Ungardening
I have been inactive on this blog for a while. I still garden, but have been doing other writing and also haven’t undertaken any new garden projects recently. And this year, when I go outside to work on the garden it hasn’t been very satisfying. I feel like I am always “ungardening.” Most of my garden work this spring has been cleaning up storm damage. I am still a gardener, just a little discouraged this year.
Ungardening: Earlier in the spring I took out a dead shrub and removed another shrub that had become overgrown and too big for its spot. I probably shouldn’t have taken everything out, because I didn’t have a new plan for that part of the yard yet, and I had several trips in May and June which impacted my available garden time, not to mention full-time work. Still just a blank space on the side of the yard. Waiting for inspiration. This ungardening activity was before the following weather-related and unplanned projects.
Ungardening: The Mother’s Day snow storm in Denver split my Hawthorne tree. We spent part of a day cutting down the rest of it. Now I am trying to dig the roots out of the yard, and I don’t have a plan for the space. I will probably wait until fall and fill in with perennials. The other tree in our front yard is an Ash tree, which is now susceptible to the ash borer travelling across the country, so I was especially sad to see the Hawthorne go. It was my backup tree if the Ash dies.
Working on digging out the Hawthorne tree root.
Ungardening: Our flowering plum tree next to the driveway looked ill last year and this spring it became evident that it is all the way dead. We haven’t removed it yet, but would like to remove it and plant a new tree. Another ungardening project.
Ungardening: Just before Easter I planted some big pots of pansies for the entrance to our church. They looked great with our cool, moist spring. Then on June 4 they were shredded by a hailstorm. No problem, I was planning on switching them out for summer flowers. Replanted the pots on June 20 and they got shredded by another hailstorm on June 24. Can’t decide if I will replant or not.
Ungardening: My burning bush shrub in the side yard died – probably due to the cold snap we had in November, when the plants were not yet dormant due to warm weather, and the temperature dropped to subfreezing in one day. I took it out and haven’t decided what to do there.
There are definitely bright spots in my garden. A few rose bushes I planted a couple of years ago are filling in nicely. I also have a rose bush I transplanted that looked completely dead, but now there are shoots growing up and a couple of buds on the shoots. Hope.
I spent most of my gardening time this week raking up branches and leaves from storms. I won’t give up, but usually June and July are the months to enjoy the garden. This year, I guess I’ll sip ice tea on my porch and plan my re-gardening projects for the fall. Discouraged but not dissuaded.
Urban Garden Denver Blog 