Before and After: A Garden Emerges

I've been contemplating differences now that we've uprooted to a whole new town and way of life. Old house vs. new house, old garden vs. new garden, old commute vs. new commute. It's all a huge transition, but we're on the other end of it, thankfully. Therefore, some of the smoke has cleared and I'm able to see with a bit more perspective. 

About the differences between the old and new gardens (besides the obvious one about going from 50 x 100 square feet to 2 acres) -- the old garden it turns out had a lot of hardscaping and existing bones. Much of what I did there was to simply soften the edges with appropriate plants. I put them everywhere - even on the roof. This garden, on the other hand, is wide open spaces for the most part and will require garden bones. I could never cover it completely with plants like I did at the old garden, so I must make choices.

Some of the bones that I plan on adding are going to be in the form of evergreen shrubs and trees. They will take a long time to fill in but as the old adage goes "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The next best is today" -- and, boy, have I been planting. 

Another thing we've been busy with is clean up. David took it upon himself to start the process of removing the former veggie bed/plant prison.

Here's a before photo from this fall with the fence intact.

Here it is with the fence removed. It's too bad because apparently the former owner installed it only a year ago. We are going to re-use the chicken wire and fence to build a chicken run, so not all is lost.

Another before from a different angle.

The posts David spent the weekend removing. As I find places for all of these plants we will dismantle these raised beds and I can start creating a dry riverbed kind of garden here.

Another thing that David the Facilities Manager has been busy with over the past several weeks is the removal of all of the blackberry along the edge of the road. The tractor from the fence building took care of a bulk of it but David had his share of torture, too. This is the only real before photo I could find of this area. Trust me, from the edge of the fence north it was solid blackberry.

After - cleared of blackberry.

Before, looking down the road. Our property is on the left.

Now cleared of blackberry. We found some salal and Oregon grape growing in there; I will nurture those to take over. I also planted a bunch of native shrubs like snowberry bushes, a couple Ribes sanguineum or flowering currant, a Pacific ninebark, a few ferns and Tolmiea menziesii or piggyback plant on the other side of the fence to hopefully naturalize through to this side as well. David plans a weekly visit to the sprouting blackberries to keep them minimal.

Just a few of the blackberries before they got piled up.

Before in the brambles.

After -- this illustrates David's efforts quite well.

Much better. Now all I need to do is try and get a shovel in there...it's all rock underneath. Eventually. For now we'll just keep the blackberries at bay.

Here are the blackberries and hazelnuts from the other side of the fence. This is before.

After -- there's a western view now. Some of the smaller shrubs I planted will fill in a little but it will be more open than it had been. We may also remove a few of the hazelnuts in time.

Here's a before in the northwest corner of the property.

After -- the blackberries cleared, the berm cleared and the whole area on the edge composted. I have begun the process of claiming a shade garden. I have decided since this shady area is closest to the house that ornamental shrubs, trees and perennials will go here and I can take care of them more easily. I will do a woodland garden also and let that naturalize in the other shady areas of the property -- another day. Pictured to the left are a bunch of tiny azaleas that were already on site, planted in soggy clay in full sun. I decided to rescue them and plant them in a drift in a more appropriately shady site. I also have Hakonechola macra 'Aureola' and 'Fubuki' planted, they won't be visible until the spring when new growth appears. It feels good to be putting plants in the dirt, I have to say.

I formed the basic shape of the garden by dumping compost.

It's very difficult to tell but there are many shade plants in here. Ribes sanguineum, Viburnum trilobum, Vaccinium ovatum and many others.

Some of my grasses, a Pittosporum, black mondo grass and others -- many still in pots waiting their turn. It's hard to tell the contour of the garden here but it will become more visible in time.

All those Douglas firs that were cut down have been keeping David occupied. He made a fort out of some and the tree-trunks to the right are going to be poles for a future tipi (also spelled tepee).

David here: The "fort" is actually a future burn pile. As I grew up on the Nez Perce Reservation, a tipi is more appropriate. We'll have a pow-wow one day later this year. 

Although not the prettiest picture it does show two more large plants I just added - a Fothergilla x intermedia  'Mt. Airy' and 'Blue Shadow'. Each new planting gets its own berm and swale to capture rainwater as it flows down the property. The swale catches it and the berm below the swale absorbs it and releases it slowly over time. This will be especially helpful for plants out of reach of hoses in the summertime. Most of the recent plantings have been shade, I'll work on the sun-loving ones as soon as the former veggie bed is dismantled and I can create a framework in which to plant.


Enough hard work...now some extras just for fun:

To my delight, my deer buddies came by to visit one day. I gave them the rest of the pumpkin through the fence.

Another before and after. Our spare bedroom pictured here, with the former owner's belongings. I show it for the wall color. We painted the chilly light blue (looks purple here, but it was cold, ice blue and felt cold).

Here it is after. A warmer feel over all. Inside and out, little by little, we are making this our home.

And the sunrise on my way to work. Mount Hood in the distance.

Since Valentine's Day is here, Lucy and Hobbes would like to send you all some catnip love. Speaking of the Bengals, many people have asked how they are faring being locked up inside. They are actually very happy -- they tear up and down the long stretches of house with a gallop worthy of small horses and are really more playful than they've been in a long time. They aren't stressed out smelling other cats roaming the neighborhood and are enjoying watching the birds from the windowsill. Maybe someday we will build a catio but for now, they are happy and snug indoors all the time.

Final thoughts on the garden for this week: I know that it will take a lot of time to get the garden in order and to see real results. These little before and afters are to appease my inner workhorse...to show for something in such a large garden. I'm out there for hours and it doesn't look like I've done a thing. But it does make me feel better to just be out there digging around. As I dig, I experience visions of what would look good where, that is to say the garden really does speak to me. It's an organic process that I enjoy tremendously. I plan on using a lot of plant material for a plant-driven design vs. a hardscape design, that's for sure with this much land, but I will add hardscaping elements when appropriate.

I am learning more about the soil and the birds, too. I swear since I put the compost down I have seen a dramatic increase in worm activity. That is very satisfying. We have also observed many birds, it's a little crazy how many are out here. I will have to do a post just on our feathered buddies one day soon.

That's the report this week from Chickadee Gardens. As always thank you for reading and until next time, happy gardening!