trees take up so much of the acreage around the house, we were left with a few areas to choose from to place the beds. In the end, we opted for the opposite side of the driveway nearest the house as it received ample sunshine and was close to a watering source.
We simply moved the boxes in one piece and set them on the ground. I found an old pile of bricks behind some trees and used them as a walkway in between each box to keep the mowing down to a minimum. Once planted, I used old window screens I found in the barn that I put chicken wire in to use as a trellis system for cucumbers. A few tomatoes, cucumbers, swiss chard, quinoa, beets, carrots, peppers, spinach and flower sprouts were then all planted. We then moved the bean tower next to the lean-to of the house. We opted for a double stock fence which gave us plenty of room for beans, cucumbers and squashes to grow. This created quite a show piece of a garden tunnel by September!
We simply moved the boxes in one piece and set them on the ground. I found an old pile of bricks behind some trees and used them as a walkway in between each box to keep the mowing down to a minimum. Once planted, I used old window screens I found in the barn that I put chicken wire in to use as a trellis system for cucumbers. A few tomatoes, cucumbers, swiss chard, quinoa, beets, carrots, peppers, spinach and flower sprouts were then all planted. We then moved the bean tower next to the lean-to of the house. We opted for a double stock fence which gave us plenty of room for beans, cucumbers and squashes to grow. This created quite a show piece of a garden tunnel by September!