Amy’s Somerville “Garden.”

What I have here is not so much helpful advice or inspiring photos, but rather a cautionary tale or two with some illustrated stop-gaps and lucky strikes thrown in for color. Let my garden be the garden that says, “Of course you can do better than this.”

Things in pots usually turn out nicely here. I can't black-thumb them.

This is my third summer with this garden. It is also my first non-pregnant summer with this garden. I don’t think I need to explain how awesome that is.

It’s pretty awesome.

A lot of our yard is shaded during the day, so we have hostas and foxglove and some ground-cover. They spread a little and every year I forget where they’re going to be, but they live, which I like. In the sunnier bits of the yard irises, peonies and roses do well. I often have better intentions than follow-through, so happily the yard is mostly planted with perennials.

We have rose bushes. Roses are more trouble than they’re worth, unless you love roses. What they have going for them is that they love to produce flowers, bring the bees, and don’t require too much tending. They grow like mad, regardless of how little you do for them, and come back year after year. The downside, of course, is that they grow like mad and come back year after year. If you don’t hack them off at the base every couple of seasons they will try to kill you and everyone/thing else in your garden. They climb, which can be quite pretty if you’re good at training plants (I am not), but they also encroach. They tangle. And their thorns are a horrible nightmare. Every cowboy sings a sad, sad song.

buzzzzzz

We have a raised bed for foodstuffs this summer, which is new and exciting. It has been planted three times. Thrice. Scavengers and marauders (skunks, squirrels, rabbits, daughter) have uprooted everything up until this point. My husband D rigged a pretty awesome retractable dome, which kept Raised Bed 2.0 safe until the tomato plants started growing through the roof. The first night without the dome resulted in disaster. A rabbit tore the place apart and left its otherwise adorable tracks all over. Solution: kebab skewers.

line of defense

poor beleaguered beans and peas

Incidentally, there’s a real Me Generation of squirrels this season that feel entitled to everything in the yard. They dug up a bunch of my bulbs (my calling card, as a lazy gardener) and potatoes and even ate the begonias. Seriously. Begonias. Enough already.

The potatoes grow on, though. Check it out:

Raquel, my advice for you is potatoes in planters. They aren't hideous to look at, they grow ultra fast, and then a month or so later... what's up, potatoes?

This potato plant was started by Olive. Maybe I will let her dig into the pot later. Maybe she will just do it without me asking and eat a handful of raw potatoes.