Has it really only been 3 weeks since my last posting? Just seems like a lot has been going on around here and I haven't had time to think about this blog. So where shall I start?

How about with the worm bins? I finally decided to move them down into the gardens. There is a space on the north side of one of the tool sheds that is just right for them, not sunny and hot, out of the way of the other gardeners and yet easy to get too when it's feeding time. I kinda miss having them in my office, but it's best that they go outdoors.

Next, have I mentioned anything about the espliered fruit trees that got planted in the English Meadow? Well they did get planted. Up against a cedar post and rail fence, which is where I espliered the trees. Three apples, three pears, a Plumcot and an Apricot. That was in March. I just went and looked at them and they all are blooming and starting to grow! Hurray, in just a couple of years we will be able to enjoy all kinds of fruit from these trees, I even labeled them so we will know what kind of fruit it is.

On to the Health Center patio area. Back when I planted strawberries into the market garden I also planted strawberries into two of the patio area beds. Along with 4 blue berry shrubs I took out of one of my market garden plots. And this last month I added a Necterine tree and a fig tree to the patio beds.

So the folks in the Health Center will have lots of fruit to eat right off the plant. While I was planting in the patio beds I happened to have 9 herbs left over from a talk I gave this month on container gardening, so I planted them into the patio area beds as well. There will be lots of things to eat and flavor food with this summer, and all of it right where the people who live in the health center can get at it.

Opps almost forgot about the 6 wine grape vines I just brought in and am about to plant in the South Patio area of the health center. So now in 4 or 5 years we can have homemade Pinot Noir wine in the Health Center from our very own grapes.

The big news I guess is down in the market garden where the planting of veggies just goes on and on. Onions, radishes, arugula, corn, lettuce, carrots have all been planted in the last several weeks and now the radishes, arugula and the onions are already up! but the most exciting thing is how all this got planted.

I’m working with some kids from the Oak Grove Grade School just down the street creating a gardening group. And I can tell you that at first the idea of being in the same room with 15 4th graders was a bit, well, terrifying. But they soon made me feel welcome and a part of the group; it’s amazing how many of the kids have ties to Rose Villa in some way. Parents work here or have worked here, grandparents lived here, and a few of the kids are already looking to get a job working here in a few years.

I've been over there 4 times now and the kids have been over here twice planting veggies. And a more serious bunch of planters I’ve never seen, some of those seeds are well and truly planted I can tell you.

Needless to say the worm bin was a big hit.

I kinda felt sorry for all those worms, the kids really got up close and personal with them. I suspect that several of them went home that day with worms in their pockets. I wonder what their parents thought of that?

On to the front circle where those three diseased and dying fir trees were taken out in January. Much has been going on there as well, The grounds crew has been very busy clearing the old plants out of the way, planting new pear trees around the enterance and getting ready to landscape the front circle.

The excavator took 100yds of old dirt out, plus several of the stumps of the old trees. Then we had several truck loads of good topsoil brought in, along with a load of boulders. Right now the sprnkler system has been installed, the water feature is being built and the pathways are just starting to get built.

All this work is being done by our very own grounds crew. Who will I am sure be very glad when such a huge project is done and over with. This will have completely changed the way the front enterance looked. When it's done you will have to come by and take a look.

A time for everything

‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…to be born, to die, to plant, to uproot, to kill, to heal, to tear down, to build, to weep, to laugh, to mourn, to dance, to scatter, to gather,, to embrace or not, to search, to give up, to keep, to throw away, to tear, to mend, to be silent, to speak, to love, to hate, to have war and a time for peace’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

I don't often quote the bible, but as a gardener I have learned to let the seasons of the year dictate my activities in the landscapes where I live and work. I have learned this through many years of watching nature go through her cycles of the seasons. Paying attention to what happened each season and how what I did during one season affected the landscape in later seasons.

This first photo is of a forsythia that was trimmed down in winter. It was a slow time of year, a dry day perhaps and it would save some time later in the year when things got busier.

The second photo is of a forsythia that had been trimmed in the late spring of last year. These photos were taken the same day.

To trim a forsythia a month or two before it blooms, cutting off and throwing away the glorious show of flowers the plant took all year to grow is something that I do not understand. It just goes against everything that Ecclesiastes was saying in the bible quote I opened with, and while I am not a religious man in the formal sense I do believe Ecclesiastes spoke the truth.

Here's another couple of photos of two sward ferns that happen to be planted 30 feet apart. Again, the photos were taken the same day. The one that did not get trimmed has looked pretty good all winter while the one that got trimmed in December has looked like a brown hedge hog the last 4 months. While I have to admit that trimming the fern in early winter has saved some time, I have to ask; Was it really worth 4 months of looking like a hedge hog was squatting in front of the welcome mat?

"There is a time for everything....." The incident of the forsythia and the fern are small, and perhaps insignificant and I am sure some would say the convenience of saving time far outweighed the waste of the flowers of the forsythia and the long winters ugliness of the fern. I'm just an old fashioned hopeless starry eyed dreamer; I believe as a gardener it is my job to bring the beauty, wonder and grandeur of nature to others.

The person who trimmed the forsthia and the fern above may have done their job as a landscape mantenance person but as a gardener they have failed.

I will stop now with just a couple of photos of some of the trees here at Rose Villa. And during this spring time of year so filled with renewal and rebirth, please dont just maintain, be a gardener.