Reporter's Reflections Archive

Last week, my mind was on garden vegetables, fresh picked and full of taste. This week, I am thinking about my flower gardens.

 Since “leaving the nest,” I have moved several times, never staying in one place long enough to nurture a flower garden past two summers. Now, having been at the farm in Stumptown for four years, for the first time I am dividing and separating flowers. The task requires additional space.

Frank’s interest in the grounds and the land has more to do with the hay in the fields, and the paths the water takes as it runs across the property. When my aqua blue Bearded Iris bloomed for the first time this year (I have been waiting two years for this), I said, “Honey! Look! Isn’t it beautiful?” Frank replied, “Uh-huh.” After two years of his own seeding and fertilizing the fields, he was more interested in the clover and new grasses appearing there.

 This year, however, he did notice that the flower beds were expanding, and the yard was getting smaller. Shaking his head, he mumbled something about women and flowers.

Truly, my beds have doubled in size.

 Forsythia bushes which were nothing more than sprigs two years ago are now full-sized beings as tall as I am and crowding my Gladiolas. Rose of Sharon bushes have sent out sprouts which are popping up all over, which I keep transplanting here and there. Day Lillies, which were widely-spaced loners four years ago, have become a solid population, and my Purple Coneflower has become a bush. Clumps of variegated Oriental grass plumped in the spring rains, and now leave no room for surrounding Asters. Touch-Me-Nots and Four O’Clocks are completely out of control.

 It’s like getting lots of new flowers--free.

Of course, in order to make use of these “free flowers,” you have to replant them. The first year I made new beds, I did it the hard way. I marked my space, and cleared away the grass and growth with a mattock. I spent the next four days in bed, unable to move my spine. After that, I developed a new system.

When I choose a new spot, I mow it with the lawnmower set very close to the ground. I take the garden rake, and rake away the grass and weeds that go easily. Then, since I have ample access to newspaper, I cover the entire section of ground in newsprint--six to 10 pages thick. After a light spray with the hose, I cover the newsprint with mulch.

 The newspaper, when wet, becomes a solid mat beneath the mulch, but is still easy to cut through to find homes for new plants. At that thickness, it is more than a year before it disintegrates. By the time it has fallen apart, the mulch also needs replaced, or at least revived, and new newspaper can be laid before new mulch.

 It is much easier on the back than a mattock.

Other gardeners out there may find uses for newspapers as I have.

 They are nice to use around tomato plants in the vegetable garden for weed control, and, when rolled up, also make excellent campfire starters.

 If you want fruit to ripen quickly, wrap it in newspaper or a paper bag. Check back after it has been wrapped for a day.

 Use newspaper to make a few “cups” to hold soil and plant seeds in the house. You can plant the newspaper right in the soil and it will add more nutrients to your soil.