Busy Homer Summer

I am amazed how successfully this garden can take care of itself. There have been a couple of challenges this growing season that prevented me from focusing on the tasks at hand. Only cursory chores have been accomplished. This means that I’m doing something right. The house is surrounded on all sides by plantings with a bloomy garden on the south side, the rest are trees and shrubs.

I have often said there is no plan to this landscape but actually, the more I think about it, there must have been. We knew we wanted shelter for birds ~ done. We wanted different seating arrangements to either follow the sun or seek shade ~ done. We want to age in place and that means the garden needs some level of ease of care ~ done.

Add to this the summer season here in Homer that is a mad house of relatives/guests and the garden is put on the back burner right where it needs to be. Our daughter Andrea, comes ‘home’ once a year with her family: Andrew, Genevieve and Marguerite. They are the priority. This is when the five cousins spend quality time. This is when the eleven of us reinforce the ties that bind. This is when our little house and garden throb with familial vitality.

This summer we added Andrea’s college roommate Laura and her two sons James and William. That ups our total to 14. The seven juveniles were between 17 and 11 and they meshed beautifully with our five. Laura’s late father Mike had a small nursery in Gig Harbor while the girls were at Western Washington University. He gave me a four pack of lamium that has thrived here at latitude 59 1/2 north for all these years, a reminder of Mike’s generosity.

Enjoy the photos!

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Rosemary Fitzpatrick, the Kachemak Gardener

Having arrived in Alaska May, 1972 I have had much to contend with on the gardening front. The impetus to start gardening can be traced directly to empty grocery store shelves in 1973 due to a Teamsters strike. That was a wake up call. The first garden was on a gravel pad in Eagle River, the second in Wasilla. That one was rounded out with two goats, a flock of chickens and our two children. The third in Homer, where we settled in 1978, is the spot where much was learned. Starting in 1990 I have written the Kachemak Gardener in an attempt to encourage new gardeners and those of you who have tried and failed. Stick with me, let’s get you gardening.

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