Applegater Winter 2017
9
DIRTY FINGERNAILS AND ALL
Structure, function, and vision
BY SIOUX ROGERS
The overstated-but-
underrated “Wow, I
can’t believe it’s winter
already” just happened!
In cold climates with
well demarcated
seasons, winter is often
when you pore over
all the plentiful seed
and plant catalogs. It’s
a wonderful time to
hunker down, plan
ahead, review, and
preview. Most likely
your garden is rather
bare, so it’s a great time
to check things out.
Finally, look...you can
see the trees through
the forest.
Gardens age,
change, need a new
“address,” don’t eat
well, miss a friend
who used to live next
door but was eaten by
a gopher, really want
to be left alone or are
no longer serving the
intended purpose.
Time to reevaluate.
A “s u c c e s s f u l ”
garden is comprised
of several features,
easily expressed in a
variety of ways. For example, a garden has
structure, function, and perhaps a vision,
be it large or small. OMG, what am I
talking about?
Structure
Structure can be created by paths, large
boulders, big or small pots, permanent
planting beds, and garden art of any
of walkable ground cover, or just
grass. The size of your garden,
unless it is on your windowsill, is
unimportant. What is important
is trying to incorporate the trio
previously mentioned: structure,
function, and vision.
Most gardens have a “better”
structure when the garden area
is not completely flat. I like big
mounds, irregular ground swells,
boulders, rocks, and garden art
to delineate and separate areas.
“Garden art” can be formal
weatherproof artwork or old rusty
Create structure in your garden with permanent paths.
stuff like bicycles, tricycles, and
(Photo: mgnova.files.wordpress.com.)
wagon wheels. No right or wrong,
just your preference. Perhaps you
can mentally divide spaces easier
if you think of garden structure as
outdoor rooms—divided spaces
can be “hints,” like a bench partially
dividing one area from the other.
That is my skinny on “structure.”
Function
Now for the “function” of your
garden. Once again, this is a very
loose interpretation. At the far
end of “function” can be a ghastly
and messy place for you to look
at and complain about. I guess
that works if complaining can be
Create a quiet spot in your garden for yourself. labeled a “function.” On the other
(Photo: i.pinimg.com.) hand, feeding birds and wildlife is
a wonderful and generous garden
shape, size, or theme. When I think of function. (If you haven’t already, next year
garden “structure,” I mean that which remember to leave some food in the garden
you can easily see in the middle of winter. for the winter birds.)
It is basically the permanent part of
We had large grape and tomato crops
your garden; even if you rearrange your this year. The grapes were too numerous
plants, structure remains. Paths can be to easily pick and the tomatoes ripened
well-worn foot trails comprised of pea or did something weird, but the chickens
gravel, flagstone, broken concrete, trails and wild birds told me their treats are A-1
perfect. Great! So
Sioux Rogers
function can have
many facets. I have mentioned two: a
complaining focus and bird food.
Other functions are more likely a
combination of several attributes. The
garden feeds you, the birds, and your
friends. Tending your garden is very
meditative if you allow yourself to be
present as you “work.” If you are designing
your own garden from start to finish,
allow for a “quiet” spot. If you move to an
existing garden, see what you can rearrange
in order to create a quiet spot. This is your
choice of where and what, a formal or an
informal quiet corner. For example, a log
you can sit on that’s tucked into a corner
works fine as a quiet spot.
Because my own garden is psychotically
overlarge, it serves many functions. We
feed the birds, etc., but I can also run
around on the paths and not get my
feet wet (my sweetheart’s idea), pick and
share bundles of flowers, and take spring
asparagus as a hostess gift. Those are just a
few of my garden’s functions.
Vision
Lastly, do you have a vision for your
garden? This can be as simple as wanting to
grow grapes over a small metal arbor that
originally was a “space divider.” Or it can
be monumental, like planning a garden
as a teaching place for a nearby school, a
“smelling” garden for the visually impaired,
or a learning space where all plants are
labeled in Latin and common names. Wow,
that could be a full-time endeavor!
Just enjoy your garden—it will love
you back.
Dirty Fingernails and All,
Sioux Rogers
541-890-9876
dirtyfingernails@fastmail.fm
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