Sanctuary
Red Hibiscus In Bloom
When we built our current house, which as a downsize from a larger one spurred on by me being laid off from a full-time teaching position, I made the decision that we would utilize every square inch of the property. I’ve done that for the most part (there is a sliver to side the of the house that I’ve yet to do anything with but all in all I’ve been true to my original game plan). Living in the city as we currently do, you don’t have much yard or garden space and since we have two beautiful dogs, Molly and Daisy, who would kill the lawn anyway, I opted for a lot I knew would have limited yard space. I still saw this as an opportunity to create a beautiful yet small garden ‘sanctuary’. This urban garden oasis is divided into three small areas. The ‘back 40’ which is a raised bed in the alley (it’s the only place that gets full sun) that is approximately 9 sq feet is where I have experimented with growing veggies and a variety of cut flowers.
Moving inward, the next garden space is the ‘Putnam farm’ which is 104 sq feet. Here I grow herbs including Rosemary, Basil, Sage, Chives, Thyme, Parsley, Mint (the mint is in pots as it will take over a garden in no time at all) and oregano. Also in this area are tomatoes and peppers (Andy, my husband is totally obsessed with growing peppers of the spicy nature). In addition, I have Hosta, Honeysuckle, Bleeding Hearts, Rockets (which are a tall variety of Snap Dragons which are one of my favorite cutting flowers), Feverfew, Catnip, Lavender and a Red Raspberry plant (the last four at the request of my daughter Bella). I had strawberries growing here which were my older daughter Tessa’s request but they weren’t getting enough sun so I’ve since replanted those in another area of the garden. Lastly, I have an Apple tree growing espalier style. For those not familiar with this term its method of growing a fruit tree whose branches are trained to grow flat against a wall or supported on a lattice or framework of stakes… in my case it is grown along the wood fence that divides our property from our neighbors. Sadly, earlier this spring I discovered that I’d lost my beloved tree to an early frost and perhaps my inexperienced pruning. But just as I was mourning my lose, I noticed that a sucker had grown up out of the dead stump and happily I’m having another go at it, training new young branches along the training wire that is in place from the old tree. Life really does find a way! Each year I add something new to our small garden space.
Last year while in the height of the pandemic it was a tall, raised bed we affectionally call the ‘Victory Garden’ to symbolize both the world victoriously overcoming the pandemic (which unfortunately has yet to happen) and to honor Andy’s mom Caroline who was also a keen gardener and who in the early years of our marriage gave me this amazing garden book on victory gardens! This addition lives in the next section of our urban garden that is approximately 342 sq feet. This year in the Victory Garden we are growing a variety of lettuce (I’m finally having a successful year at growing lettuce – past years have been complete and utter failures with these tender leaves either being fried by the heat or eaten to their roots by the dreaded Cabbage worm butterfly!) I got smart this year and took a que from my TV garden mentor Monty Don and bought netting! I also planted the lettuce in a cooler area that gets sun but not to the point of baking. Also, in this space are pole beans (the Japanese beetle might have taken its toll on the beans – they are still growing and now has netting over them but I might have applied it too late). There are a couple of Andy’s peppers growing here and I tried my hand at growing garlic but it too seemed to have not done so well… I need to do some digging (literally) to see if I still have bulbs under the soil. This year, next to and across from the Victory Garden I added two more smaller raised beds and planted red petunias (they are across from the Victory bed to the right) and experimented by planting more Rockets, onions and pickling cucumbers. I’m discovering though that this second bed which is triangular in space and tucked in between the Victory bed and the pergola that separates the Putnam Farm from this part of the garden, might be too shady a space for these plants so I will mostly likely have to rethink my planting for this bed next year. Also, across from the Victory bed on the left is a potted jasmine plant. This fragrant beauty is one of my all-time favorite plants with its trailing vines and tiny white flowers that pack such a beautiful fragrant punch they brings me pure joy every time I smell them! Jasmine doesn’t like cold weather, so I bring this plant in when the nights start to turn cooler.
