Last week we learned that

• we have a plum tree!
• we have a crab apple tree!
• ticks survive the washing machine…
• we have asparagus!

The asparagus is so funny. Someone I was listening to talk about flowers (maybe it was an interview with Sarah from Saipua) was talking about how it connects you to the people who were there before (and will come after) and the asparagus really did that for me. It’s this weird feeling of eating someone else’s food. Or that they had to leave abruptly and left food behind (but obviously that’s not the case – the plants are a beast and deep in the ground).

I’ve been trying to divide my time before work between house work and “farm” work. I put it in quotes because right now it’s more garden than farm work, but the end goal is more farm. At least I think it is. We will definitely have animals and grow crops so in that sense it will be a farm, but it’s unclear to me what my path with flowers is.

I absolutely LOVE flowers, and I would love to just have unlimited funds to buy seeds, plant interesting varieties and take care of them and share them with other people. Does that mean I want to be a flower farmer for seed? Does that mean I want to just have a massive garden and give things away? I’m not sure yet. I also love the idea of doing really epic arrangements like Sarah of Saipua (the first time I really fell in love with flowers and a flower farm was when I stumbled upon her blog right after graduating high school and she was blogging her early farm days). 

I find myself afraid to do weddings, and unsure if the Boston/New England wedding scene will be as interested in wild, botanical arrangements as NYC would be. Maybe the Berkshires/Western MA. But regardless, I have many many steps ahead of me, and time to figure out what parts I love.

So far I LOVE starting seeds. There is something so satisfying about putting all these tiny differently shaped guys into their cells and checking each day what grows. I told Jeremy it feels like Christmas every day because I can’t wait to go and see what has sprouted.

I’m particularly excited because I have a lot of Double Black Hollyhocks (I planted two full packets so I would hope so) and got a third madder root sprout after weeks of little moldy balls just sitting in the tray!

Right now, I’m focused on trying to establish our Piet Oudolf-style garden. I took about 100 bamboo skewers and put them in the ground to outline paths from the house, to the fire pit (old pool location), to the “farm” (2 50×50 patches we will have rows for vegetables and flowers), to a nice seating area. I will do a mix of perennial and annuals this year since a lot of the perennials may not bloom until after the coming winter. I can’t wait for the last frost to be done so I can start putting things into the ground.

I also have started planning out where I want some fruit trees and flowery shrubs. I love apple trees, hydrangeas, lilacs and roses (ok I mean, doesn’t everyone like at least one thing on that list?). My goal is to establish a “wall” of hydrangeas along the one side we have a traditional neighbor for both privacy and also to make use of a sort of awkward space (a good portion of our cleared land is essentially a giant side yard. This is where the “farm” beds are and where the perennial garden will be). I then want to create a row of roses along the front starting from that same corner, and hopefully just keep adding to it over time to create another layer of privacy.

I’m obsessed with Ghislaine de Féligonde roses, but I’m not sure if they’re still sold in the US? They seem hard to get. I want to take time to research before getting roses and try to order from some smaller suppliers and get interesting varieties. I’ve told myself I can get $200 of roses when the time comes (I was late this year and didn’t want to risk planting them too late or buying varieties I’m not obsessed with).

For hydrangeas, I really like ones that start white and fade to pink over time. I feel like it gives a lot of opportunity for different arrangement material throughout the season. And for lilacs, I’m currently obsessed with the Lincoln variety. I have a vision of replacing these two sad hedges in our front with purple lilacs and big black hollyhock sprouting up from behind them. We’ll see. The siding has to get done first (that’s June).

This is a bit of a ramble, but I want to try documenting things more and if I’m too precious about it, it won’t happen. So you get what you get.