I am writing in the garden. To write as one should of a garden one must write not outside it or merely somewhere near it, but in the garden. -Frances Hodgson Burnett The bubbling water fountain made the difference. Two years ago, we moved to Moscow and bought our house near East City Park. It is a fairly typical city lot with no special features, except of course, the many mature neighborhood trees that make Moscow such a pleasant place.
In The July Garden:
Continue succession plantings of beets, bush beans, carrots, chard, kohlrabi and lettuce;
Keep roses, perennials and annuals blooming by removing (deadheading) spent blossoms;
Hardy geraniums that bloomed early should be cut to the ground after bloom to promote fresh foliage growth;
Support tall-growing plants;
Use a strong water spray on aphids, encourage their predators by providing a bird friendly garden;
Keep hummingbird feeders clean and full of fresh nectar until the young arrive, which are primarily fed insects;
Water in the early morning hours only. | Since gardening is my thing, I set out creating spaces for perennials and shrubs in the front and back yards with a mind towards creating a welcoming place for wildlife. The National Wildlife Federation has a Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary Program, which I have qualified for in former gardens, and I always use their recommendations to provide “water, food, cover and places to raise young” whenever I build a new garden. In the past, I have provided a birdbath, which creatures have been happy to use. This spring, I created a small water fountain using two ceramic pots I bought at a nursery. As with any Do-It-Yourself project, it took a few trips to the hardware and plumbing stores to get all in place, but the total cost (excluding the pots) of pump and accessories was under $20. Ever since, the birds have been drawn to the backyard. Within a day, several birds flew in that I had not seen previously. In the first summer of the garden, I removed some lawn and planted a small perennial garden outside the kitchen window in the backyard. Many of the perennials were chosen from lists of butterfly and wildlife-attracting species. I placed a bird feeder containing black-oil sunflower seeds near a small willow, and two birdhouses at the back of the lot. In the second summer, my husband, The Sailing Guy, and I built three raised beds for vegetables and some hog-wire fencing for dog control but allowing other critters passage through our yard. I bought native shrubs (also chosen for their attractiveness to wildlife) and planted them along the back fence line to fill in the open areas, and put up a hummingbird feeder and then a thistle seed feeder when I saw goldfinches in late summer. And now, beginning our third summer, we have added another raised bed for raspberry and blueberry bushes (and thereby eliminating more lawn), two more birdhouses, two full-time thistle seed feeders and the bubbling water fountain. We are no longer mowing the grass at the back of the property and plan to stack a few branches there for a brush-pile shelter. We bought a mason bee block because bee activity on our fruit trees was negligible this spring. Honeybees are in a serious decline due to parasites and disease, making it mandatory for us all to add bee nesting sites to our gardens. The level of wildlife activity continues to increase. Most mornings, I can be found there with my binoculars and cup of coffee watching the passing scene. This spring and summer, I have seen butterflies, a raccoon, squirrels, sparrows, house and gold finches, chickadees, yellow warbler, sharpshinned hawk, northern flicker, nuthatch, juncos, robins and a pair of cedar waxwings. I hear pheasant and quail. Two broods have been fledged in the birdhouses and another is in progress. As if that isn't enough, there is a garden full of peas, lettuce, rhubarb, pie cherries and blossoms. And a summer ahead to enjoy it.
Holly Barnes enjoys writing about her garden almost as much as she enjoys relaxing in it. |
