gardening

From June Gloom To June Bloom

June 17, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.
No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them. ~Aldo Leopold

I had to go to Los Angeles the first week of June for work, which meant an entire week of no gardening. This is the weird time of year the Californians refer to as “June Gloom” thanks to hazy mornings that take hours to transition into sunshine. I was able to see some friends and take a hike with my cousin up to the Griffith Observatory which is total nerd heaven.

The observatory houses a science museum with a Tesla Coil, a pendulum that moves with the earth’s rotation (eerily similar to the one in LOST), and lots of scales that show you how much you weigh on other planets (great for the self esteem).

I am still recovering from the measly two hour time difference that has completely messed with my inner clock, and I have yet to get my hands dirty. This weekend, the plan was to get some dirt under the fingernails. One week can make a tremendous difference in the life of a spring garden. When I returned, the tomatoes were stretching well outside their cages, the giant squash leaves were already peeking over the fence, the cucumbers had a couple of little cukes on the vines, the peppers were blooming, and the beans formed a carpet of leaves and tiny white blooms in the center of the plot. I grabbed some Velcro ties and got the tomatoes secured to the bamboo tripods and dumped some 10-10-10 fertilizer in there before crashing on my couch in total exhaustion.

I am hoping I get a ton of tomatoes this year. I am skeptical due to past years of rotten luck with them, but there are a few on the vine that look like they might pull through.

The color of the squash blossom is a deep tangerine. I keep debating whether or not to cut some of these blossoms off to try frying them in a batter. I will never forget the first time I ate a squash blossom. It was like a piece of Heaven melted in my mouth. Perhaps after some zucchini have come in, I’ll see if there’s any extra for some culinary experimenting!

The cucumbers are really trailing all over the place and trying to climb the fence, so I decided to do something I’ve never done before, make some sort of trellis for them. Since the tomatoes seem to be doing ok on the tripods, I made some quadpods for the cukes, and secured them with ties. Now there is so much more room on the ground and the watermelon plants will have room to roam. I had no idea I’d run out of space so quickly!

The flower beds are also coming along. My roses look like absolute crap thanks to tons of ugly caterpillars having a chompfest on the leaves before the flowers faded. The swiss-cheesed hosta are recovering from a slug brigade. I made a trap with a container full of beer and they drowned happy deaths. I’m not sorry to see their nasty sticky trails disappear.

I bought a shabby looking plant at Lowe’s earlier in the season called Rock Purslane (Calandrinia) because I was so taken with the color of the flowers. It’s finally starting to settle into its new home and has begun blooming again. This is a tender perennial, so I’m hoping it can survive the winter and come back next year.

Every morning just before I leave for work, I do a quick walk around to look at all the new buds, new blooms, and new fruit showing up around the yard. It’s so exciting and so gratifying to see all the hard work of spring pay off with a colorful show in summer. There is still much to do: dig a space along the fence for more daylilies, figure out a better way to water the side garden, fight off the squirrels who are mangling my sweet pea planter.

I can feel myself slowing down as the days get hotter, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can manage to finish everything I need to before worrying about harvesting all the veggies.

LIGHT: Bruce Munro At Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

May 30, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

Tonight was officially the second night the Bruce Munro light exhibit was open at Cheekwood and we were dazzled. I brought Rob down there with me, we sprayed a healthy dose of bug spray on ourselves, and walked into a wonderland of light. This is only the second time this installation is being shown in the U.S. The first time was at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, another place near and dear to my plant-loving heart.

Vogue named the Light exhibit at Cheekwood #2 on its list From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 31 Ways to Make the Most of Summer. An impressive feat for our little city! This is the largest installation the garden has had since Chihuly came a few years ago and blew us all away with the sheer awesomeness of his nature and glass exhibit. You can find more information about British artist, Bruce Munro, here.

Please know, I wanted to give you an idea of what this looks like so you will go visit, but these pictures can’t possibly do justice to the magic of being there in person. And I just renewed my membership so I can take two guests every time I go. Hit me up, people!

