Another garden project…and advice needed

Mother's Day 2009

Here’s our latest garden project – Team Olsen built a raised bed!! (Thank you Andy!!)  We had a lot of fun doing it and are so pleased with the results.

Rhubarb in the back. Gladiolas, morning glories, moonflowers and others (?) to come.

My front entry pot. I haven't done combination plantings like this before...it was fun and I like the result!

Here’s where I need advice. If you look at both photos below, you’ll see my quandery.  I’ve done a lot of work on the foundation plantings in front of our house.  They were non-existent when we moved here.  I’ve been able to transplant some plantings from other parts of the yard.  I’ve used stones from around the yard to begin to edge it (although we’re going to go rock hunting to complete it – it’s pretty wimpy right now.  And I hit a great clearance at Lowe’s last summer to add a lot of the boxwoods,evergreens and a couple more daylilies.

This spring, I did a little more transplanting, expanding the planting bed under the picture window and we bought a bush for the corner – a Juddi Viburnum.  That bush will grow  to six or eight feet tall, eventually.  We’ll prune it to not get too wide.  So, that still leaves a hole (or two) in the middle of the bed.  What should I put there?  If you look at the second photo, you’ll see there’s a smaller space on the other side of the step, where I’d like to put a second of whatever I plant, so they match.  I’ve considered a knock-out rose bush.  They’re blooming like crazy around here and are GORGEOUS.  Roses scare me a little – I tried one last year and it did not survive.  But they say the knock-out roses are really easy, so I might give it a try.  Any advice or thoughts?

(Left to Right) Phlox, Juddi Viburnum bush, daylilies, sedum, boxwood, yellow evergreen thingy...What should go in that hole in the middle?

I want to put a matching planting in this hole on the other side of the front step.

Of weeds and wisdom

One thought I had this week while hoeing to prepare my garden patch for planting.

Swiss chard - needs to be thinned soon.

As I picked out grass clumps and weed roots, I was reflecting on conflicts, confrontation and resolution. There are some problems in life that will just die off and decompose if your turn them over and bury them a little. But problems that have a good strong root – they don’t respond to that treatment. They’ll just reroot and then pop-up again at an even-less opportune moment. It’s much easier to remove weeds before I’ve planted the seeds. Weeding is a lot harder once I’m trying to work around delicate seedlings that I don’t want to damage.

Two things this teaches me: Problems rarely just go away – they usually require attention to resolve. So I can deal with it now, or I can deal with it later. Either way, action is needed. If I deal with problems now, they can’t hurt the people and things that I care about in the future.

Finally, a closing thought from Proverbs 1:20-33

20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; 21 at the head of the noisy streets [c] she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:

22 “How long will you simple ones [d] love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? 23 If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. 24 But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, 25 since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, 26 I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you- 27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you.

28 “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. 29 Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, 30 since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, 31 they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; 33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Wisdom must be sought after, nurtured, and heeded before the moment of crisis, before the moment of need. If I only look for wisdom in my times of distress, I will never find it. One becomes wise in the quiet moments of everyday life, in listening to God and being a student of life. Then, when I am facing a great problem, my heart will already be tuned to hear the wisdom of the Holy Spirit guiding me out of the maze. Pray that I would practice that discipline now and become that kind of woman.

Of dirt and vegetables

Now our attention has turned to our garden in the back.  My little seed packets were begging to be planted.  I had created a sketch/plan for our plots back in March before we left for Haiti.  In late March, we paid for someone to rototill four 4×8 plots, which I then amended with peat and compost, as well as throwing our remaining topsoil from last years lawn project.

The only kink in my plans weighs ten pounds and likes to sleep on our clean laundry – Bianca, our dog.  It only took one trip into the back yard for us to realize that she saw no boundaries between lawn and garden plot.  Which could mean death for my little seedlings.  Hmm.  Three trips to Lowes and Home Depot later I was fearing hundreds of dollars in garden fencing and way more work than my tomatoes and beets merited.  All I had wanted to do was dig in the dirt!

