Thursday, June 4, 2020

Staying at Home and Still Successfully Gardening by Nancy Shepard


Pixabay - Salvia May Night

With the stay-at-home order, the nurseries were closed and I couldn’t go plant shopping. Yet my garden was fully awake and starting to give its best spring show. Last year I had re-landscaped my front yard and was still filling it in with perennials last fall.  As I toured the backyard and saw the masses of plants developing, it occurred to me that I already had new perennials for the front yard if I just used what the backyard already had.


Stachys byzantina  (Lambs Ear) – this one had become a rampant intruder into multiple beds and was trying to edge out my peony and poppy making it a great candidate for dividing. I chopped out three big chunks and transplanted them in to the front yard berms.
Nancy Shepard
Nancy Shepard
Salvia sylvestris ‘May Night’ (May Night Sage) – my backyard specimen had always been overgrown and was due to be cut way back. I dug out big pieces around the roots and put these into small pots to produce some new salvia plants that will soon join those already in the front yard with the ornamental onions, Allium aflatunense 'Purple Sensation.'
Nancy Shepard

Nancy Shepard
Vegetable Seeds – I had only managed to buy a few new seed packets for cool weather veggies before the stay-at-home-order, but found old seed packets, some expired 3 years ago, and successfully sowed rows of lettuce and kale.
Nancy Shepard

Nancy Shepard
All of this lifted my gardening spirits while teaching me that sometimes I already have what I need. But now that the nurseries are opening, my mask and I are carefully planning to go out.


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