Author Archives: Mike

Well kind of. With the completed planting and mulching of the vegetable bed on the right side of the gate, the main planting work is done. What remains are a few small things yet to put in (some additional herbs and marigolds). Other than that, though, it’s just weedin’ and feedin’, and staking plants as they get big. I might also put a few planters with flowers out on the deck, just to brighten it up a little.

The bed on the right side of the gate. The hostas that had been there I moved to outside the gate.

The vegetable bed on the left side of the gate is growing nicely.

Regarding the hostas outside the gate, I’m not sure how well they’ll do there. There’s no soil really, only sand. I may need to either move them or bring in buckets of compost to replant them in.

Making good progress towards finishing the planting in the POPYC garden. This week I rebuilt the flower box to the left of the gate onto the deck (the original had been busted apart by a large root). I’ll plant it next week with sunflowers and maybe some low flowers too. Also today I planted  the raised bed on the right side of the front gate with cherry tomatoes and four kinds of peppers.

Still a few things to put in but hopefully in a week, or at most two, everything will planted. Then it’s just water and weed til things are ready to eat.

Still to do in the next couple of weeks:

• Box by deck gate: plant sunflowers
• Herb gardens: Plant thyme, dill
• Raised bed front gate, right: Remove hostas. Plant Better Boy tomatoes, tomatillo, and basil. Mulch with salt marsh hay.
• Add trellis netting for the cukes.
• Set up a plan for how the garden will stay weeded and watered.

Some pics:

Just planted, the bed on the right side of the front gate.

The map for that bed.

This weekend we got the bed on the left side (looking out)  of the entrance gate planted. All veggies, some raised from seed, some purchased from what used to be Salt Marsh Nursery in Saugus (and which has now re-opened under new ownership as Little Brook Garden Center). BTW, regarding Little Brook Garden Center, if you’ve never been there, it’s a great place to get your vegetable and flower seedlings, with better prices and greater variety than you’ll get at Home Depot or (shudder) Walmart. Plus  you’ll be supporting a local business and It’s just five minutes up the road  from Tim Horgan’s place.

Friday evening was interesting, prepping  the bed’s soil while upstairs in the club and in the parking lot a sweet sixteen party was going on. (Note to self: when Sarah turns 16, IF her mother and I allow her to have a party, she will go dressed as a normal kid, not as an aspiring courtesan.) On Saturday afternoon I did the actual planting and it was to have  club members on their way to or from their cars stop by to ask about the garden and share some of their own experiences and ideas.

Here’s a map of what was planted. Next weekend (hopefully) we’ll get the bed on the right side of the gate planted. After that happens everything is just about done and maybe I can finally get my boat in the water and do some fishing (which just might get Marco off my back).  🙂

An update:

The Herb Garden

Planted so far: Oregano, Chives, Sage, Parsley, Mint (in planter)

Still to come: Thyme (June 15), Rosemary (June 1), Dill (mid-summer), more Mint

The Planters

Planted so far (and hopefully all we need):

• Near the doors: hostas + impatiens
• Walkway entrance: violets + black eyed susan + marigolds

Raised Bed Next to Deck Gate

There used to be this really cool kind of vining/flowering thing there that had these enormous seed pods that looked like something out of a science fiction movie. I loved it but I guess some didn’t and the club cut it down this year. My thought is to put in giant sunflowers with maybe mums + marigolds–make it really colorful.

• Giant Sunflowers (June 1)
• Marigolds (June 1)

First, though, the box for the bed needs to be completely rebuilt and some big roots chain-sawed out of it. Would like to do that this weekend.

Vegetable Beds

These are the beds on either side of the entrance gate. Their primary residents will be warm weather veggies and herbs (tomatoes/peppers/basil, maybe some cukes)–things that normally don’t go in the ground until at least Memorial Day around these parts. Nothing permanent planted in either so far although the bed on the right looking out has some tulips and hostas planted in previous years.

(Note: This is the initial post about the 2012 Point of Pines Yacht Club garden. To see all posts about this year’s POPYC  garden click here.)

Kinda cool, this spring I suggested to the officers at my yacht club (Point of Pines, or POPYC) that we plant an herb garden out front…herbs that chef Jay and his minions can use in the club’s  kitchen. They liked the idea. George, the Rear Commodore, asked if I could also plant flowers in the four large planters out front of the club. Inspecting the planters led to the discovery of several other, larger raised beds I never noticed much by the parking lot entrance that can also be planted. Raised beds in full sun…a gardener’s rare earth (at least here in coastal New England).

So laying it out, here’s what we have to work with (I created IDs for the beds/planters to make it easier to refer to them) :

Already wishing we had a little more space so we could really go to town with the tomatoes and peppers. What’s probably realistic though is maybe a half dozen of each. There’s some unused space at the east end of the parking lot near the blockhouse. Maybe if this year’s garden goes well we could add some beds there for next season.

Individual Bed Plans

Here’s what I’m thinking of planting in the different beds:

Also (per Debbie’s request) will try to add a planter  to grow mint in. Don’t want to plant it directly into the beds since it’s so invasive.

Plant Sources

And here’s where the plants will come from. My aim is to keep costs low, in the $50-100 range or even less if possible.

• Transplants from my garden: primroses, day lilies, black-eyed susan, irises, sage, oregano, chives, maybe mint
• From seed: tomatoes, peppers, scallions, sunflowers, thyme, dill
• To Buy: impatiens, planter for mint, coneflowers, mums, fertilizer, top soil

Other Necessaries

• Cages or stakes for the tomatoes.
• Landscapers cloth
• Salt marsh hay for mulch