A Writer’s Garden–Through the Garden Gates with Anne B. Cole

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A Writer's Garden through the Garden Gates with Anne B. Cole, Catherine Castle's garden blog, garden pictures, Gardening in Indiana, raised row gardening, trench gardening, weed-free gardening

 

Gardening in Raised Beds

By Anne B. Cole

Living in Indiana, I have many challenges when it comes to growing veggies in my garden. This guy is one of them.

As adorable as he is, he has the ability to DESTROY my garden in one eating!

Another challenge is the constant battle with weeds. I’ve learned to overcome these obstacles by gardening in raised beds surrounded by a three-foot chicken wire fence.

In the spring, my husband rototills the garden. Lovely Indiana soil is ready for seed and tender plants.

Next, I dig shallow trenches every three and a half feet to create raised beds. This enables me to walk in the ‘rows’ without stepping on the beds. I can easily hoe, weed, and pick veggies from the rows without compacting the soil around the plants.

The rows also give me a place to discard lawn clippings. Grass and leaf debris from the yard is a fantastic mulch. My son empties the clippings into the rows to keep the weeds from growing and to add an organic fertilizer to the soil.

My bunny friends/enemies are watching, ready for tasty young plants and newly sprouted seedlings so I can’t forget the fence. Made from chicken wire and simple stakes, I reuse this bunny deterrent year after year.

The garden grows and the bunny remains on the outside of the fence.

 

 

By July, the plants grow so much they shade out new weeds in the beds. My son continues to add grass clippings to keep the weeds out of the rows.

 

We enjoy the yummy veggies all summer.

 

In the fall, we continue adding yard clippings, which now have more leaf debris in them. This mulch keeps the weeds down and will be tilled under in the spring when gardening in Indiana starts all over again.

 

What gardening obstacles do you have? And how do you overcome them? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Thanks, Catherine for giving me the opportunity to share my garden (and bunny friend) with your readers.

Happy harvest!

Anne!

Gardener/writer Anne B. Cole has been gardening in three different states over the past thirty years. Her favorite thing about gardening is watching flowers ad plants grow and thrive. When she’s not gardening she’s writing adventure/time travel/sweet romantic suspense. You can learn more about her at www.annebcole.com 

 

 

A Writer’s Garden–Through the Garden Gates with Anne B. Cole

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A garden of memories, A Writer's Garden through the Garden Gates with Anne B. Cole, grandma's flowers, irises, pictures of flowers, romantic suspense, Sweet romance, time travel romance

Gardens of Memories

Digging in fresh tilled dirt. Watching seedlings pop up through the soil in neat rows. Pulling weeds. Picking the first ripe strawberry or tomato or cucumber. I absolutely LOVE to plant and tend to my vegetable garden and I’ll tell you all about my veggies in September right here in A Writer’s Garden.

crocus

 

Today I want to share pictures of flowers. I love all kinds of flowers from spring bulbs to fall asters. Here are a few pictures I snapped of my favorites.

 

Forget me nots

 

 

Butterfly bush

I was blessed to have two grandmothers who influenced me to garden and they gave me many of the flowers I have today. As a child I tagged along while they weeded, picked, divided, and replanted their flowers. My Grandma P. (1919-2004) had a huge vegetable garden and flower beds all around her house. She once told me that weeding the vegetable garden was work, but weeding her flowers was a joy.

Here is one of her favorite blue irises blooming in my flower bed 2015.

My Grandma M. (1917-2014) also had a huge veggie garden and flowers all around her house. She once told me that the best way to learn how to do something is to just do it. Even if it means you mess up a bunch of times.

 

 

Here are pictures of her white irises in my flowerbeds 2015. This is the first spring since her passing.

 

 

 

 

I have never before seen these irises bloom in such beauty and abundance.

To me, flowers are amazing, comforting, and beautiful. Just like the people who gave them to me.

What flowers do you have from a friend or relative? What memories come to mind when you see them bloom? Thanks Catherine for having me here today!

 

 

Gardener/writer Anne B. Cole has been gardening in three different states over the past thirty years. Her favorite thing about gardening is watching flowers and plants grow and thrive. When she’s not gardening she’s writing adventure/time travel/sweet romantic suspense. You can learn more about her at www.annebcole.com