Coming Full Circle

Yesterday Steve and I installed our new "circle garden". The garden was already there - there were three circles across the back yard that had fruit trees in them at some point (only an ancient cherry to the left of this circle remains). But this will be the first year I truly tried to garden here productively.

For the past five years, I have gardened in a p-patch, a neighborhood community garden about a mile from home. I am now even on the Board of Directors of P-Patch Trust, the nonprofit that supports a land conservancy initiative and assists the city with management of over 70 gardens across the city.

The problem with p-patches is that it's not in your back yard. When I first became involved as a gardener it was because I was interested in being part of a community, and also saving money in water costs. Other than watering, which I did when I used to say I could hear the plants crying and telling me they had reached their absolute limit, I could go out for monthly guerilla weeding operations, and often drag an unwilling Steve along for an hour under the hot sun. It was really hard on my back and I needed the help - a 200 square foot garden is pretty big for one person (and a playfield for tons of weeds).

Last year our p-patch was supposed to go under the bulldozer for redevelopment. It has been there for about 25 years and the whole area was going to be re-done as a really nice park, and the p-patch was going to receive improvements. So I was afraid to invest too much into it. I adopted Sophia in May, as a walking companion and also to keep me company in the garden. She visited the p-patch with me only once. She sat there, bored out of her mind, and then constantly would walk around and tangle her rope with plants and other people's garden hardware. It was more trouble than it was worth. I never went back.

Last fall we bought 10 yards of dirt to renovate the side yard. I hired a designer after I had the fence built, and there was a lot of labor involved in stripping out about 6 inches of sod and clay then hauling in new soil. Thanks to my friends Katie and Steve (who were paid - we're pretty good friends but I still value their time) and Stephen who helped too, my "perennial retreat" is on its way to being a really nice oasis.

Meanwhile, about 3 yards of really nice soil remained in the driveway. Yesterday Steve hauled most of it to my circle garden in the back yard. With this input of new soil, this could finally be a really good gardening space. And it was right here at home - in Sophia's yard. She could keep me company without being bored on the end of a rope.

The hill seen closest to the front of the photo is what's called an "herb spiral". You build a big mound, and then create a spiral design that you plants herb in, starting at the bottom and working your way up. I chose rosemary, lemon thyme, chives, and Italian flat leaf parsley, with an alpine strawberry crowning the spiral. There';s room for more. By watering the spiral from the top down you are water efficient, and are able to pack more plants in by working vertically.

The curving paths were inspired by the shape of the garden and the spiral position. It seemed a natural thing to do after the spiral was built, I am very pleased with how it looks.

To the right hand side is the salad section, with several kinds of heirloom leaf lettuces and some edible flowers. To the left side is Persi's grave marker, with creeping wooly thyme and another perennial as a permanent companion to the statue. To the left of this Steve planted carrot seeds. The trellis behind is for three kinds of fragrant sweet peas, one of which will get to 7 feet tall. And on the far right but invisible here are a number of small strawberry plants that survived from last year and I had to honor their survival by keeping them.

There's a lot of room to add more plants. We're big on salad, so will be picking out some more great varieties later in the season. I am also contemplating a tomato plant - I usually grow several every year but you have to be really good about watering them. I will be getting less sun here than at the p-patch, but maybe it will be enough. Lord knows, I have no excuse to not water every day if needed!

After working in the garden, Steve needs a nap. Sophia is always available for nap time. Havana was laying down on him at first but I disturbed her. Many mornings she will walk up your body and wake you with her whiskers tickling your face as she smells your breath.