The Current Garden Space

So there it is. The garden. The wonder of my world in the spring and the bane of my existence in the late summer when the vines and weeds have taken over. But this year I'm bound and determined this space will remain in my wonder until it's covered in snow.

I think open space in a yard is to a gardener what a prime $29.95 Las Vegas buffet is to those who love food. We see space. We.must.fill.space. Space gets filled. Summer comes. Weeds come. We go on vacation. End of happy garden buffet. This piece has gotten bigger over time and I'll admit to most of it being wasted.

So what do you see in my space? (picture below) In the lower left corner is the 'nursery'. Extra plants, transplants, things I bought but didn't find a space for. At one time it was also filled with beautiful Iris. I got a wild idea one day to dig 'em all up to treat 'em for Iris bore. Then I forgot to treat 'em and they died. Sad moment in my gardening life and never to be mentioned again after this post.

As you move up from the lower left you see an inlet of grass (okay, really it's clover and weekds but grass sounds better) creeping into what used to be some decent strawberrries. I might find a few plants in there still, we'll see this spring what I can salvage. We finish off with the blackberries and raspberries. They need a new home, too, but that location has yet to be determined so for now the stay. Now on to the working part of the garden...

By August this area is the bane of my existence. On the left are some grasses we purchased at a garden center auction, oh....let's see...maybe three years ago? Still in holding. Behnd them and between the fence is a space where I had some tomatoes and bell peppers last year. On the lower right is the bean/pea/cucumber tent. In the upper right corner is The Kid's sandbox and between it and the fence are some daylilly seedlings The Husband planted a few years ago (also in holding, see a pattern here?). This is the area we'll be utilizing the square foot gardening techniques in. The rest will be turned back into lawn so The Kid has more work to do this summer.

It's another cloudy, cool, breezy day here in central Iowa. The forecast calls for more rain, hopefully it will come to an end soon and I can get dirty again. Happy garden dreams!