Shade House on a Sunny Day

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Yesterday was a cold, damp, sometimes drizzly day and today was sunny, bright and 56 degrees with a stable wind that never let me really get warmed up. Both days shared one goal: to erect the new 30 X 60 foot shade house. This is the third shade house we own and every one has been purchased from RIMOL Greenhouse Systems in Hooksett, NH, 1-877-746-6544. RIMOL is the largest pipe bender in New England and although you can purchase from many other dealers, there's a good chance the pipe came from RIMOLs anyway. I figure if I buy a couple more I'll have the installation part down to a science. This one is the "squarest" yet and was actually more of a challenge to erect because the land slopes down to the Winooski River.

I started yesterday by getting the pipe layed out and some of the holes dug with the power auger. My neighbor Kim showed up about noon and in 4 hours we had the full house erected. Today I went back and added the stabilizers on each pole and tomorrow after work I'll go back and space those properly and tighten everything up.

There are a lot of variables involved in making anything square and it's just not a responsibility that you can force to go quicker. Measuring several times, using a level, eye balling up and down, back and forth all result in a better looking structure. I have to say that when the shade cloth is on and the house is full, about the only guy who can see the problems is the installer but just the same there are many reasons to do it right from the beginning.

This particular house will have the hosta overflow from the other two houses as well as all the astilbes, the actaeas, rodgersias, epimediums and astilboides tablularis. Gail is a "mover" when it comes to her displays and if things don't sell in one place, she moves them to a new location. This translates to some other plants ending up in the new house too.

The potted plants on the ground in the pictures are just beginning to show new growth. They need some rain or watering to get going but they spent last winter right about where you see them. In a week they'll all be lined up and accompanied by new products that will begin arriving next week. If you're out and about, stop by and say hello. We're not officially open yet but we always make sales and always offer advice.

Good gardening wishes!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm Our newly revised site with some great pictures and good gardening
ideas to help quell your springtime garden anxieties.

Shade Garden Construction Continues

Saturday, October 25, 2008

A quiet morning here on the mountain. 37 degrees which is the warmest in a few days. A front is approaching with rain by noon and heavy rain by tonight. Predictions are from 1 to 3 inches by midnight tonight so there's lots to do this morning to stretch the day as far as possible.

I took off most of yesterday from my regular job to work on the new shade garden. This is a big project which Gail had her doubts about me completing, actually even starting, this fall. Good gardeners have goals and one of mine was to get the designated area cleaned up and rototilled for next spring. This had to match the declining night time temperatures and my need to get the tractor home and get next year's wood supply out of the woods before the snow comes. As of this morning, the project has a bunch left but is on target to be completed. It was "close" a couple days this week because night temperatures in the low twenties froze things solid and thaw didn't occur until late afternoon. This is a characteristic of this portion of our new land. It lays in a hollow, bordered in the back by the Winooski River for some warmth but low enough otherwise to frost up first when other areas are warmer.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our hosta collection is not big by collectors standards but hidden away here on the hill are over 400 varieties. We actually have more but unlike some gardeners we don't maintain an Excel spreadsheet with everything in the collection. If we grow for sale, we know what we have for stock but probably half what we grow has not been put into sales yet. The only excuses for that is developing salable numbers or finding the time.

This new garden intends to recreate the shade garden in the old barn foundation here on the hill. For many people, no matter how nice it is, it won't be the same. I agree, but also guarantee that in a couple years, the garden will be a destination for those interested in shade plants including hostas.

The soil at this site is alluvial clay washed there annually for years as the spring river flow went over the bank and covered the area several feet deep. There's not a rock, not a pebble to be found. Just before we came to Marshfield in 1989 the river was reconstructed a bit and the spring flows began going where they should. This summer's rain was a good test to how much water that river can hold and save for debris damming it up, we have no worries.

Riverbanks are notorious for their collection of weeds and shrubs. They contain wide samplings of about every plant that lies upstream from the point you are working on. In this part of Vermont you can be assured that you'll find wild hops growing up the alders, Joe Pye Weed, Jewelweed, Forget-Me-Nots, Ground Ivy, Vetch, Burdock,Canada Thistle, and Japanese Knotweed in abundance. There are tons of matted Goldenrod woven into a terrible mess with a variety of 5-6 foot tall grasses. On any perimeter where there is a little sun, poison ivy is guaranteed and smattered here are there are wildflowers, in this case trilliums, Lilium canadense, Purple Fringed Orchids, Red and also White Baneberries. The mix creates a challenge for the gardener as members of this offering belong to the "Wish I Never Saw You" Collection.

