Alison Hodgson

Expert on the etiquette of perilous times.

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To what I’ve been up

June 9, 2007 by Alison Hodgson 1 Comment

This is the new bed I added this season to try and take advantage of one of the spots in our yard that gets the most sun. This is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.

This is what it looks like now. In the background you might be able to see a tee pee I constructed out of tree limbs. I did it last year too and grew green beans up it for a little fort for Beanie. I assembled this and carefully strung the twine all around it. It was a hot day and it took a little time but when I was finished I was happy it was done. I went off to do something else and came back to find that Eden had cut almost every one. I can’t remember her indignant rationale. Last week we planted the bean seeds and they are starting to pop up which is very exciting. The twine still needs to be restrung.

Nice shoulder. The little bed in the middle has broccoli, a few strawberries and cucumbers.

This is all flowers: cosmos, cleome and that straggling thing I can’t remember what it is. There are three other sections. One is tomatoes and basil, another is a zucchini bordered by small Lavender plants and the third is just flowers, some we are trying to grow from seed. I really gave Eden a lose hand there and so far nothing is coming up. I might need to go behind and help a little gardener out.

Filed Under: Eden, extreme gardening

Garden Slave

May 21, 2007 by Alison Hodgson 1 Comment

The infamous raised bed of doom. It looks harmless enough…after two years!
A lot of trees had to die (not to mention some serious aesthetic sense) to create these retaining walls. The second level are grasses that have been cut back. It’s off the radar for this summer…I think. The lower bed was a border of yucca interspersed with – remember right next to the pool, can you guess? – cacti!
This shot really doesn’t tell the story. That’s a foot and a half down and I’m not done.

This is a new bed I added this season. Why? This spot gets the most sun and I want to do vegetables with the kids. I always do a couple tomatoes and last year, I did a bean teepee for Beanie which she loved. Note the bed along the fence in the background, our 80 foot shade garden that still hasn’t been mulched. Whoopee thank you!


This is opposite the new bed, against the garage. It was existing, I really haven’t done anything except pull it out a little. Note the grass, which was quite lush two weeks ago. Apparently, you can’t run a wheelbarrow over a path a hundred times without some wear.

Filed Under: extreme gardening

May 18, 2007 by Alison Hodgson 3 Comments

I’m on a mission from God.

OK, I’m just gardening, but since I am in the throes of removing a border of yucca…I’m going to give you a moment to consider that…

Yes, I am removing an entire raised bed of yucca that is beside our pool. This is my third summer at it and as God, and very probably Satan, are my witnesses it will be gone. This is a break. Yucca is one serious plant. It does not belong in Michigan. The foliage is never really attractive, the flowers aren’t either nor are they fragrant and, get this, they have tiny razor sharp – can’t think of the right word – prickly sort of things that sting if you think about touching the plant. Isn’t that the perfect thing to plant right next to where people will be walking in swimsuits.

If there is ever full scale nuclear war, in the aftermath, it’s just going to be cockroaches, rats and yucca. If that doesn’t give one’s will to live a kick in the pants I don’t know what does.

https://alisonhodgson.com/2007/05/722/

Filed Under: bitching and moaning, extreme gardening

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