{"id":2988,"date":"2016-05-28T14:23:48","date_gmt":"2016-05-28T21:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2016-05-28T14:23:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-28T21:23:48","slug":"gardening-advice-from-the-quirky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/28\/gardening-advice-from-the-quirky\/","title":{"rendered":"Gardening advice from the quirky"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_0136<\/p>\n

OK I have a gardening book I have to write.<\/p>\n

The impetus: \u00a0The deck redo( still in progress)<\/p>\n

This work is pushing a general look around and clean up. \u00a0Whoa. \u00a0Who forgot to do any gardening for the last couple years?<\/p>\n

I live in a village on the side of a mountain. \u00a0Some people living here have gorgeous well tended gardens but there’s lots of room for those who prefer the little bit wilder look. \u00a0Whew.<\/p>\n

But things had gotten a little out of hand and last week my brave helper and I took a deep breath and dove in. \u00a0Hack and slash gardening at its finest.<\/p>\n

\"thumb_IMG_0128_1024<\/p>\n

This is just some. \u00a0It turned into twenty-five bags of green stuff, with more to go.<\/p>\n

\"thumb_IMG_0129_1024<\/p>\n

I highly begrudge how small that pile looks. \u00a0In real life it looked like it would dwarf an elephant. \u00a0I swear.<\/p>\n

So, the book. \u00a0Here’s the Jennifer Tan method of gardening. \u00a0Pick away for\u00a0a while, a couple of years or whatever, plant some hopefuls, but at some point just leave it. \u00a0Maybe eight years or so. \u00a0Do the odd bit, take off some rhododendron heads or wave a set of clippers at the ivy occasionally but for the most part adopt the, “Garden? What garden?” philosophy.<\/p>\n

When you go back in use the biggest clippers, the hackiest pruning saws. \u00a0I definitely saw an axe. \u00a0Dress for battle.<\/p>\n

And in the middle of the raze you’ll come across some old friends. \u00a0Things you planted hopefully years ago and assumed had breathed their last under the ivy or periwinkle but have somehow held on, thrived even, and have been patiently waiting to be rediscovered. \u00a0Bless their hearts.\u00a0 For such an overgrown spot I’ve found so many beautiful little corners where the things planted years ago have worked together to make a whimsical little spot.<\/p>\n

\"thumb_IMG_0130_1024<\/p>\n

And where I used to agonize over where to plant things, what to plant beside what, now things have on their own creeped across and bunched up in groups\u00a0that look so fun and playful. \u00a0And I’m so grateful! \u00a0Maybe the book will have to be called “Grateful Gardening: \u00a0Loving the Things in your Garden You Had Nothing to Do With.”<\/p>\n

“Giddy Gardening: \u00a0Hey it’s Still Here.”<\/p>\n

“Hack, Slash, and Gush: \u00a0An Exuberant Treasure Hunt for the Ones that Held On.”<\/p>\n

Maybe?<\/p>\n

I have a confession too. \u00a0I was especially grateful to some of the plants above and to some nearby grasses. \u00a0I remembered buying them one day three or four years ago while I talked to a friend on my phone, and we tried to solve the world’s and our kids’ problems as I shopped the sale rack at the nursery. \u00a0It was off season so there were lots of deals for plants who weren’t looking their very finest. \u00a0I brought them home and set them out waiting to plant them, and then didn’t. \u00a0Ugh. \u00a0Summer got hot and they looked at me sadly, asking at least for a sip of water if I wasn’t going to give them a proper home. \u00a0Life continued to keep me out of the garden I guess and I was so mad at myself for the waste of buying and not planting but still they didn’t get planted. \u00a0So last week when I was rediscovering them I remembered this and was so delighted that they’d hung in somehow and looked so great. \u00a0In the back of my mind I was surprised that I must have gone back and planted them at some point.<\/p>\n

Then as the week went on I got suspicious. \u00a0I went out and dug my hands way down in the periwinkle that these are set into and… yup. \u00a0There they were. \u00a0The pots. \u00a0I never did plant the poor things. \u00a0And now I’m stumped. Do I mess with them now???<\/p>\n

Maybe I’ll at least give them a drink of water.<\/p>\n

Although today mother nature is doing that a little too well. \u00a0November is revisiting the Coast, with buckets of rain and chill temps. Ugh.<\/p>\n

Another tough soul — because only the tough ones survive around here, as you can see — is the honeysuckle from out on the porch. While the deck is torn up I have cut back the honeysuckle, moved the pot to the side of the house with some of its trellis and am telling it to hang on and soon it can go back to the front and go nuts. \u00a0But that one stem is telling me to go suck eggs and heading for the hills right now. \u00a0There’s always one. \u00a0Hang on little honeysuckle.<\/p>\n

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It was so nice being out there slashing and hacking, and then filling up those bags. \u00a0Did I tell you how many? \u00a0Thirty-five? \u00a0No decisions needed except when to start on a new bag.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0133<\/p>\n

I have a humming bush as the bees are going nuts for this right now. \u00a0I stood there trying to catch a picture of one but they just never stop moving and it’s impossible to know what direction they’re going in next. \u00a0I started just taking pictures and then looking to see if there were any bees in them. \u00a0This bee seemed to be rocking his blurriness quite well. \u00a0There’s an especially large number of bees this year because it turns out they’ve made a nest at the base of the deck in the side of my house so they are enjoying\u00a0both this California lilac and\u00a0the short commute from home. \u00a0My<\/em> home. \u00a0Crossing my fingers we can figure out their nest. \u00a0They are not happy about the work being done around them and when my builder drops a tool they come out to give him a good look (brave soul), but I so hate to get rid of them. \u00a0 Bees\u00a0are having a hard time, I think.<\/p>\n

But also… get out of my house!!!<\/p>\n

This little guy was knocking on my door as I went past one time. \u00a0How does he make his butt curl up like that? \u00a0I think Pippin is going to need to do some fancy butt-ed bugs.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0134<\/p>\n

So that was the start of the catch-up gardening saga. \u00a0Hope to continue plugging away as the summer moves along. \u00a0I’ve rediscovered that this garden that I’ve felt so guilty over has beautiful bones. \u00a0And a forgiving heart. \u00a0Thank goodness!<\/p>\n

I’ll let you know when the book comes out. \u00a0It will be $19.95 or you can come and bag 20 bags of trimmings.<\/p>\n

Because I told you I filled so many right? \u00a0At least fifty.<\/p>\n

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