Early Plantings

David wants to know when I’m going to stop philosophizing and actually talk about the garden, so here we go.

Our lot is a vacation property, and as long time gardeners we were savvy enough to realize that we had to choose a plant that, once put into the ground, would have to hold its own.  In our area that means, drought tolerance, unappetizing to deer and other critters, and can survive against the natives.

Hmmm, what would fit the bill?  Our first thoughts turned to the Sempervivum family – commonly known as “Chickens and Hens” or "House leeks".  Cold hardy succulents, we thought they might be perfect for our first foray into gardening.  And they weren't a bad choice, by all means. At our local botanical greenhouse our favourite area is the cactus house. It is always fascinating to see the incredible array of weird and wonderful plants that nature has created to survive different environments.

Next step where to plant them?  We still had the problem of not having actual beds, and perhaps this shows how obsessive our need to make a garden was.  We were forced to find a hollow in the rocks that was filled with a thin soil (produced naturally over many years) and some grass or sedge growing in it, dig that out and plant something else there. And that’s what we did. 

I'm not sure you can even see where we planted. It's in the foreground. The cabin is in the background and you can see the firepit is the dark area on the right hand side and the pile of brush collected for the fire is on the left hand side.

Whilst the boys finished the cabins (I have to tell that story one day) I had the task of planting 4 semperviviums that we had purchased.  I don’t remember it taking long. I sort of surveyed the area, tried to find a place where I could dig out the soil with my trowel; pulled out all the grass, and mixed up a little potting soil with the existing soil (it didn’t need much) and bob’s your uncle.

This gives you some idea of what we are digging in to create our garden. The sempervivum is in that outcropping at the top.

 

These sempervivums were unnamed and we not such experts that we could say what they are, except the arachnodium.

Here at the base of the railway tie staircase, I dug out a small cavity between the rocks and planted. This one has survived over the years, mostly because it is sheltered I think.

And the fate of these chicks and hens?  Well, of course the day after, something had dug them up. And next year when we came up to visit, they were completely overgrown with native flora. In fact we had a hard time finding some of them.

Lesson # 6 Actually a bunch of lessons. Firstly, that in order to prevent a critter digging up your newly planted baby, you have to leave the area looking undisturbed. Secondly, that native soil contains a lot of seeds, that can stay viable for many years. Disturbing the soil seems to encourage propogation. So, if you use the native soil, be prepared for lots of weeds.  This is a lesson hard learned.