Maryland Grows

Are gardens and landscapes ever finished? Completed? Done?

Of course not. Gardens are in a constant state of change. Some of them (vegetable gardens, for example) we plant anew each year. Other areas we might fill up with trees and shrubs and perennials, and think we’ve created something permanent. But… trees grow, and shade grows with them. Plants die, or plants get bigger or spread faster than we expected. Unpredictable seedlings come up, and might be weeds, or might be something new and exciting that found its way in.

I’ve had some significant gardening changes this year, along with the normal state of constant flux. For one thing, we took down a tree near our driveway (it was an invasive species, and also persistently dropped things on our cars in a super-annoying way) and now we have an area in pretty full sun where it was partial before. So of course we’ve put in a new vegetable garden!

I had a perennial bed there, but it had become choked with liriope and Spanish bluebells, so I dug those out and threw them away, and transplanted what flower bulbs and native perennials I could locate during the winter months. My son constructed the new garden, which has a base of landscape fabric and pea gravel (to discourage anything from re-emerging from underneath) and consists of three 3’x6’ raised beds that are close to 18” high (no landscape fabric under these), plus plenty of room for containers. It’s surrounded by a six-foot wire fence to discourage animal invaders. The raised beds are made with pressure-treated lumber (now considered to be safe for food gardens) and handy concrete corners they slot into. The soil in the raised beds was dug from the surrounding area (some excavation was necessary to put in that base layer) and supplemented with homemade compost. Some weeds are popping up (along with volunteer tomatoes and mystery cucurbits), but I’m glad not to have to buy topsoil and compost

I’m going to use the new garden for vegetable plants I have trouble growing in my community garden plot, because of pests and diseases that are hard to keep at bay there. This year I’m growing beans and winter squash, plus a few other things! It’ll be interesting to find out how much produce I can grow in a relatively small space.

In another area of my yard I have an herb spiral that was put in seven or eight years ago, next to a gravelly slope where I’d had great success growing rosemary. But this was a particularly bad winter for that marginally hardy Mediterranean herb, and when I checked in early spring, all of the plants were very, very dead. I’ve replanted new rosemary in pretty much the same place (sunny, great drainage, protected from wind) so hopefully it will live at least a few more years.

The herb spiral itself had been taken over by lavender, so it was basically a glorious lavender hill, with no room for anything else to grow. I don’t think the winter completely killed the plants (lavender is surprisingly tough, at least the hardier cultivars) but they were badly enough off that I decided it was time to take them out. I’ve added new soil into the herb spiral and begun planting more herbs. No lavender this time! I have room for it in other places where it can grow into shrubs.

Changes happen every year in the garden—big ones or small ones, but always some. Enjoy the early summer weather as you transform your own gardening spaces, one small task or one giant refreshment at a time.

By Erica Smith, Montgomery County Master Gardener. Read more posts by Erica.