Garden Dreams Part 1

It is one of those beautiful not-quite-summer days today.   The last of the lilacs are in full bloom, the air is filled with the perfume of springtime, and the world is verdant and lovely.

The asparagus is coming to an end, with me letting more and more stalks grow into feathery trees to sustain itself for next year.  Bolted asparagus always reminds me of Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree at first, although eventually they feather out like giant ferns.  Asparagus is beautiful long after it is edible.

This week brought another pleasant surprise – my Easter pansies, left out on a few too-cold nights,  have miraculously come back to life.

My neighbor Melissa and I stole out this afternoon for a few hours of work on the garden expansion.  The seedlings are growing out of their trays, and the threat of frost is past, so now we are racing against time.  We had planned to have the new garden built by now, but between weather and life, we’re trying to get everything done before Flag Day.  Even with a child-free long weekend while my kids are away with Dad in Maine, it’s going to be close.   But a fun kind of cutting it close, with a really neat garden at the end of the process.  I have long dreamed of a potager, and it’s within a week or two of becoming a reality.

What’s left of the old garden, minus the gate, was pulled down and we began to measure the new space:

The new garden will be 42’L by 19’W, with cedar fencing backed in wire fencing to keep out the wildlife.  The wire fencing from last year is likely the only reusable component, but we kept it very simple, knowing we were going to reconfigure.  In width, we are only adding about a foot, although we’re moving the start of it closer to the trench bed, which you can just see the edge of below.  We’re adding about 12′ in length, and more formal beds to make it easier to navigate and weed.  It should look better as well.