Garden Rescue

I weeded the garden yesterday. After doing hardly any gardening at all in 2022 and 2023, it felt good to put in some work and see some pretty dramatic results.

The last few years have been really hard. For a long time, I was unable to do a lot of the things that are important to me. Although I did what I had to do to survive, it’s hard not to feel regret over practices neglected and opportunities lost. Looking at the overgrown garden choked with weeds made me feel frustrated and guilty. Getting outside to fix the problem was healing in more ways than one.

Here’s what the garden looked like before. It was actually more or less fine for a long time, then it suddenly filled up with grass. As you can see, grass became the dominant plant in the garden. The grass monster extended beyond the edges of the garden because the Echinacea pallida flopped over and the lawn service just mowed around it. There were other weeds in there too, particularly around the back side of the fence. Most of the plants that are supposed to be there weren’t doing too well.

I was fortunate to have an uninterrupted block of time to tackle the garden project this weekend. I managed to weed this whole area. The grass was a pain to remove because it had horizontal roots running all through the garden but it was also really satisfying to pull those roots out. I thoroughly enjoyed restoring the garden, to the point that I lost track of time for the first time in longer than I can remember.

It’s looking a lot better. I was surprised to see how much space there is around the native perennials. I had the impression that they were all crowding each other out and needed to be lifted and divided. I still think that’s the case but it’s not as bad as I thought. While it’s fine to lift and divide perennials in autumn, the guidelines I found suggested doing it a couple weeks before the first frost to give the roots time to reestablish. It’s a good thing I didn’t chance it because the first frost was this morning! The plants will be fine as they are until spring.

There wasn’t nearly so much grass on the back side but it also needed a fair amount of attention. One thing I realized as I worked was just how much the Rudbeckia fulgida has spread. It’s always been the happiest plant in the garden – it must really like the conditions – but it has become, as Monty Don would say, a bit of a thug. Some of the plants on this side had powdery mildew over the summer; I think it’s because the rudbeckia was restricting air flow around them. Some of the rudbeckia will definitely have to go come spring but I’m hoping we can find somewhere else to put it since it is a really nice plant. The plants on the left are Carex pensylvanica and Deschampsia cesipitosa, which are indeed grasses (well, sedge and grass), but they’re not the invasive grass that was choking out all the other plants. I’ve realized that they look a bit silly in this kind of border but they were planted intentionally and behave themselves just fine. Cleaning up this side was fairly quick work.

The final step in this project was adding mulch. Believe it or not, we’ve never mulched this garden, and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for ages. Mulch will help suppress weeds and retain moisture. It also looks really nice!

Mulching was quick and easy. While I’m glad the garden will have the benefits of mulch next summer, I’m also just looking forward to how pretty it will look when the bulbs bloom in spring. They’ve never had a backdrop this nice before. Those shabby-looking little pots on the patio in the “before” photo contained daffodil bulbs leftover from a potted display this spring; before I mulched, I planted those bulbs on the back side of the garden. The spring bulb display on the back side is really lacking and we haven’t had a chance to improve it properly but a handful of daffodils can’t hurt. The garden is now ready to sleep over the winter and hopefully return in good health come spring.

While this isn’t our only garden area, it’s by far the biggest and it was the most sorely in need of help. With this project done, I’m feeling motivated to tackle the rest: the front walkway, the front corner garden, the tiny area around the air conditioner, and the container vegetable and herb garden. Once that’s all done, looking at my little outdoor space will hopefully make me feel hopeful and energized instead of frustrated and guilty. I’m already a good part of the way there.