One Month Later in My Garden…

By Julie Boudreau

This year, I decided to hit the road for a month. For thirty days I abandoned my garden… and my garden didn’t even notice I was back! It remained just as beautiful and lush! My secret? Trust!

Going on vacation for an extended period can be disastrous for a garden. Extreme heat and drought can kill some more delicate plants. Lawns can take on the appearance of a tropical jungle. And then, shrubs can start growing uncontrollably. However, in a “messy” garden, like mine, all these worries disappear. Because, in fact, a “messy” garden is a self-regulating garden.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s true. Upon my return from this month of complete absence, my garden looks much as it would if I had been there. I like to believe that it’s because my garden has reached its climax, that is to say, its state of full maturity.

Weeds in self-management mode

The flowerbeds are so dense and full that there’s absolutely no room for a weed. If I’d been there, I would have taken 15 minutes this entire month to weed my peony walkway. Without me, the weeds have barely grown!

The same goes for the vegetable garden and the other flowerbeds. Hardly anything! Knowing I’d be away for a long time, I filled all the gaps between the tomato plants with annuals and basil. It’s true that my basil plants aren’t as bushy as when I water them regularly, but they’re still quite full.

So this week, I did a bit of weeding quite similar to what I usually do. No invasion, no loss of control.

In the absence of support…

Where the garden has chosen to forge its own path is in the realm of tall perennials. My tall Culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum), which were quite small when I left, had reached their two metres in height… horizontally! I usually tie them up to produce beautiful upright spikes, which inevitably end up in my bouquets.

While I was away, they grew sideways and the flowers then stood upright. It has its charm, and if I tried to straighten them, I’d end up with a shaggy mass of spikes going in all directions. So I’m going to let them express themselves.

The lack of support was also evident in the tomato plants! I left them when they only had 6 or 8 leaves. Such scrawny little plants! Now they’re monsters. Every branch I gently (very gently) lift up to stake is full with promising fruits. Of course, all the suckers the plants could produce have taken over the available space. But anyway, I’m not on the sucker pruning team.

And the lawn…

It’s worth noting that I mow the front lawn a bit more often than the back one. So, just before leaving, I gave the front lawn my first mow of the year to make sure I was on good terms with the neighbours. When I got back, my lawn had barely grown and it looked pretty much like those of other neighbours who had “neglected” this task for a while! So it’s not too bad. This is what happens when you don’t fertilize your lawn and let it grow wild. My lawn hardly grows at all!

In my backyard, it’s a different story! I ran out of time, and the lawn was already quite long when I left. The daisies were just starting to bloom! Upon my arrival, I was treated to a truly beautiful display. My yard now looks like a wildflower meadow! A whole bunch of rudbeckias, red clover and St. John’s wort have really filled the space! It’s quite lovely! In fact, I’ve decided to wait a bit before getting the lawnmower out to enjoy this pretty scene a little longer. And it’s simple buzzing! Many pollinators have stumbled upon this little pop-up paradise right in the middle of a tidy suburb!

In short, I’m quite happy to see that my garden took care of itself while I was away and is well designed enough to manage perfectly well without me. That’s the beauty of a “laidback gardener’s” garden: there’s so little to do that even if you’re gone for a month… it hardly shows! Upon my return, a quick tour yielded a few ground cherries, and my blackcurrant bushes are practically begging me to harvest them, as the birds are keeping a watchful eye! It was high time I took back the reins of this garden that “so desperately” needs me!