Pacific Northwest Gardening: Planning Party at Outta's , 1 by outtamygourd

outtamygourd wrote:
Okay...thinking it's alder because it looks like all the other alders here and believe me, there are plenty. Doesn't matter anyway, cuz it's staying. I like it regardless of its heritage, simply because I like where it's at and it doesn't seem to be a pushy tree at all.

With regard to wispy, no...it's not what I'm looking for overall. I was implying a Sedonaesque voice of a long-haired old hippy woman (me) in a caftan (not me) with lots of beads and wearing sandals implying wispily that you should "open your mind and let your imagination flow. Be the garden." But wispy may work in some areas, just depends. I don't have any preconceived notions of plants, only an overall idea of feeling and flow (sort of but not really but kind of...you know?).

The soil is a mix of everything mentioned. The QAW is awesome. It's many inches deep of forest duff. I got an aquilegia from Poochella at the GE which was in a one-gallon pot. I dug a hole in the QAW to plant it and never hit soil...just duff. Very moist, very organic, very rich. Nearer the house is all icky construction messed up soil. Area 1 ~ I don't know because I haven't dug in it at all yet. I imagine it's not real nice and will need to be amended.

Veggie garden is going to be in straw bales, only 10 this year I think. It will be very limited, probably mostly tomatoes, peppers and beans. Don't want to go too far overboard this year since it's all a bit overwhelming. Don't think I'll do berries this year until we get a bit more cleaned up.

Our deer population is small. Last year we had one doe, her yearling and her fawn. Haven't seen them this year but have seen evidence of a youngster near the hellebores in the faerie garden. Last year she was a pill and ate all the leaves off the apple and cherry trees, which will be netted this year. We have never seen here in Area 1, only over by the west end of the property near the drive and in the QAW a couple of times.

And thanks for the kudos to the big guy. This is the 3rd time we've tried to pass this danged test. He's always done well except at the end when IDing the subject. He always picks the person he loves better regardless. Today we used two people he has never met and he had no problem with ID. Yea for him! Here's the big guy at the end, getting treats and love and getting his trailing harness removed. What a face! Who could not love that?