Fortunately, my darling husband came riding in on his white horse and saved me in my moment of desperation.  At his suggestion we created our own simple fence using 3′ bamboo stakes and baling twine.  It certainly won’t keep out rabbits or deer, but hopefully it will signal to Bianca to stay out.

There was rain coming yesterday afternoon, so we put in some early gardening time in the morning and I was able to plant the rest of my seeds as well as transplant the seedlings I had started back in March.  Here’s what I’m hoping to grow:

Soaking seeds in mid-March. Kohlrabi, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Marigolds, Basil, Parsley, Zinnias

Seeds planted in late March: Swiss Chard, Cosmos

Seedlings started in peat pots in Mid-March: Kohlrabi, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Marigolds, Basil, Parsley, Zinnias

Seeds planted this week: White Scallop Summer Squash, Sugar Snap Peas, Snow Peas, Okra, Beets

Lots of watering and weeding remain, but there are few things as enjoyable to me as working in the garden.

Surprising changes

Hawthorn flower (and thorn)

I screamed as we drove in the driveway, and I’m not the kind of girl who often screams.  Upon arriving home from Haiti, we were greeted by a beautiful transformation in our front yard.

Before

After!

Andy’s dad did the work for us as a surprise while we were gone (Thank you, thank you!) and we now have a beautiful Winter King Hawthorn Tree.  I wasn’t sure at first about a tree with thorns, but further research won me over.  The Hawthorn is a haven for birds and wildlife, it produces white flowers and then red/purple berries that birds can eat.  Pretty and functional?  I like it.

Equally as beautiful, are the things that no longer fill our yard: a couple of half-dead bushes, a haphazard tree, some prickly vines, an overgrown creeping juniper and numerous large rocks in random and impractical places.  In their place?  A lovely stone wall and (soon-t0-be) unbroken lawn.  I’m all for working with the character of a place, but “character” is different form disrepair.  I hope that we are slowly bringing out the best side of our home and lot.

I am both humbled and overwhelmed by such a lovely gift.  Thanks, Dad Olsen.

Girl time

Eliza and I, flying from Port au Prince to Port de Paix.

Our first week in Haiti was extra special, since we were blessed to share that time with my sister, Eliza.  She came during her spring break week.  We were able to do a girls retreat with twelve of the teen girls both from campus and from the orphanage out in Salines Mayette.  Ednide, Eveline, Lovely, Nerlande, Natacha, Daschna, Miseline, Taylen, Loudia, Naika, and Rose Guerda, with help from Nedjie and Angie, our two interpreters.

Eliza taught the girls a dance to the song He Reigns/Awesome God by Kirk Franklin.  They practiced several times each day.  The girls LOVED dancing with her and worked really hard.  We studied the book of Esther, looking at Inner Beauty, Meanness and Friendship, Purity and Relationships, and Purpose and Choices.  Going along with that, we watched “Akeelah and the Bee” (which they LOVED) and then “One Night with the King” to wrap up Esther.  For fun, we made friendship bracelets (purple for royalty, white for purity), painted nails (even with those sparkly nail stickers!), went swimming, and did an art project.  They also helped with painting handprints with the kids in the Miriam Center (special needs) and then sang and did their dance for the Gran Moun (elderly home).  Our grand finale was an evening performance of their dance for everyone, along with an encore performance.  The girls also taught us a song they knew in Creole that recounts the story of Esther.

What a gift to get to know these girls!  I’ve met them all several times, but never gotten to spend a number of days with them.  As one might imagine, it’s never simple when you bring together twelve teenage girls.  But even with challenges it was beautiful – I loved getting to know these girls.  Thank you for your prayers for us – I think God spoke into so many lives in this time, including mine.  I pray they learned lessons that will carry them through hard decisions in the future.

It was an intense, busy week for sure – but so beautiful.  (pictures to come…)