THE ORIGINAL LASAGNA GARDEN

 While I have already written a few posts about my two new lasagna garden beds here in Winnipeg, I actually tried my first lasagna garden at the Ontario cottage last summer.  It was much smaller and I did not research it as thoroughly, meaning I hope the plants come back but I will not be surprised if I have to redo it. 

I rushed it and it may not have enough newspapers, is likely not deep enough and without layers of green and brown material.  But you have to start somewhere; live and learn.                                                                  

The white really pops between the taller Bugloss & trees as backdrop and the slightly smaller greens in front. The Yellow Loosestrife are in great contrast to the more numerous and more subtle blue Bugloss.

(When all of these are done blooming the daylilies take over.)

I wanted to extend the Lakefront Garden back to the Old Broken Tree. What use is that particular strip of grass in one of the sunnier locations I had (city or lake)? I love greens but I wanted more colour.

Step one, lay down newspaper. 

In hindsight probably not as thick as I should have laid it.

Steps 2 and 3, soil and plants. A proper lasagna garden would have alternating layers that would compost and help to break up the grass underneath, here I just have some paper and soil. 

In went Daisies and Chicory from the side of the road . Here they are being stored in water in the paddleboat until they are ready to be planted. Keeping their roots in water is very important, when there are so many to plant it can be a while before they are back in the ground. 

It was still missing some 'oomph' and some height so I brought in the Viper's Bugloss, which due to its long taproot was a poor choice to put into this rather shallow bed, but there you have it, one could almost say the same for the Chicory.

In the short term it looked amazing, then quite a bit of it died back, after all I was transplanting them in full bloom into a too-shallow bed. I got carried away.

I am thinking about finding a place for this trifecta in my new front yard garden: Viper's Bugloss, Chicory and Daisies. 

Beautiful.

Previous lasagna garden posts

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Sharing with Wildflower Wednesday & Fertilizer Friday

COTTAGE GARDEN - 40 year plan

What is the big plan for the Ontario cottage?  Is there one?

You bet.

Just because I am now in Winnipeg does not mean I have stopped thinking about my beloved Cottage Garden. My ultimate goal for the Cottage Garden is simple: get as much blooming as possible everywhere possible for as long as possible.  That of course means keeping with my habit of plucking up local roadside "weeds" and wildflowers of course, including Oxeye daisies, Black-Eyed-Susans, Ferns, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Columbine, Trillium, Viper's Bugloss, Buttercups and more!

Lakefront Garden

 I started with the Oxeye daisies on the Lakefront Garden, Septic Garden and  North Deck Garden. I have a good amount in all of those places but can easily see myself adding more each year.

I will also add Black-Eyed-Susans to the Lakefront Garden, they are sure to do well there in the sun.  Last year I added them to the Septic Garden and the North Deck Garden where a few of them are coming back.  Two years ago I transplanted them and had to return to the city right away, so they struggled whereas last year I added a lot to North Deck Garden and was able to stay and water them for a couple of weeks and they did much better and should easily return next year.  Hurrah!

And of course the SunDrops are doing well everywhere... The Lakefront Garden is their priority since they are doing so well there, and they they are a great height to mix and mingle with the Wood Ferns in the South Deck Garden. In fact there should be enough for the North Deck Garden as well.

I am currently grouping Violets in the North Fern Garden, but with a 40 year plan I will eventually have enough there and then add them beside the gravel path with the Trillium I planted last year.

In the foreground about 200 Red Trillium line this path , along with Periwinkle and later ferns & white Impatiens.

And of course I will continue to simply bring more and more (and more!) plant material from the surrounding forest - ferns of all kinds in particular.  Not just lining the path, but throughout the property.  Why look at a brown forest floor when you can green it up?

My goal is to have the cottage feel like it is a tropical rainforest on Vancouver Island. Like it is on steroids.
Greener and more alive than it has a right to be naturally, though naturally beautiful.

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Sharing with Fertilizer Friday

LASAGNA GARDEN - part 2

It has been a few weeks since my first post about my lasagna gardens, but fear not I kept at it and got them done just before the snow arrived.

