an invitation to the garden

I grew up in a village so gardening was always around, never too attractive or interesting to get engaged. Yet, the older you get the wiser you become. So here we go, this is me in the middle of nowhere planning my beautiful garden.

Hopefully after these few posts I can trust you enough to share my secret that the garden doesn't exist yet. This nowhere is however our property so this is where the garden will be one day... not clear yet when. With this vast land though it's for sure a lot of room to create, plant and grow beauty.

My mother tried to instill a love for garden beauty although as the picture shows I was not very into it initially. My grandparents were farmers so the life revolved around the seasons. Starting in the spring, growing over summer, harvesting in fall and eating over the winter. I do recall picking flowers for table decoration, apples for compote, nuts for cakes, cucumbers for pickles, mushrooms for drying and storing potatoes in the food cellar.

Over the years my desires have changed and now I want flowers, shrubs, greenery like decorative grass, herbs, vegetables, fruit and nuts trees. I want my children to have good memories about the gardening and maybe few funny pictures too.

So what do I do in order to prepare for my dream garden?

Learn by watching and asking others...

There's some technical stuff you start with:

1. removing weeds and roots

2. turning the soil

3. bringing compost

4. soil testing

5. adding nutrition.

For more pleasant and beautiful work I asked my friend Joanna about her beautiful garden. She has gorgeous bushes. Pretty flowers. Nice greenery. She points out some important things that I might not think about. Exposure to the sun throughout the day. How will the plants look like over the winter? I'm also always curious how much maintenance will the beauties require.

to get inspired...

Here are a few picks from her garden. Pictures are taken by her husband - Piotr.

Armeria Martima Rosea

Sea Thrift

Pillow-like, evergreen perennial, up to 6 inches high. Grass leaves, ball shaped purple-pink flowers. Blooms from May to September.

Rhododendron Maruschka

Japanese Azalea

A low shrub that impresses with its spectacular flowering in spring, changes its color beautifully in autumn and evergreen leaves in the winter.

Prunus laurocerasus

English Laurel

An evergreen shrub with beautiful shiny leathery leaves. Good for privacy hedges. Blooms in May, the flowers smell like honey and has black fruit.

Berberis Thunbergii

Gold Pillar Barberry

A thorny shrub with a columnar shape, grows to about 5 feet. Blooms in May. Leaves turn orange in autumn and is decorated with red fruit. Barberries are frost-resistant.

There are few more things about beauty when it comes to gardening. Being outside after a long winter is refreshing, working with the soil is relaxing. The more I do it the more I like it. Plus, there's nothing that motivates me more than watching my progress. So day by day I see how this little things finally do come out, grow, reveal their beauty... Sometimes you're also granted with a pleasant smell. Then you ask "Who is the real Creator of these things?"

So what are we waiting for?

finally try!

I decided to plant some vegetable from seeds. My success rate is not 100% yet... but the sun is shining and even though it's still to cold to start anything outside the seedlings are great for inside. They remind you that the spring is here. My favorite vegetable are tomatoes. Probably because I still remember its smell from my grandparents greenhouse and I would like to have a greenhouse in the future too. I started with few types since I'm not sure what will work. They are:

• Sweetie - as the name implies sweet, good for salad and I like to stuff them for appetizers

• Roma - recommended for sauces and paste

• San Marzano - likes my climate zone and with little seeds

• Delicious - big size, perfect for sandwiches and burgers.

I also got bell peppers because I really like them too and they all grew nicely. And there was a plan for cucumbers but they didn't make it...

They all are about 5 weeks old and they'll be going to bigger containers. I didn't quite figure out the amount of water they need and why their leaves turn a little bit yellowish.

baby steps...

As soon as the weather is warm we go with planting outside! I'll be planting some other vegetables just from the seeds but directly to the ground. Our current garden is not so big but... oh well you need to start somewhere. I already turned the soil, picked up some weeds, removed the old roots and stones. I also found some compost from last fall that did not fully break down. This tells me I did not fully learn how to compost last year. The soil however is ready for this year's season. We'll see what can we harvest in fall. We hopefully can grow some flowers and greenery on the front porch too. So we pray to God to bless our gardening attempts!

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Joanna

a beautiful friend, with a sensitive, gentle and caring heart for people... and plants too.