HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW ? by Tracy Moede
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW ? by Tracy Moede
I am not much of a gardener , really . Things tend to die when I am in charge of their care . That , and the fact that we have a small yard and there isn ’ t much room for large projects , limits how creative I can be in the area of “ how pretty can I make things look before they begin to fade .” I am quite proud of our roses that grow just off our terrace . I get many compliments on them from the neighbors . I let them believe that I am in charge of these beauties when all I do is trim off the rose buds after they have bloomed . My husband , Dietmar , is the sole reason why we have grass that stays green , bushes that grow , and flowers that bloom . My job is weeding and mowing the lawn . This is a job I take very seriously , and I enjoy mowing in a different creative pattern each week in the warm months . It is quite Zenlike for me , and I relax and have a chance to let my PHOTOS BY TRACY MOEDE mind wander .
I love hollyhocks and plant them wherever I see a spot that begs for some attention . They are so easy to grow , and they look great every year .
In the past three years , I have taken over two neglected patches of green around my house that actually belong to our town . Our Gartenamt is quite small , and there have been pleas for help in the past and , little by little , I have taken over a few small areas . Just off our carport is the patch we call “ das Dreieck ” because , well , it is just a small triangle . It was nothing but a wasteland for dog poop and cigarette butts from passers-by , but I have filled it with a circle of small boxwood bushes . Because it is round , Dietmar has dubbed it “ the doughnut ” ( I often think our family motto should be , “ why call things by their proper names when a funny name will do ?”). It is surrounded by a lot of groundcovering plants that spread . Easy to maintain with very little risk of me killing anything .
Another section is a large circle in our roundabout . Cars used the grassy area to park , and it was looking a bit grim . We contacted the Burgermeister , who was quite willing to provide some small bushes and grass seed if we took care of the mowing and watering . Fortunately , the gardeners took care of the planting and reseeding and even installed large wooden you-can ’ t-parkhere pillars to keep the cars off .
One nice outcome is that the gardeners now know us , and we have a big job coming up of removing some dead but deep-rooted shrubs right up against our carport . I ’ m hoping they will help us out and bring their heavy equipment .
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