The biggest challenge was the amount of material required for the size of gardens I was staking out; I went to buy some peat moss at Jensen's nursery when I saw this:

 Piles of their season's annuals pulled out of the ground and waiting for disposal (behind the rock and in front of the raised beds).  I asked if I could take it and they obliged.  Fantastic.  I was really running short of green material, after all it was the end of October already.

The strange look I got from some people who slowed down to watch as I was cramming all this 'plant garbage' in to my truck made me chuckle.   Once again, people thinking I am crazy.

Thanks goodness I had laid down a tarp!

I put 2 bags (8 cubic feet) of peat in each garden.  Even with a truck full of green material I could have used more.  But it was a big help.  

Gives perspective why I needed so much material.

About two thirds of the way through the city came and cleaned our street.  Oh no. 

I was not done collecting material. 

So I had to start using the car instead of the wheelbarrow to go further afield.  Picture me driving slowly around the neighbourhood, throwing on the hazards then pulling out garbage cans which I quickly shovel full of dead leaves and a season's worth of accumulated soil and gunk, then driving off again.  I am sure people looking out their windows were curious.  I know I would  have been.

Friends asked "Why not just use the bags of leaves neighbours have lined up in the back lane?" and here is the difference. Those bags don't weigh very much since they are just full of dried leaves.  These garbage cans on the other hand got so heavy I could barely get them back into the truck sometimes.  Much more moisture, and some soil, overall a better, gunkier mix.

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Sharing with Fertilizer Friday and Frugalicious Friday

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Original lasagna garden

INSPIRATION STRIKES - hosta fountain

There are times when I am working in the garden when things just come together. 

When I am on a roll.  

When I am feeling particularly creative and inspired.

Last night was one of those times.

You can judge if you think what I did s inspiring or not, but it felt that way.

Oh, and if you are willing to give feedback, let me know what you think the Allium should go when we get to that part.

The Hostas and Peonies in my parents back yard garden are grouped closely together, but not in any particular pattern - yet close to one.

The large peony in the centre is almost fully surrounded by the variegated hostas.

And wouldn't you know it, there happens to be a spare matching hosta elsewhere in the same garden!

So I decided to encircle the peony and mimic the shape of a garden fountain.

Can you see the potential?

In order to do that I had to remove the Daisies in the red circle and the Allium in the blue circle. I am going to group the daisies in the garden on the west side of the backyard.  

(Grouping like-plants to increase their impact is one of my favourite tricks for making your garden have more impact without spending a dime.)

But I am not sure of the Allium, and they remain planted in a box for now, I picture them around the hostas, and a bit in and out of them as well - or around the trunk of the Oak tree.

In the purple circle is the 'extra' hosta from the other side of the peony.  All by itself.  Lonely.

Behind that  in the blue and red circles we have daylilies, and while they repeat elsewhere in the garden which is important, these two in particular  feel a bit lost to me there.

They will not have been divided in years so I am going to break them up and use them to flesh out  around the hostas - in the red (and teal) circles.  

In the purple circle, another daylily clump is already partially covered and ready for a break up.

And finally, I discovered some very small, very unhealthy looking Iris.  You can just see them in the yellow circle.  I doubt they get enough sun here and will look for another spot for them as well.

Oh, and the hosta in teal?  It is getting moved to the opposite side of the yard to join a few others I planted last week to create some colour near the patio, under a large oak.

Phew.

So I split the 'extra' hosta in two and even though the two newbies are drooping a bit from the effort,  I can see how it will all work together to create quite a centerpiece over time.  

Heck it may look great as early as next spring.  

I will report back.

Now on to the Allium, which I have split into 7.  They will have to get planted tomorrow.  

Will having them interspersed amongst the hostas put this over the top like I think it will (i.e. in a good way)? 

Or will it make it too cluttered?

I'd love your thoughts.

Sharing with:
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GUERRILLA GARDENING - or is it?

Since moving to Winnipeg I have happily noticed that a fair number of people have taken over the boulevards and spilled their gardens into the public realm.  

I am going to create a page here for gardens in Winnipeg that I like and I am sure a fair number will include these adventurous souls.