As you walk into the gardens, you happen upon the water towers, made of 10,000 bottles of water all laced with fiber optic lights. They looked amazing when the dark closed in. Ethereal music was floating through the speakers in each tower and added such a cool vibe, I was sad to leave. If they had been able to pipe that music through the entire garden, it would have made the whole experience completely epic.

Then we headed to the Japanese garden where the bamboo forest was lit with dozens of fiber optic filament lights from the below. The effect made it seem like fairies could be flitting in amongst the tall bamboo. I could have stayed in this one spot all night.

The Zen garden had one feature, a blue moon that shifted between shades of white, green, and deepest indigo. The effect was very peaceful and could bring a person to a trance-like state if they stared for too long. The pavilion was flanked with lit candles on both sides, which added a softer, more natural light that clashed pleasantly with the fiber optics happening everywhere else.

As we headed across the field to the pond, the tipi lights were flashing so fast it was hard to concentrate on them for long. The effect with the reflection on the water was really stunning though. They were definitely the party lights of the garden, except no EDM music was playing over there. Sad. The information plate said they were meant to invoke memories of our history.

The shallow pool is always a favorite spot of mine to sit when I’m at Cheekwood. The water is so quiet, so tranquil, and the simplicity of the orbs was a perfect accompaniment to the space. The still water gave a mirror effect that made it look like you could step right out and skate around those orbs.

We headed up to the house where there were some ceiling chandeliers to die for. The one in the solarium felt like a shower of falling stars and the one beside the winding staircase looked like small bells hanging from silken threads.

Back outside the house was the most incredible display of thousands of tiny suspended lights all over the property. Every inch of green space was covered in these lights. They looked like internally lit lollipops or glowing tulips with colors that shifted and changed. It looked like the wind was blowing through them, causing the colors to glow and fade like embers. These were probably the most impressive and beautiful part of the exhibit, but also the trickiest to actually get a picture of. This is where the “you had to be there” part comes in.

Overall, Cheekwood is decked out in a finery of lights. It took us a little over an hour to go through the place, and would have taken longer if we’d stopped to look at the art in the house (which I’d already seen) and perhaps grabbed a glass of wine at the bar before heading out. I will definitely be visiting this place many times (and bringing friends) as this exhibit continues through November.

The exhibit is only open at night on Wednesday-Friday, not Saturday, so be sure to plan accordingly. Admission is $15 for adults ($5 if you are member, or if you are with a member who has guest passes, like me). Other visit details are listed here. Be sure to support Cheekwood while this wonderful installation is here. We need this botanical garden to thrive and bring more incredible art exhibits to the city!

Garden Happenings: Flowers & Veggies Galore!

May 29, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

It feels like summer is beginning to make its first appearances here. The days are becoming too hot to work in the sun for long amounts of time and the evenings are perfect for lazy walks into downtown Franklin.

Last year a ton of work was done inside the house, but this is officially “the year of the yard.” I’ve been busy planting flowers, making some new beds, and getting the vegetable garden in shape for summer. This has required hours of time in the evenings and on weekends, but I think that the more I get established this year, the easier it will be since the beds will just require maintenance in years to come.

The flower bed on the side of the house needed some work, and I have a feeling will be a work in progress for a little while. I extended the bed to go along the fence so I won’t have to mow there.

Right now it’s a riot of color with roses, celosia, several salvias, dianthus, lantana, lavender, seedum, and a crape myrtle. Might have gotten a tad carried away, but I’m hoping these will fill in the spaces as the season progresses. The clashing pinks and reds are driving me a little crazy, but maybe the butterflies will go nuts over them.

I also extended the bed on the other side of the fence. This one is simpler with two butterfly bushes, some salvia, and a Russian sage. Not having to mow along the fence is wonderful. I’m planning to add a really long bed on the other side of the fence, but Lord help me, these took about 5 hours to dig out since the grass was so thick and I wanted to get rid of all the roots. The mulch has also significantly kept the weeds at bay.

And now onto the garden I’m most excited about right now, the veggie plot! This is what it started out as. Rob cut some cedar stakes for me and then cut some reed fencing that was 6 feet tall into 2 foot sections. I used some twine to secure the fencing to the posts. This should help keep hungry creatures out, although I am about to have an all out war with some squirrels who are destroying my planters.

