It’s June 2022 and the gardens are filling in just the way I dreamed they would. When we moved onto this patch of sand, I was surprised how new plants would get swallowed up, despite the mulch that should have protected and nourished them. I realized over time that wood chip mulch, even simply layered on top of the ground and not tilled in, was protective and encouraging to the perennials, trees and shrubs at my previous property… but was something to be overcome by my plants here.
Yes, wood chips help retain moisture in this well drained soil – but since the soil is so nutrient poor to start with, wood chips have inhibited the growth of some delicate species and I’ve found that using a mulch that is easier for microbes to break down was been important to allow things to flourish the way I would like.
Compost has always been an important part of tending my plants and gardens, but in the past 3 years I’ve found that using shredded leaves as mulch has been helpful, while using wood chips in paths and between planting areas suppresses weeds while SLOWLY building the soil in those areas.
Nothing is fast when it comes to gardening in sand.
As I said earlier, things are filling in and though I put in the keystone shrubs and trees based on spacing of the mature plants, I have been tucking in new things and adding plants every season. Beds have expanded beyond the original plan and I still have my eye on the empty lot behind me as a significant addition of real estate to the property. We are closer to making another offer to the current owners and hope our terms are acceptable.
I have MANY plants already set aside to live in that space and we all know the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.
So, how are things growing out there?
The good news – after cutting down both Nanking cherry bushes last spring, and treating the area with fresh living compost a few times, I believe the blight/rust that attacked them is under control. I will continue to monitor the plants, but they have come back beautifully and I’m looking forward to fruit again from them next year.
Grapes are on the grape vines covering this arbor this year! I can’t wait to taste my first grapes from the garden. It’s so delightful to grow something new and watch how the plant matures and fruit develops. I didn’t realize that grapes flowered the way they do. Unfortunately, the invasive spotted lanternfly have found my yard in Ocean County, New Jersey and I have killed quite a few nymphs that are attracted to the grape vines and fig trees. Thankfully – I can reach every part of these plants at this point to deal with whatever I find – but I am concerned about what will happen when these insects mature and start laying egg masses around the yard.
The goumi berries are ripening now and they produce so much fruit it’s incredible! The berries are delicious and I’m so glad I added these to the yard. The Arctic Beauty hardy kiwi flowered this year, but only one of the 2 plants flowered – so I don’t think I’ll be harvesting kiwi yet. 5 of the American ginseng also came back so they seem to like where they are planted in a shady corner under the oak tree. Will they flourish and spread to form a colony? I hope so!
The new Olympian and Brown Turkey (or Mission, not sure which variety) fig came back this year (1st spring returning since I planted them in the ground last summer) and I recently read that if you pinch the growing tips of your fig branches around July 4th it should encourage fruit production. I’m going to give it a try.
I’ve added a few new plants this year including 2 golden raspberries, a moiga hardy ginger, 3 black cohosh. I ordered 2 Chickasaw plum trees from an Ebay seller and this was the first time in quite a while I’ve been disappointed in the plants that were shipped to me. The person sent poorly packaged, very small knobs from roots with a green shoot coming out of each one. In shipping, the green part broke off of one of the roots. Rather than putting them in the ground, I’ve potted them up and I’m keeping a close eye on them, hoping for some new growth to tell me they recovered from the shock. I doubt it will work – but I’m trying to be positive.
Garden challenges this year
There have been some bumps in the road for the garden in 2022. The voles are in rare form. Maybe because the plants have been doing so well and filling in… the voles have decided mynjgarden is the place to be! Thankfully, we have some neighborhood felines that are helping patrol the property and hunt these critters. I’ve seen one, just one, chipmunk this year during strawberry season, which seems outrageous… so I know these kitties are serious hunters. The voles have destroyed a lungwort, my horseradish, a joe pye, a bleeding heart, half the ramps I planted last spring and I think they are nibbling some of the tomato roots because one will look fine and the one right next to it will look stressed and wilted. They also seem to love the spice bush – but that is hanging on and trying really hard to withstand the attack.
I moved the joe pye and the pulmonaria (lung wort) to other areas of the yard and they seem to be recovering. I’ll need to get my hands on another horseradish root to start again with that. I WISH it would spread like wildfire the way so many other gardeners warn me about… I just can’t seem to make that plant happy here.
These apple trees had their last chance this year (I threaten this every season) but I probably won’t cut them down. I want to just get lovely apples from them, is that too much to ask? Apparently so, because the polyculture that surrounds these trees is not enough to protect them from the pests that love to pierce them and deposit who-knows-what inside the fruit.
The peppers are struggling this year, but I already see green tomatoes on the vine so I need to do more than my typical stroll around the garden to visit my plants and get my butt in gear. Those tomatoes aren’t going to tie themselves up, are they?
The work and struggle is worth every drop of sweat because the garden is my personal paradise that I love to share and continue to develop. I put my heart into the soil, here. This is where I belong.