Journey To The Center  

I’ve been changing things around in the gardens over the past few years. Earlier on, I used to mow a large area o lawn in both the front and back yards. At some point, I decided to stop treating the yard as lawns and turn more of the front yard into a lane and parking spot. Part of this had to do with necessity. When I first came here, I didn’t stay over the winter. Once I began living here over winter, I discovered that the grassy lane turned into a soft, sticky mud pit as the snow melted in spring. I was getting the van stuck every time I tried to get turned around. That spring, I got a load of gravel and made a parking area which has worked out very well – but it did eat up about a third of the front lawn. Meanwhile, I had planted more rhododendrons in the front yard and they are all getting bigger — there are 8 of them and 3 sizeable rose bushes, along with the “rondhaus” fire wood stacks and the storage trailer. I planted a few native trees here and there — and guess what — no lawn and only a small garden patch remains!

So… well… I’ve been growing garlic and other vegetables out in the back garden for several years, but find it all just too much to deal with. The reality is that I am just one person working alone here and I’m at an age where I have to pick and choose what I want to do. The house still needs plenty of work, which ties up my summers. After some consideration, I’ve decided that I don’t need to be growing vegetables anymore. There are all kinds of local gardens selling fresh produce for a good part of the year. I’d rather just put in a garlic patch with my favourite varieties — so that’s moved up into the front vegetable patch with the strawberries. Now the back garden will be used as a nursery area for native trees and plants between the seedling stage, and the stage where they seem robust enough to go out into the woods without the need for much maintenance. Trees that I’m growing out are American Chestnut, American Sycamore, native White Oak, Bur Oak, Redbud, Shagbark Hickory, Butternut, Black Walnut, Hazelnut, Witchhazel, Hackberry, and Slippery Elm. It’s all just an experiment and who knows how they will do, although some early trees – the Shagbark Hickory – are doing very well so far. Anyhow, that’s what’s going on around here. The back yard is really no longer a yard in much of a sense. Pretty wild back there, but that’s fine with me. Here are some photos of the garlic patch and the “map” for this year’s patch.

This morning’s view out The Pod window – mist flowing above the river and the old factory building now visible after the fall of leaves.