Over time…the beans, round zucchini, and cucumbers are starting to sprout nicely. The peppers were starter plants and are still alive…always a good sign. Tomatoes are slowly being added. Some are seedlings, some are starter plants I got from a friend.

As things have been growing, the Bermuda grass that used to be the lawn has been a total nightmare. The stuff has very deep runner roots that go below what was tilled and the only way to weed has been to dig deep with a spade and try to get the main root. Misery!!! I’m hoping the straw will slow the growth of the weeds. I will not be putting straw around the tomatoes since I’ve heard that too much nitrogen from the straw breaking down is not good for them.

As the tomatoes grow, they need to be staked and this has been a dilemma for me…what to do?! I’ve looked up several different staking methods and ideally, I would love to use the paneled cages (I already have 3), however, these are $10 apiece and the bamboo in my yard is free, so I decided to go with tripods for each plant. I have 21 plants. It’s insanity. I spent all of Sunday morning cutting bamboo, cleaning it, measuring it, and making the tripods…hours of labor.

I used 6 foot pieces and tied them with twine at the top. This was very easy and they took about a minute to assemble!

All 21 plants now have supports and I have a roll of velcro ties that will help them stay on the stakes as they grow. The nice thing about the bamboo is that it’s natural. It will hold up for more than one year. It was free. It won’t get rusty. It’s pretty sturdy. And, if a tornado knocks it down, I can just build another one.

So for right now, things are coming along. The beans are doing awesome! The round zucchini, watermelons, and cucumbers are coming up nicely, basil is growing, and the tomatoes are establishing themselves and starting to get some blooms. There are 4 varieties: Heirloom Cherokee Purple, San Marzano, Sun Sugar, and Heirloom Giant Belgium. While all of this could turn out to be an epic failure, it’s the first year…so I’ll see what works and try not to cry over what doesn’t.

Before & After: One Year In The House

May 10, 2013 by Leah Leave a Comment

Monday marks my first anniversary in the little Franklin house. The time has flown by and I can’t believe how much has been done and how much is still left to do! To celebrate the survival of this past year, I want to show you some before and after pics. Let’s be honest, it’s no Better Homes & Gardens, but these pictures represent tons of work and love showered onto a little piece of land. I’m also thankful to Rob for all his help every step of the way, none of these transformations would have happened without his support. His time, patience, blood, and sweat have been poured into this place, and I really can’t adequately thank him enough for putting up with my insanity. So here’s what can happen in a year with limited funds and a lot of hard work…

The first project in the house was the bathroom, which was taken right down to the studs and rebuilt. Myrtle is excited. The Bathroom: Before & After

Needed more storage in the bathroom and less oak ugliness. Bathroom Vanity: Before & After

And we can’t forget our friends outdoors. After the sad loss of a bluebird family-to-be, something had to be done. Bluebird House: Before/After

The dining room is still a work in progress. I am planning to add a wall of pallet wood, put down wood floors, and get some more furniture in there. Dining Room: Before & Current Stage

My favorite part of this house is still the built-ins. They transformed a dull room into a library that makes my heart skip every time I pick out a book. Living Room: Before & After

I am so blessed by all the friends who came to visit in this first year. It’s been fun having people come through to say hi, and I am reminded that a house is not a home unless people fill it with love. Guest Room: Before & After

I’m still in the process of making the patio pretty. I removed the gravel next to the shed and am using the space to plant more herbs and small veggies for the kitchen garden. Patio: Before & Current Stage

The side garden has been quite the project because I’m trying to add more perennials, plus annuals I know the hummingbirds and butterflies will be attracted to. I’d also like to put some type of border on here, but I’m not sure what to use yet. Side Garden: Before & Current Stage

And as for repairs…these may not seem like a huge deal because they aren’t cosmetic, but let me tell you, I am so relieved to have these out of the way. HVAC: Before (circa 2000) & After (circa 2013)

Following a nasty storm, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, the roof got a makeover. Roof: Before & After

House: Before

House: After

Kidding! Obviously not my house, but the esteemed Biltmore estate…something to aspire to, eh?

More to come tomorrow, the official one year anniversary!

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