summer soul camp update: gardening

While this is the second summer in Virginia, I’m counting it as the first year of my 5-year gardening plan. I needed to live with the yard and see what others were doing in this area. In Pennsylvania, I had a different type of soil to work with along with full-sun conditions. Shade gardening requires a different approach, depending on how I want to fill the beds.

The Plan for This Summer

• fix the drain by the fountain
• wood chips
• build new beds
• work on fountain

My plan for this summer has been about 50% successful. I have not been able to secure free wood chips, though if we decide to do some tree removal this fall, we could have our own wood chips. While I’ve been working on the drain by the fountain, I need some extra muscles to help me dig through the roots by the drain. We’ve stalled working on the fountain, having dealt with other outside projects like the heavenly bamboo and preparing the area for the vegetable garden.

Last summer, my husband and son removed the oak tree that was in this bed. Visually, the tree disrupted the view of the yard, preventing people from seeing the beautiful crape myrtles on the side of our house. Removing the tree also opened up an area that could function as a vegetable garden. We’re fortunate that the previous owners installed an underground watering system, including a spigot in this particular bed.

My husband dug out the stump and removed it last weekend.

With the stump gone, we can relocate the large rocks to other beds. The lavender mint at the back of the bed will be moved by our butterfly bushes in September. I have another one at the back of the house to match this one.

We have a tree in an adjacent bed to remove that is shading this area. We also need to figure out how the vegetable beds will be arranged. Thanks to the ever-present deer, we will need to provide some type of fencing to keep them from marauding through our vegetables.

Finally, as my compost is ready enough, I’ve been using cardboard and the compost to build a new full sun bed by the butterfly bushes and extend other beds.