Although spilling over onto the boulevard just outside of one's property doesn't have the political connotation one might assign Guerrilla Gardening, Wikipedia defines it as "gardening on land that the gardeners do not have legal right to use" so I will include what I have done as 'guerrilla', even though it is not at all contentious.

They were not getting enough sun to bloom here.

Last weekend I took surplus daylilies from my parents back yard and moved them to the cottage, some on their property, but also many along the boulevard.

They were incredibly dense and I am sure had not been divided for donkey's years.

To overnight them uprooted I put them in a garbage bag, water them and keep the bag tied until ready to plant to avoid drying them out.  

As a rule you will feel that you have way more daylilies once they are up, especially when they have not been divided for a long time.  My past success with these plants in The Lakefront Garden tells me that they can be separated into quite small bunches; I pretty much break them down as far as I can rather that leaving groups made up of even a few stalks together.  

They did great, but then again they had great conditions.

These are in part sun rather than full sun and have a very sandy soil so it will be interesting to see how they do.  Certainly others cottagers seem to have some success.  These ones, on their property, are happily within range of the hose. 

You can see here where I also planted further away, out of hose range, at the base of a clump of birch three cottages over, where they will get plenty of sun.  

I gave them a good soak the first two days and my mother thankfully made the trek a few times.  It has been 30+ degrees with no rain all week however, so let's hope they are surviving.

Look for a report next spring on how these are doing and another post soon on where the heck I am going to put there rest.  

2/3's still to go!

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BULB SEASON - Bulbs to Blooms

I know that I should wait a year before planting my new gardens, and I sometimes blog about how gardeners need to have patience, but come on, really, a whole year?

The other day I got my Vessey's and Breck's catalogs and yesterday I went shopping at Costco for the first time and ended up buying some bulbs.  While I don't have a definitive plan yet, I have been thinking about the opportunity to plan colours that starting a new garden presents:

• Spring - generally cool purples, blues and whites.  Some other colours are bound to creep in and I can't go with only white daffs when there are so many amazing yellow and orange combos, but this will be the focus.
• Summer: hot oranges, reds and yellows and all kinds of mixes thereof.
• Fall: uncertain at this point since there are lots of really great purple Asters and awesome orange Mums; I may have to make fall a combo of the two previous seasons.
• Winter: White (ha ha)

So here is what I bought:

240 Giant Crocus; 3 bags of 80 at $14/bag  works out to only $.18/bulb!  Compare to Vessey's Giant Crocus Collection: $14 for 30 bulbs, or $.45/bulb.

• 40 Remembrance + 40 Pickwick mix X 2
• Assorted X 1 (unclear if there are any yellows or just purples and whites)

Since I have been primarily a shade gardener I do not have a lot of experience with Allium, but I love their shape and how they maintain interest even when done blooming.
I am really excited to have them in my new garden.
I bought 4 different packs for $14 each:

•  6 His Excellency ($2.33/bulb) - close to the price at Bulbs Direct
• 20 Purple Sensation + 10 Mount Everest ($.47/bulb) - Sensation sell for $1/bulb at this site and the Everest sell for $6/bulb at this site
• 3 Globemaster ($4.67/bulb) - compare to $10.5/bulb at Vessey's
• 15 Atropurpureum + 25 Nigrum ($.35/bulb) - Atr..sell for $6/bulb here and the Nigrum for $.72/bulb here

Quality is clearly in question since the prices are so amazing (don't forget you would have to add shipping charges to any of the online stores I linked to above as well!)

BUT

There was a friendly woman at the bulb rack the same time as me and she said she has bought from Costco before and been happy with the results.  I am not 100% sure that means she bought "Bulbs to Blooms", if any of you are familiar with this brand, please let me know what your experience has been.  They have a good web site including cute videos like his one on Allium.

Wish me luck, and look for a follow up report next June.

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IT WASN'T EVEN ON THE LIST!

When I first mentioned our decision to move to Winnipeg I suggested some of the bigger projects that I would need to focus on: the flagstone path, adding a new garden by the old tree and getting the moss border in around the Lakefront Garden.

I've actually done a pretty good job with it, and then some. 

One thing that was not on the list was the North Deck Garden.  It was going to be okay if this took a few years to get done. 