As of last night I am down to two truckloads of top growth to load up and bring back here. I'm filling in a couple areas in a back field here so I can get the material off the nursery land and put it to use. I have now rototilled all the new areas over a dozen times and with each till I am getting a little deeper into any remaining root systems I missed earlier. The three yellow "x's" mark large groups of Spotted Joe Pye Weed which I have left for their height and shade. The large yellow spot is a wet area which will be dug out a bit next year. I have lots of left over clay piled up and the plan is to dig out the wet area and drop in some loose clay so hold the water in that area better when it rains. Earlier this week there was one night of rain and I can't work that end again this year because it is saturated. My plan is to surround that area with various Ligularias, Rodgersias, Astilboides tabularis and similar plants that are large leaved and like their feet wet. Then I'll add giant swaths of various astilbes. Each tree will be surrounded by swaths of the same hosta and somewhere, yet to be determined, will be a network of stone paths.

If you look at the picture with a little imagination you can see a slight definition above the truck and tractor that represents an old road. It comes down behind the tree line and is more noticeable on the right side of the picture above the pond location. I have already cleared this and tilled it. It is directly in front of the fence and now represents an elevated walkway. My plan is to have a stone path come down the perimeter from the right of the picture and then extend across through the trees so visitors can view the gardens from above. I'll probably need a bridge of sorts to keep people out of the seasonal muck that predominates above the pond location but for next year that may be a couple elevated 2 X 12's.

Next spring after the summer planting is done, I'll go through this whole piece, free it of weed plants I have missed, rototill it again and then begin planting. The soil is so good that I really think the plants will catch on quickly. It is a work in progress no different than the foundation garden we have left behind. If you travel Route 2, glance down the bank and you'll see a garden that will be worth stopping to visit!


Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the only noise this morning is my stomach suggesting breakfast is in order, two cups of coffee doesn't cut it!

George Africa
The Vermont Gardener
Vermont Flower Farm

Measuring Progress

Tuesday, January 9th. A cold front is moving in and some snow is expected. It will be the first snow in some time. The spring-like weather has afforded an opportunity to do and see things at the new property which would normally have waited until spring.

I worked both days this weekend and three or four days a week after work since Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, when I wrote a piece entitled Land Lessons and Wildflowers. I said something which suggested that new land and new gardens need to have a vision and I showed this picture.



Today I coaxed Gail and Alex to come down and see the progress and help load the truck with brush. I've surpassed twenty loads for sure so any help loading is a welcome change. I didn't think they really wanted to go as the wind was swirling and it's not the greatest job to begin with but they are a part of this project and they know it. As we pulled off Route 2, I stopped at the top of the hill so they could look down at what had been a collection of poplars, alders, grey birch, blackberries, wild cucumber, grape and wood vines, burdocks and assorted rush and weeds. They said nothing but their eyes told their thoughts and rewarded me for my efforts.


If you click on each picture separately, you should be able to see the difference. The property line is more apparent now that the debris is cleaned up. The make shift road left from the days when this was the town and State sand pit is more prominent now. Its height serves as a diversion for water runoff from Route 2 as well as water that is hydraulically moved from the hill above and the adjacent river. Next summer I'll have to get local contractor Kevin Hudson to stop by with his traxcavator for a couple hours and create a ditch parallel to the old roadbed to encourage the water to head back to the river.

Yes, I'm pleased with the weather and pleased with my progress. I can measure it it smiles from my family and friends, truckloads of brush removed or the honking of passers by. Since I've started this project I have met people every week that I have never seen before or who I have seen but never spoken to. It's a rewarding experience for certain. Almost weekly since we bought the property, a logger in a shiny black rig gives me a wave and a long ho-o-o-onnnk with the air horn as he heads west, returning empty from either Canada or Maine. He's not from around here but somehow he wants to show that he notices change and I'll bet someday he slows that rig down enough to stop and say hi. Gardeners are like that and I'll bet he has had dirty hands before.




As we began to drive back up the hill, I pointed out to Gail and Alex where I wanted to plant some Astilboides tabularis, several varieties of ligularias and rodgersias, and some creamy white bloomed Aruncus doicus. I could see that Gail was drawing mental pictures of the layout even before she said "You've really done so much in so little time. This will be beautiful."
I reached down and pushed the lever out of four wheel drive and we headed home.



Writing from the mountain above Peacham Pond where the thermometer reads 24.7 and the snow has stopped at 2 inches.

Gardening wishes,

George Africa
http://vermontflowerfarm.com
http://thevermontgardener.blogspot.com