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The Container Gardener
June 4th, 2009
by John R. Sedivy
The other day we had a container gardener visit the house to consult and assist with laying out the yard. Initially we had a landscaper come by to do the heavy lifting and weeding as we were getting acclimated in the new house, but it became apparent that we needed someone to help with more of the design aspects as we really had no idea what we were doing. Our yard is a bit different than most, in that it really has more of an “au natural” look and feel and is not as structured as a typical suburban yard. It has a ‘cottage garden’ look. This is fairly common here on Cape Cod and reflects more of the natural beauty of the area.
Since I know next to nothing about gardening – Amy knows more than I do, and is interested in learning more, it is nice to have professional help. Initially when having the landscaper come by I had asked him to just start clearing brush since the yard was overgrown after two weeks of growth while we were in Greece. My interest at that point was to just have things look presentable so as to not be the guy who drops the property value in the neighborhood. Prior to leaving for Greece the yard was presentable, but upon our return two weeks later it was nearly unrecognizable as a jungle due to nearly incessant rain!
Long story short I just asked him to clear out everything. Fortunately for me, he did not have the time to finish that day, and just did some light work. In the meantime the container gardener had come by and notified Amy that most of the plants in the yard were valuable – actually thousands of dollars worth! These were the very same plants that I was going to have removed and destroyed as I thought they were weeds! Needless to say I quickly changed my plan after hearing this.
As I had discussed in previous articles, people on Cape Cod are interesting in that many are self-employed. Our container gardener, Fiona, had actually started and transitioned several successful businesses. Each new person we meet is interesting in that you never know their background – each new person is a completely new experience! Being self employed, they also embody the entrepreneurial spirit. Refer to my article titled “How To Beat The Recession Part I: Move To Cape Cod” for more on the Cape Cod economy and how it is having an easier go of the recession due to the entrepreneurial spirit here.
In any case, Fiona had done some great work, and our initial yard design and implementation has begun. We thought we would share some pictures for those who may be interested in this sort of thing. We will also post updates as the project progresses.
Our first priority was the built-in planters on our back deck. They were empty when we moved into the house in April, and Amy was anxious to get a vegetable garden going. There are two planters, a large rectangular one, and smaller square one. Amy decided to do veggies in the larger one which is just outside the sliding door to the dining room. We filled it with soil, and Fiona helped to design and plant the garden. As you can see here, we have Mint, Sage, Thyme, lots of Basil, Lettuces (romaine, bibb, iceberg), Chives, Yellow Onion, Parsley, Lemon Thyme, Rosemary, Tarragon, and several orange and white flowers to trail over the sides of the planter. What you can’t see yet are the seeds that we planted for Carrots, Radishes, Garlic, Mesclun & Spring Greens. We should start to see little sprouts soon!
In our smaller planter, we decided to do flowers since it is on the less-used, more private side of the deck (just outside the sliding door to our largest bedroom). Here we planted an orangey-yellow rose, named Tequila. Around the base of the rose, we planted a dark purple flower that will fill in and trail over the sides of the planter.
We are excited to see the progress as our gardens grow and mature. We’ll upload new pictures often throughout the summer!
-John R. Sedivy of Cape Cod Branding
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3 Responses to “The Container Gardener”
[...] has had experience starting and growing businesses, as well as garden design. Refer to my article “The Container Gardener” for more on Fiona and our gardening and yard project. Anyway, we could not help but consider how [...]
[...] As John mentioned last week, we have planted a container garden on our back deck. I am just learning my way as a new gardener and therefore we have hired Fiona, who is an experienced container gardener to help get us going. She designed a beautiful vegetable garden for our planter. For more info about Fiona and our garden projects, you may read John’s article, titled The Container Gardener. [...]
[...] Last week John and I planted a vegetable garden in the planter on our back deck. I hired a container gardener, Fiona, to help assist with the design, planting, and in general teaching me how to care for our new plants. To read our first article on how we set up our container garden with Fiona and to see pictures check out John’s post “The Container Gardener”. [...]