How does your garden grow? Part One

I love flowers , eating the vegetables and looking our the window at my  garden and the ponds  BUT I  hate gardening. In the long before the turmoil that has struck this home especially  in the last few months I would , in the springtime, have a blitz for one day  in the garden. Usually  it was to  get my  husband to  move  the stuff that had accumulated over the fall and winter and tidy  up. I really  don’t like weeding , digging in the dirt and getting all hot and sweaty but I  love the results when my  garden looks full of flowers  and the pond and the waterfall wakes up  in the spring.

 

The pond I have written about and the Ghost Koi

https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2015/04/12/the-ghost-in-the-pond-continued-2015/

Purchasing the vacant  lot next door in 2015  was a huge drain and investment of time and energy.

Illness interrupted the rehabilitation of the now vacant lot, my  ideas and wants had to  be put on hold  but eventually  thanks to  the help  of two  little boys who  moved so  much  dirt  the ground was level. I was amazed at how much  these two  little tots worked and how much  help  they  were. I  am still amazed!!!

 

The once vacant lot was divided into  two sections and the back  section I decided on a mini orchard with  still ponds , plantings consistent with non filtered and pumps water gardening. In other words letting the plantings in the ponds filter the water with  no  fish.

Considering we are two  blocks from Lorain’s downtown this was a bit of a novel idea for Lorain, Ohio. After a season of raw builders dirt used for fill where the previous little house had been ,

dodging the concrete and rubble that had been dumped in what was a ravine and small rivulet that runs under the property  next door we managed hit and miss plantings of the trees for the orchard.

 

My  husband would use the back part of the original lot as his vegetable garden, we flourished with  tomatoes, peppers, potatoes ( planted by  the grandchildren ) corn and asparagus.

 

And so success for a couple of years, the planted orchard of two  cherry  trees, one peach  tree , one pear tree, two  apple trees and a plum tree blossomed beautifully. It took a couple of years but this year they  all bore fruit and that is another story to  come in this urban orchard.

The front part of the vacant lot was planted more formally I envisioned climbing roses on the fence and archways, the side rockery  full of roses, butterfly bushes and lavender for the fragrance as we opened the windows.

We have a lovely  balcony and it was my  mother’s pride and delight to  empty  the containers , refill with  new soil  and planted fresh  every  year with  all the plants she received on Mother’s Day. Of course watering was an issue as the balcony  is in full sun and south  facing. Mum, being mum was forever weeding out the errant weeds that somehow made it to  the containers and would water  twice a day.

 

Last year as she fell into  decline at 99 she did not have the strength  to  plant and water so  that job fell to  me. My  mum loved those flowers and her bedroom was off the balcony  so she would sit and enjoy  the garden from above and sit amongst her flowers.

It has been a terrible few months one way  and another , my  mother passed in October and January  found my  husband extremely  ill ( as has been documented in the series  )

https://thatwoman.wordpress.com/2019/07/11/medical-care-a-consumers-perspective-brookdale-pt-2/

Time and weeks slipped from dead of winter to  spring whilst the garden lay  dormant , my  thoughts were not of how to  manage the garden or ponds.

Trips sometimes twice a day  for hours dealing with  medical issues left me tired, frustrated and lacking energy . I admit it took what was left of any  energy  to  keep  the house running and laundry  up  to  date. I had no  time or desire to  deal with  anything else.

 

In order to  wind down before bedtime I would watch  my  British  murder mysteries and also  programs from Britain on gardening, basically  because they  took me back  to  the land of my  birth, to  familiar places and happier times . One such  program and presenter / gardener extraordinaire is a chap  called Monty  Don,     https://montydon.com/

he has numerous garden shows but the one I  would watch every  week on Britbox

https://www.britbox.com/us/

is Gardener’s World

https://www.gardenersworld.com/

and there by  hangs the rest of the tale on how my  garden grows this year and the way Britain is  rewilding and cultivating the pollinators one flower pot and meadow at a time !!!!! https://www.housebeautiful.com/uk/garden/plants/a28574537/wildflower-seeds-garden/

 

‘Wildflowers are often capricious so if you have the space, create varieties of habitats within your garden – shade, dampness and wild. You can also, within reason, harvest the seed of our more common wildflowers from the wild.’

More so now than ever, gardeners are being urged to transform parts of their garden into wildflower meadows to help save the bees. The UK has seen a vast decline in the number of bees, and with 75 per cent of all food crops requiring pollination, the rapidly declining bee population has been cause for serious concern.”

and help  the sunflower kisses

 

To  be continued

August 3rd- Linked – Chris Ritchey

Graphics Chris Ritchey

Every  street in this oldest neighborhood is designated by  the signs designed by  you  for Lorain’s Bicentennial. It was supposed to  bring a sense of pride  to  the residents who  have continued to  stay  here and fight for a quality  of life, the history  of these oldest streets and a preservation of a neighborhood that was.

I wish  I  could say  that those of us that banded together and set up a 501C3 30  years ago  had succeeded in our endeavours but thanks to  bank dumps in 2008-2009 with over 200 properties being dumped  sometimes for pennies on the dollar, the unscrupulous out of town landlords and property  companies, drug houses, lack of code enforcement  well we have become a saturated solution of the negative.

Two  things came together in my  brain this week……. the news of a young man of 16 shot and killed by  other young men… just two  blocks away, the gun shot waking us up as the sounds of killing reverberated through  the night air. I watched the news that evening and as I did the TV camera panned up  to  the street sign on 6th street, YOUR SIGN  and my  focus changed instantly  as once more I was sent back  to your  passing and then the pain and I  realized another mother , that of a 16 year old , would be weeping tears , heart pounding , trying to  breathe  trying to  deal  with the reality of the unreal.

Will she experience  the tiniest  interludes of happiness? You  see, once in a great while, when exhaustion forces the body  and mind to  sleep there are moments, just between sleeping and waking. One such  moment came this week the air was cool enough  for the windows to  be open and for a brief second as the sun  kissed the morning to  waken the day , the breeze picked up  the  peppery  scent of the petunias in the window box, this body  hadn’t quite realized it had aches and pains, there was for that precious second happiness and then “life” intruded once more……. and mothers weep  for lost sons in this old neighborhood……..

Another August of holding my  breath , fighting back  the tears , holding myself ready  for the trigger moments , knowing they  will come  and wanting

Love continues………. and memories of times much  happier……..before life intruded