Jasmine in Bloom
From these min raised beds we move onto the larger are of my garden sanctuary which includes the fireplace and lounger area and the dinning patio space. Two summers ago, we added another larger pergola that extends out from the fireplace lounge area to have a little more shade, and a wee bit of privacy as houses in this part of our neighborhood are super close together. This pergola as does the other one also adds more structural and visual beauty to our lovely urban garden. The lounge area includes two love seats set in an ‘L’ shape around a mini gas fire. I bought this miniature element of fire online at target to replace a wood burning fire pit which was too big for the space and always caused me great anxiety every time we used it because I was afraid, we were going to burn down our house as well as our neighbors (I’m not kidding our houses are insanely close together). Originally our new mini gas fire had these horrible red lava rocks that I changed out for more beautiful smooth black river rocks. The pit (which really isn’t a pit) is a circular, black metal container that holds the rocks and underneath you attach a propane gas tank. We were using tiny tanks for a while, the kind you use for a gas stove or lantern when camping, but we’d burn through it before the evening was over. I decided I needed to make some sort of ring the fireplace could sit in which would allow us to use a larger gas tank but would also hide said tank which was not the most attractive. Off to Home Depot I went, bought some pavers and cement, and batá-bing-batá-boom I had myself an actual fire pit! In addition to the fireplace, we also have a small square three tier fountain – every garden should have a water feature, a square table strategically placed between the love seats, another chair and accompanying circular ceramic garden décor piece that acts as an additional table. Then lining the steps are an assortment of potted and hanging plants, that change every year. This year includes hydrangeas (blue and bright pink), chocolate mint, variegated green ferns, yellow begonias, white geraniums, a hanging basket of cherry tomatoes (a gardening experiment that succeeded), curry plant that isn’t really curry but sure smells like it, and more pickling cucumbers (we have a to die for pickling cucumber recipe hence all the cucumbers). This little space is one of (if not) my favorite spaces of our whole house (the library being the other favorite place). Between the fire, and the fountain both surrounded in greenery, it really is a little slice of heaven. We have French doors that open to this space from the house. This summer I moved our little bistro table and chair set that use to be on our front porch to this back area and now it sits across from the fireplace nestled between two red hibiscus trees (in pots of course), purple clematis that grows up lattice and window boxes that strategically line the top of the fence and are home to blue Morning Glories, white Moon flowers and orange Nasturtiums (which also happen to be eatable!) This combo was another gardening experiment for this year (the pandemic saw a lot of gardening experiments in the Putnam household). My original goal was to have these vining beauties to grow downward and thus create a wall of greenery like no one’s business, but nature had other ideas and instead these flowering gems decided to follow the light and grow along the top of the fence which in the end looks even more beautiful and provides even more privacy!
Continuing into the last of part of our urban garden paradise, we now enter the patio dining area which includes a round black metal table and chairs with ornate organic design throughout (the bistro table and chairs have the same pattern). To compliment the garden, I opted for lime green cushions (not the obnoxious neon green but the pretty kind that works well in a garden). We have three large windows that look onto this space from the house and here I have additional window boxes that this year I experiment with more herbs, many that were also planted in the farm with additions of cilantro, chamomile, and lemongrass. The Cilantro and Chamomile didn’t take well so I will again have to rethink those for next year. In the corn of the patio, I have a huge (the leaves are almost to our second floor) palm like plant that looks like a banana tree but isn’t (I’ve no idea what the plant is… I bought it several years ago and bring it in when the weather gets cool and out when it gets warm.) The base of this potted big boy includes other various plants that I no longer remember the name of (note to self… start writing these things down!) This single large pot of greenery makes for a lush and tropical corner that if one looks upward to the large palm leaves will see a string of bistro lights that run across the patio horizontally so at night, we have a wonderful alfresco dinning experience! Square and rectangular brick pavers in varying shades of gray green make up the floor of the patio area. This is also where we have out grill so while Andy (he is mostly the grill master in our house) grills something tasty I can enjoy his company under the twinkling lights with a lovely glass of Palisade wine!
This is my summer time urban sanctuary where I conduct my various gardening experiments, sometime teach online, entertain friends under the night time sky or just sit and enjoy a quiet cup of coffee or glass of wine - A little slice of heaven in a teeny tiny space!
