'JUNES GARDEN
DIRT and Then Some!
Many years ago, in the spring o f 1981 when I
first started this garden 175 feet from the Northwest
Pacific coastline, my idea was to grow all varieties of
blooming flowers, a few vegetables, herbs, and a row
o f raspberries. Little did I realize the problems that
lay ahead. By the end o f that first summer my garden
was a disaster, other than nasturtiums which seemed
to thrive no matter what the weather conditions were.
A windstorm in July blew down the trellis of
sweet peas that had grown to almost 6 feet tall and
had started to bloom. A rainstorm that summer
turned some of m y flower beds into swamps. The clay
soil, even though I had added organic matter by fall
turned back to hard packed clay. When I’d dug a deep
hole to plant a shrub I found the water level was only
about a foot under ground. Another windstorm in late
August finished off the tall blooming plants, breaking
their stems. I found them all lying on the ground and
being eaten by slugs. The moles, however, were
successful as they tunneled through wherever I had
spaded and loosened the ground. I’d had experience
of creating other gardens in different locations in
Oregon, and also a successful garden on the rocky
shores o f an island in Washington, but I soon learned
it took more than DIRT (stand corrected, SOIL) to
have a garden so close to the Northwest Pacific
coastline.
The next spring, placed in key positions to
ward off the winds, I had picket-style fences built,
some at various heights leaving about a one-inch gap
between slats which helped filter the wind. The fences
didn’t stop the enormous amount o f energy stored in
the wind, but they did help to slow it down.
I had drainage pipe installed, covering the
ditches with sand and rock. These graveled areas
created paths that divided the garden in sections.
Leaving some lawn to remain and the graveled
patches undisturbed, I built raised beds about an inch
deep in the middle o f the garden. I added organic
matter to the soil I had delivered to fill the raised beds
and have continued each year to add more compost,
either m y own or a commercial blend o f compost and
fertilizer. The soil in these beds has become light and
fluffy and all the plants healthy. These plants develop
earlier, as the soil in these beds warms up sooner than
ground-level flower beds.
Around the perimeter o f the back yard I raised
the soil level, adding new soil to firm the area. I
planted some pine and a few deciduous trees and
shrubs. The fences, trees and shrubs did help to
protect the yard from the south and west winds.
Eventually my small utility room was full of
garden tools, containers, bags of fertilizer, and all that
is needed to maintain a garden. A garden shed was
needed.
I had one built at the south end o f my deck.
The shed I now call my garden room, walls of the
house, and a short fence that connected the house to
the shed provided more protection from the winds for
me to have a sunny area for chairs and a table and a
place for containers to fill with annuals each spring. I
later added another shed that connected to the garden
room for ladders, wheelbarrows, and wood for the
fireplace. Both sheds are built high off the ground.
They do not have a cement foundation but instead are
skirted. This allows good ventilation. The roofs are
both covered with corrugated plastic which the
warmth o f sunlight filters through. It’s amazing how
warm the sheds stay, and the metal tools, if cleaned
off properly, have little rust. From the garden and the
deck, because o f added wooden trim one isn’t aware of
the plastic roofs.
The front garden was unprotected from the
direct winds coming from the west and north. A
three-foot picket fence and a hedge o f escallonia and
two pine trees now help protect the small front garden
and entrance. The hedge needs trimming twice a
year. In the fall I leave the new growth to allow the
hedge to grow taller to protect from winter storms.
This helps protect the two rhododendrons, a Forest
Flame leafed pieris, and a variety o f spring-blooming
bulbs I’ve planted.
The conditions o f coastal weather have
designed my garden and have taught me more than
patience, mostly not to be discouraged. There are
rewards: a summer bouquet o f sweet-scented sweet
peas, an artichoke or two for dinner, quarts of
raspberries to make into jam , always mixes of bright-
colored nasturtiums to collect seeds for the gardeners
in the Valley as they claim the colors here are so much
more vibrant than theirs.
I do have to live with the mistakes I’ve made: a
pine tree that needs yearly pruning because I planted
it too close to the house, a Skimmia plant whose
leaves turn yellow from too much afternoon sun
(Skimmia is a shade-loving plant), and a
rhododendron ‘Bell Heller,’ large white blooms with
yellow centers, which tends to grow tall and leggy and
would cover the entrance to my front porch if I didn’t
prune out about a third o f it each year.
It does take more “soil and then some” to have
a successful garden. Gardeners love to share their
acquired experience, and if you’re in doubt either visit
other gardens in similar locations as your own, or
when shopping at the local nurseries ask questions.
Most employees at the nurseries have had years of
experience.
Continued next month: more about combining
plants with different colors, forms, and textures.
A (g T
~
2]äLa»e<k Avenue
Pl an z a n it a,0 r e q on
5 0 3 -3 6 8
Manzanita, Oregon
I t ’s stopped raining finally,
from the windblown slant earlier
to a vertical drizzle, and now
nothing but random drips
the phone wires, comers o f the roof.
Being here, watching out the window
clears my mind when all around me
remains sturdy, silent, blowing,
resisting, then resting, dripping.
Nature reminds me o f her resilience.
o f the,
The houses are all gray and blue,
unpainted, some o f them, crude
and natural, weathered, wearing
the face o f the sea, gruff, hearty
Conifers display their deep greens
tall against a chalk-white sky.
Cars rarely pass An occasional bird.
The ocean is a constant force near
enough to be heard rolling in, loud
against the quiet Rhythmic force
¿Photography
cWorkshops
The natural world calms me, even
its storms Uncomplaining,
unapologetic, shouldering the rain,
allowing the wind its w ill
Trees maintain their foothold,
solid keepers o f time, resolved
A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.
Adlai Stevenson
Photograph the Northwest's spectacular
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COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE - May 19-22. 2 0 0 0
MOUNT RAINIER - September 22-25. 2 0 0 0
LONG BEACH PENINSULA - January 26-29, 2001
OLYMPIC PENINSULA - Mar. 30-Apr 2. 2001
NORTH OREGON COAST - May 4-7, 2001
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