'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. 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