Updated garden plan

I spent the day clearing out cardboard and marking some path/bed edges. Here is a look at the updated garden plan. The shaded areas are the paths . My thought is to use mulch for a few years as a pathway material in case I want to change some of the dimensions or sections.

The circle in the middle was originally conceived of an herb spiral (they are very cool!) but I have changed my mind and now plan to add a stock tank pond. Pam/Digging has awesome posts about these and the ones I’ve seen at the Wildflower Center are fantastic. Callahan’s has a 4-foot diameter tank that matches the planned dimensions perfectly so perhaps in February I’ll tackle water gardening!

The other changes since Chloe and I came up with the original design are the addition of roses to the back edge near the deck. I planted Zephirine Drouhin roses in October and have since added garlic since they get along so well. We had a Communist Cuba dinner party with roast pork (yum!) and I had tons of ordinary garlic from Fiesta around. I did the overnight soak with baking soda and a quick dip in rubbing alcohol and into the ground those cloves went (pointy side up)! They are growing well, but I am not harboring high hopes as they were leftover bulk garlic. I did try to order fancy-pants garlic but I was too late in the season. Alas, no pictures of that yet.

Here is some dill that was planted from seed over by the coral honeysuckle. It is there for the caterpillars.

Here is the coral honeysuckle. It is doing very well despite being ignored during most of the winter. I like plants that can survive on their own.

Tags: French potager, garden plans