But who are we kidding? 

Once I see the potential - and happen have an endless supply of free plant material at hand (from local roadside ditches) - well what is one supposed to do?

At the front I have put Black-Eyed-Susans since I think they will require the most sun , behind them I have put Oxeye Daisies - and between and beneath them all - Sundrops!  At the back is a hardy geranium I planted just to soften the break line where wall and garden meet.  And while it is serving that purpose well, the job is much more suited to... daylilies of course!

I'll be taking out the geranium and adding it to the ferns at the front and putting in some daylilies here.  They have the right stature for the back of the garden.  I can just picture their bloom stalks pushing their way through the ferns, ensuring they will be noticed.

I said I was going to move a lot of Sundrops from the Lily Garden, and I was right.  Seeing the Sundrops in the LakeFront Garden still in full bloom while  the Lily Garden is bereft of Sundrops I realized that the Lily Garden is really not the right place for the SunDrops at all. 
It just does not allow them to be all that they can be. 

So I will move as many as I have time to, and will have all winter to figure out what to put in its place next year.

 I can already picture this time next year with the Sundrops' bright yellow blooms filling the space under the decks, along the water and up alongside the path.  They are really going to have a heck of an impact, just you wait and see!

SUNDROPS, SUNDROPS, SUNDROPS

I'm in love with Sundrops.

After reading that the Sundrop is the same thing as Evening Primrose I further investigated and learned that they are both Oenothera. Does this mean that I could use my Sundrops for herbal remedies?  I don't think I'll ever find out since these don't look like they will grow in Zone 3 where I am headed and I couldn't possibly make the time to test it pre-move.

Do tell if you know already.

Since they are so densely packed in the Lily Garden, I tested them in 3 different locations last year and have been blown-away by the results.  I've just learned it is possible for them to overlap with the lilies in their blooming; the Asiatic Lilies typically bloom after the Sundrops, but this year things are arriving early after the summery burst that was April.

1) Dry Creek Bed - Doubled in size and blooms.

I have to admit their success in this moist, green location was a surprise.  I didn't even plant the first one, it just appeared two years ago, perhaps travelling with soil when I added the moss "buttons" that summer...and boy did it ever make an stand out in that otherwise subdued space.  

Look at how the yellow pops in the shot above! 

You can not walk down that path with averted gaze.  

They draw you in. 

Seeing that just one could survive was enough to inspire, but I still took a measured approach when I added this spot to my test list last year thinking: more can only be better.

I am so pleased with how the yellow stands out amongst the green that I've already added even more towards the back  (you can see these new non-blooming ones are half the size  of the ones in the foreground that started here last year).   

2) LakeFront Garden - They have doubled or tripled in size and number of blooms.

I almost feel guilty keeping them in the Lily Garden. Almost. But not quite since that garden is rife with them. I will use it as a nursery and take plants, and I mean lots of plants, later this week and move them to the locations from each of the tests I ran last year.

(August update - before I left the cottage I was ambitious and switched out all of the Sundrops I could. They just simply weren't getting enough light and will look amazing elsewhere).

(south side, stone stairs into lake)

If the Lily Garden looks a little patchy next year as a result, so be it, they will come back and fill in again given enough time.

(north side, stone stairs into lake)

Don't worry, even though the LakeFront Garden is 100 feet long, I won't run out.

3) Lily Garden - Same size as before.

"Now wait a minute, isn't that where they came from?"  Yes, but they were only growing behind the daylilies, away from the water.  I planted 3-4 under the fir tree beside the Lily Garden in what is pretty dry earth (as might be expected) and they came back just fine.  Not 'new-and-improved' like the other test sites, but still they came back.  And this is no less exciting because it means that I can now surround the daylilies with Sundrops and expand the boundaries of the Lily Garden.

The Daylilies were always a bit too tall to be in the 'front'of the garden and when the lake dominates one side of the property there is always a feeling like lake-side is the front side, despite the stone border running perpendicular to the lake. 
Most people would not be aware of it, but I think it will make an enormous difference.  

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P.S. I am sharing this link with "We Did it Wednesday", "Outdoor Wednesday" and "Outdoor Spaces", why not check them out?