It should be called “OUR GARDEN” because my wife’s contribution to it is no mean thing.
For almost 15 years, we were in the habit of bragging that year in and year out, we never had to buy any vegetables except potatoes. Lately, owing to increasing years (or is it laziness?). I have had to cut down on some of my garden activities.
It so happened that when the opportunity occurred for us to have our garden, I made a hobby of growing vegetables.
Previously my work was mainly concerned with flowers. In the beginning, we were weekend gardeners, and the garden at LaGrange in Dutchess County, N. Y., was largely devoted to vegetables. “Shaly Place ” was the name we gave to our country home.
It was well-named, but despite what appeared to be poor, rocky soil, we managed to grow good crops. This was especially true of peas which grew to a height of about feet—and no thanks to gibberellic acid!
The entire family helped, including Spot, a foundling dog with no claim to aristocratic lineage or beauty. The children scratch the soil’s surface and say, “Sic ’em Spotty!” had taught him to dig holes.
Although he was an intelligent dog in most respects, he would dig madly, never suspecting that he was being used.
Rhubarb Roots Reception
In this way, we managed to get five or six holes dug for the reception of rhubarb roots. He also helped to keep rabbits from eating our crops. We were compelled to have him put to sleep when he reached the ripe old age of seventeen.
When the time came that we were able to locate in the country permanently, we went westward and acquired about 9 acres, still in Dutchess County. in Hyde Park, with a view of the Hudson River.
The soil at our “Buttonwoods” vastly differs from our former establishment, the well-named Shaly Place.
There are a few rocky outcrops, some close to the house, others nearer the perimeter.
On one of these outcrops, a small stand of the interesting walking fern, Camptosorus rhizophyllus.
The topsoil is sandy loam, not very rich, for the most part overlying molding sand; so, except in a swampy area, away from the house, the drainage is perfect.
House Remodeling
During our first year, we were chiefly occupied with remodeling the house—a desperate job because of the cost and scarcity of building materials in 1945.
When we were permanently installed, practically all of our time was spent removing builders’ leftovers.
It looked as though every workman opened the window nearest him and simply flung out his rubbish. Letting the chips and bricks (from three chimneys) fall where they would. It had to be cleared off before we could see the soil near the house.
Next came the bulldozer, which we hired to change the drive’s location and make a level terrace in the front yard. I do not like bulldozers and never shall—their rough grading is too rough.
Next came an investment in a 5-horsepower tractor, a regular “man killer,” since it was a walking kind. However, I managed to get a place plowed for nursery and vegetables.
To a large extent, the tractor is now superannuated and is used only when the drive becomes so filled with snow that it interferes with necessary traffic.
The whole place has been and is a laboratory providing material for pictures and garden articles, ranging from tree removal to seed sowing and root pruning to house plants.
The thinnest out of some crowded trees I will never forget. Sam Gottscho and William Schleisner were there to take pictures, and Humphrey Hedgecock, the hybridizer of gladiolus ATOM, directed the workmen.
“Hump” was in a constant dither watching the operations of a local crew, most of whom had no experience.
However, the job was done without any untoward happenings, except that one man was left sitting on a limb for half an hour in the cold wind while his mates went off to get a ladder. (No, he was not sitting on the wrong side of the cut. He merely cut off a limb that fell on the ladder and smashed it.)
Planting Bulbs and Tubers
Another early experience was the planting of numerous, less common bulbs and tubers.
These included the following:
- Tigridia (tiger flower)
- Milla
- Montbretia
- Ismene
- Hymenocallis
- Xlimbing-lily (Littonia modesta)
- St. James-lily (Sprekelia formosissima)
- Rain-lilies (zephyranthes)
Of these, the following were exceptionally good:
- Ismene calathina—the three original bulbs have increased more than tenfold
- Sprekelia, thanks to my neglect, fell on parlous times, but now that it has had T.L.C. has again reached the blooming stage and this year gave us a half dozen of its gorgeous orchid-like flowers.
Some of the rain-lilies, despite no attention whatever, occasionally bloom after a good rain in the summertime.
Young Trees and Shrubs
One of the first garden jobs was the establishment of a nursery to take care of the young trees and shrubs.
Among these were the following:
- Contorted hazel-nut (Corylus Avellana contorta)
- Carylopsis pauciflora and C. platypetala
- Texas buckeye (Aesculus arguta)
- Snowdrop tree (Styrax japonica), which surprised us by the fact that since being cut almost to the ground by a severe winter in 1946-47, it came back again to produce its fragrant snowdrop-like flowers, and was especially fine this past spring;
Viburnum carIcephalum, the hybrid between V. Carlesi and V. macrocephalum; Ilex peduncular, reputed to be the hardiest of all the evergreen hollies.
Forsythia bronxensis, dwarf forsythia; Divanthus cercidifolius, grown chiefly for its brilliant fall colors; Metasequoia glyptostroboides. the dawn redwood; and Lavandula officinalis, HIDCOTE BLUE variety.
For these and many others, I am indebted to my gardening friends, especially J. H. Beale, H. E. Downer, and Archie Thornton.
A wild-flower garden was started by digging a 3-inch layer of peat moss into the soil in the shade of a sugar maple.
