by Lynne Bittner

It was with the best of intentions that I planted the garden. It all seemed so simple at the time. There it was - a photograph in Martha Stewart Living - my dream garden. I remember clearly that fateful moment I decided I could take on the project - never mind that I already had several other large flower gardens to tend (one of them being approximately 600 square feet). Also, never mind that the owner of the beautiful garden in the magazine owned a successful nursery in Pennsylvania. I was determined to have the same.

I positioned it with a view right outside my kitchen window staking out the 18’ x 26’ area with string. The plan of this garden involved having four 4’ x 8’ raised beds in its center with walkways in between that formed a cross, and mulched with bagged cedar chips. At a later date I would add the 3’ perennial flower border around the perimeter.

I purchased the lumber to build the raised beds (which Richie built), laid down landscape cloth over the raised bed area, positioned the raised bed frames, and laid down the mulch. I determined that each raised bed would require one yard of topsoil, and had four yards delivered. After Richie and I filled the boxes I realized, to my dismay, that there was still quite a lot left over, so I changed my plan and broke up the sod around the perimeter creating the border and mixed in the remaining topsoil. Reviewing this now in print it all sounds easy, but how well I remember the increasing feeling of being overwhelmed.

The summer heat came on quickly that year, and I struggled to get the garden planted. The raised beds were relatively easy - I purchased tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper, and zucchini plants along with some herbs. Then I sowed in beet, swiss chard, nasturtium and carrot seeds. Tackling the perimeter border was problematic because, as this part of the project was spontaneous, I didn’t really have a design in mind. I threw it together by planting some annuals that I purchased, and sowed sunflower and cosmos seeds. I could feel myself suppressing a growing sense of irritation because I didn’t have the time to care for my other gardens, not to mention the financial resources to purchase the plants in the aforementioned garden featured in Martha Stewart. It looked rather sloppy and haphazard ... not like the picture at all.

The vegetables and herbs in the raised beds were extraordinary, but as the summer progressed I had little time to care for things as I had so grossly overextended myself. The experience of looking out my kitchen window became a trial, as the topsoil came with it’s own set of problems ... pig weed, lambs quarters, smart weed, crabgrass, witches grass, clover and other weed seeds that had journied safely through a cow’s digestive system now flourished in their new home.

The following spring I sprinkled several packets of Martha Stewart's Shirley Poppy seeds around perimeter border, and was rewarded with a fantastic show of poppies. It was a gratifying moment for me, until their life cycle terminated in early July leaving me with gaping holes to fill. Having had a limited budget and not wanting to interrupt the poppies, there was no real design strategy. I struggled through that summer too, and vowed that I would take charge next spring. However, those shirley poppies had other ideas and my resolve was overruled by the next generation of Martha.

For seven summers I was pushed around by those poppies...

This spring as I surveyed the situation, I put myself in the mind of a professional, and observed the situation from a detached point of view. I asked the question: Do you have to time to take care of this? Consider your other gardens - do you have adequate time to care for them and this?

All of my answers seemed to point to the obvious though painful conclusion that the resources required to maintain this garden as pictured in the aforementioned article, as well as my other gardens were simply not available. I didn’t own a nursery or have a staff of gardeners. I looked down at the myriad sprouting weeds and steadied my resolve....

Now it is early evening and a warm breeze mixes with the cool night air. Thrushes and robins serenade me with their night songs as I begin the job of dismantling. Bravely I say goodbye to what might have been, had I the resources to have managed this with proper care. I will now turn my attention to my other gardens and promise myself to look no further than my own backyard.

Lynne Bittner

June 2, 2005

Off and running.

photos by R. Bittner

A wonderful pink poppy.

Daisies taking over.