A garden entirely stocked with the newest, showiest hybrids is as depressing as a woman with a face-lift: the past is erased at the expense of character. (Perényi, Green Thoughts, p. 54)
1 April 2018. Sunday, Easter. We’ve had unseasonably cold weather; the ground was covered with snow last weekend, though only a few patches remain in the shade. This weekend my primary project has been building a new compost bin at the Coe garden, a waiting room until the material is chopped up by the chipper/shredder. Bought 33 cedar boards from Menards for the sides and used six treated lumber posts that have been in the shed at home for at least 10 years. Got the bin set up yesterday and finished it today: 6' long sides, 4' width, about 6' tall. A foot taller than I wanted but the posts were 6' tall and I didn’t want to cut them. [Commentary one year later, I’m glad the new bin is 6' tall; as the cedar has weathered, it has blended into its surroundings, and I’ve had no problem filling the bin with material for the chipper/shredder.] While not a beautiful work of art, it fits the space and it will certainly look more attractive than just having an unrestrained pile of material stacked in that area. Even in the fanciest English gardens, the compost bins are often easy to locate. I’ll try to think of the garden as Brechtian theatre with all the stage machinery part of the set.
Temp sank to 20F last night, but I didn’t see evidence of damage to any emerging plants. Many daffs in the “I” bed have buds ready to open but the cold weather has convinced them to be patient. We have had a few (perhaps 15) scattered crocus blooming in the “B”, “C”, and “L” beds, mostly yellow, remnants of that first bulb planting in the fall of ‘14. One nice cluster of white crocus. The daylilies are just beginning to emerge, spurge are growing, many tulips breaking through, including the new tulips in the “E” and “J” beds.
12 April. Second consecutive day of real spring weather, perfect for working outside. Yesterday was an all Coe day. I hooked up the leaf vacuum and gulped up leaves in the M1 & M2 beds, cleaning up the area around the honeysuckle, which functions like a net, capturing any leaf that tries to sneak through the fence. The honeysuckle vines running along the ground are frequently sending down roots and creating new plants. Perhaps later this spring I can dig some up and give them away. Most of my leaf vacuuming focused on the rock and crevice gardens. After removing the leaves, I cut back the moss phlox, some of which looked dead. Also pulled up patches of the Angelina sedum–which is quite aggressive–and some of the creeping veronica, which also had a lot of dead matter. Those beds now look more civilized–at least for the moment.
This morning I drove out to Ever-Green and picked up my 4th load of hard wood chips to spread around the greenhouse, but I never did any unloading. Instead I focused on cleaning up the back of the “G” and “H” beds. Trimmed dead branches and dug up several unwanted trees growing in the viburnum, including one hackberry.
Received an email from Todd that the sign board is done and will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. Perhaps the Physical Plant crew can install it next week. I turned in to the Copy Center the second edition of the Garden Quarto. It should be ready to distribute early next week. Now my next project is to produce a map of the garden with information on the important plants that visitors can fine in each perennial bed.
14 April. Saturday morning. Arrived at Coe early, unloaded wood chips from pickup, dumping most around greenhouse and shed. Then out to Ever-Green to obtain a load of mulch. After lunch back to Coe, but it had turned cold and raining, serious rain, no more outdoor work. Spent the afternoon in the garden shed, finishing draft of this week’s Monday garden report. A week of extremes. Last Monday the garden was a snowfield, but Tuesday and Wednesday were lovely spring days. Then weather went north again and yesterday I was planting potatoes and peas in the cold wind. Today, add the rain. Interesting contrast with spring of 2017, when we may not have had a freeze after April 1.
Spring 2019 Garden Kalendar