Let us, then, begin by defining what a garden is, and what it ought to be.
It is a piece of ground fenced off from cattle, and appropriated to the use and pleasure of man:
it is or ought to be, cultivated and enriched by art, with such products as are not natural
to this country, and, consequently, it must be artificial in its treatment, and may,
without impropriety, be so in its appearance; yet, there is so much of littleness in art,
when compared with nature, that they cannot well be blended; it were, therefore, to be wished,
that the exterior of a garden should be made to assimilate with park scenery,
or the landscape of nature; the interior may then be laid out with all the variety,
contrast, and even whim, that can produce pleasing objects to the eye.
~Humphry Repton, from Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1803)
[Repton coined the term “landscape gardener” to describe his efforts
to transform the English countryside into a pastoral landscape.]
Excerpts from Garden Journal, January-March 2019
2 Jan 2019. First entry of the new year. Normal January weather: temp mid to high 20s, some sunshine, light wind–chilly but not super cold. Treacherous walking on our driveway; thin veneer of ice with light dusting of snow. Also slippery on Alum Garden patio and steps. I went into the Alum House several times this afternoon to use the janitor’s closet. I cleaned out my vegetable blender (used for grinding up food parcels for the red wigglers), the compost tea bag, and the compost tea bucket. Filled my water containers and two watering cans with fresh water for the coming week.
I posted to the website the Fall ‘18 issue of The Garden Quarto and sent copies to Gabeba at Penn State and to Nick here at Coe. Yesterday I planted some Batavia lettuce; today I watered lettuce, kale, parsley, and fritillaria–all planted in last 2-3 days. [None of the fritillaria planted indoors germinated; a few planted in the “G” bed did appear in the spring, but less than a 25% germination rate.]
5 Jan. Crazy weather. This afternoon I worked outside at home for over three hours; so warm, I took off my fleece. Thermometer on garage said it was 50F; certainly in upper 40s until the sun started sinking. Ran the lawn mower, sweeping up and chopping 7-8 loads of leaves from front yard. It is now “done”–though a few areas next to the house still need to be raked and spruced up. Mowed the remaining hostas surrounding the pin oak. Looks much better.
As for the backyard, I concentrated on raking the old peony beds and walkways. Need to cut back astilbe and hostas before raking the rest. Leaves in a big pile over the rhubarb need to go through chipper/shredder. I might bring the gas chipper home and see if I can get it working again. Not doing any good sitting in the portable greenhouse at Coe. [Later in the spring I donated my chipper to a local church, and one of the members of the congregation got it cleaned up and working again.]
I have been reading Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening. While I’m not going to adopt his exclusive vegetable diet and self-reliant practices, he has some wonderful ideas–and he can be quite funny, a great speaking voice that makes the writing vibrant and appealing. I love his insight that there are no real borders to any garden. A garden is always part of the larger world surrounding it.
Remainder of this Garden Shed blog post is available on the Winter Garden Kalendar 2020 pdf.