Woodland Native Species
Most of the fifteen species of woodland natives did pretty well.
These included the following:
- The yellow slipper orchid
- Cypripedium pubescens
- Moccasin flower
- C. acaule
- Maidenhair fern
- Adiantum pedatum
- Virginia-bluebells
- Mertensia virginica
- Oconee bells
- Shortia galacifolia
1947 Perennial Border
In 1947 a perennial border was started along the east side of the driveway. Many bulbs of narcissus and tulip species were planted.
Most of these have increased so much that they need to be dug up and divided. Notable in this respect is a Narcissus triandrus hybrid THALIA.
A set of single hybrid tea roses was received late in July 1945 and was planted in the nursery. Surprisingly these grew and blossomed rather well. Then I got myself involved in desk work, and the nursery was neglected, so the green grass grew among the roses.
My wife greatly admired these single roses, so when our rose beds were made—one for “boughten” roses and one for the trial of unnamed varieties—two of them, DAINTY BESS and VESUVIUS, were saved.
The beds were double dug to a depth of 18″ inches—the sods were buried about a foot deep after rotted manure was forked into and mixed with the underlying 6″ inches of soil.
1949 Perennial Garden
In 1949 a perennial garden was started to provide material for a book (All About the Perennial Garden). The old perennial border was turned over to my wife to do as she pleased.
The new garden constituted a major operation involving grading to get a level surface. This was done with a Ferguson tractor with a scoop attachment.
It was not a complete success for the operator. Instead of scraping the topsoil from a nearby knoll, I found it more convenient to scoop up the underlying sand. However, using rotted manure made it possible to do a good enough job in the sandy areas.
I have mentioned rocky outcrops. My wife fell heir to three of them in our front yard. Some of the crevices of the outcrop were already planted; my wife has planted her 3 cents worth, adding greatly to their interest.
When we took over at the Buttonwoods, my book All About House Plants had just been published, and I found that it was much easier to grow plants in a country house than in a large city.
A collection that had served me well in Brooklyn was mostly distributed among my colleagues; a few special pets were brought into the salubrious air of Dutchess County.
Saintpaulia BLUE BOY
Included among these was Saintpaulia BLUE BOY. This, although it survived in Brooklyn, never bloomed, but its behavior here was very different, and, in a short while, it started to bloom profusely.
About this time, the possibility of a book on saintpaulia was broached.
I started by assembling a collection of 70 or more varieties not long before we had plants in every room in the house, with the major portion in my study.
Causes of Destroying The Garden
Animals, both mammals and birds, ranging in size from pine mice and chipmunks to deer and from chickadees to pileated woodpeckers, played their parts in making or partially destroying the garden.
One of the worst of the pests was woodchucks. In my first vegetable plot, enclosed with chicken-wire netting, a chuck burrowed under the fence and destroyed about 50′ feet of peas that were just beginning to bloom.
He or she was an obstinate critter who refused to give up its burrow despite my dumping several moth flakes in the hole. Finally, I soaked an old pair of pants with gasoline and stuffed them in his hideaway, which did the trick.
Meadow and pine mice did their darndest to wreck our bulb plantings, but nature had a trick up her sleeve. This was a family of foxes whose den was in view from our kitchen window. It was a delight to see the four cubs gamboling around their doorstep under the watchful eyes of their mother.
There was a decline in the mouse population as a result of the appetites of the foxes. One old-timer used to “cast the joint” almost every day at about 10:30 A.M. Then evil times came for the foxes. Hydrophobia struck many of them.
Although, as far as I know, the dreadful disease never appeared on the east side of the Hudson, we assume that the foxes were looked upon as public enemies and were killed off, possibly by shooting.
Raccoons and deer played havoc with the corn field, about a half acre which our son had planted. Of course, the 4-foot tall chicken-wire fence which enclosed the vegetable garden was no harrier to deer, which took practically all of our late planting of beets that we were planning to eat that winter.
Jimmy Skunk also visited us at frequent intervals. We cannot accuse him of doing direct damage, but it was a nuisance when he got into a trap designed for woodchucks.
At present, our chief enemies are pine and meadow mice, together with chipmunks—the latter for the first time this year.
Birds
In general, we encourage birds to stay with us despite a certain amount of damage done by them.
My wife has just reported that ten or a dozen catbirds and robins are in the Raspberry patch. One consolation for me is there will be fewer raspberries for me to pick—a job I dislike.
Sometimes I think it is not such a good plan to feed the birds during the winter. I wonder if putting them on the dole is good for their morale. This thought was inspired by the sight of downy woodpeckers taking their babies to the feeding station instead of teaching them to hunt for insects.
My pet aversions among the birds are phoebe, evening grosbeak, and cowbird. My “down” on Phoebe’s stems from the time when a pair set up housekeeping just above my bedroom window, where they awakened me around 5 A.M. by yelling.
“Phoebe, phoebe.” Grosbeaks are on my list because they are such gourmands. When a flock appears, the feeding stations are depleted in a few minutes.
Cowbirds get the “thumbs down” sign because of their reprehensible habit of shirking their maternal duties—the female lays eggs in smaller birds’ nests.
44659 by Montague Free