June 2018 - The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Me and my containers

Posted on June 29, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Containers .

You’ve created a monster.

Your feedback has me invigorated.

I’m loving taking videos of the garden. It gives me a new perspective which I never anticipated. It allows me to take a step back and evaluate the garden through a, ahem, different lens.

For today, here’s a look at my back deck. The views out into the garden and the containers that reside here. As you’ll see, I could really use your expert opinions on how to improve these pots o’ plants.

There may even be some actual tomatoes.

So I’ve heard.

Enjoy.

An annual problem

Posted on June 26, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Annuals .

I’ve underused annuals in my garden forever.

Part of it comes from my love of perennials where I get to watch the plants grow and develop over the years. I feel a connection and I like how the narrative is created over time. Each perennial has a story and that story changes from season to season.

Not so much with annuals.

Part of it also comes from a sort of snobbery. Annuals are for the weak. Annuals are too easy. You don’t have to work for their flowers; they just bloom all summer without fail.

But deep down, I understand the value of the annual. I get that they can be great space fillers. I get that that they can provide color all season and when planted in conjunction with perennials, can ensure there is always something going on. They can provide abundance and abundance is good.

So over the past few years I’ve incorporated more and more annuals into my garden. And I’ll be the first to admit, I’m kind of bad at it. But I’m trying.

When I did my video garden tour in the last post, some of you commented on my weak showing when it came to the annual plantings. And you couldn’t have been more spot on. Even I noticed it as I filmed the tour.

So I did something about it. Well something small about it, as a starting point.

Check out the video below and you’ll see how I hopefully transformed one section of the garden by following the rule of abundance or massing of like plants.

In this case it was with Globe Amaranth. I took 5 plants that were planted way too formally and in too perfect of a straight line.

And planned to add them to another existing planting of five.

So out they went in no time …

… and were easily added to their fellow planting across the front walk.

This time I did all I could to fight against my need for order and planted them in a more asymmetrical pattern.

The Globe Amaranth are mixed in among Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania Sedge) where I hope they create a contrasting vignette that only gets better as the blooms continue to emerge all summer and into the fall.

I’ll be sure to update you on this planting as we move into July and August.

Step one in my annuals transformation is complete.

The big reveal

Posted on June 21, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Blog stuff .

It’s time.

It’s time to pivot.

I’ve absorbed and embraced all of your feedback from yesterday’s post (thank you) and I know where I need to go from here.

I need to be fully transparent.

I need to get back to the roots of this blog.

I’m no expert; just a crazed gardener who more often than not gets it wrong.

So with that in mind, I give you the following video. It’s a tour of my entire garden. Nothing is hidden. I didn’t plan ahead before starting the video and I didn’t edit a thing. I just grabbed my phone, hit the record button and started walking.

I’m terrified to view it myself but I don’t want that to hold me back from sharing it with you all.

This is the basis of the blog moving forward. The struggle is real (tongue sort of planted in cheek) and I’m thrilled to share that struggle (and the successes) with you all. It will all be viewed from a much wider lens.

This will be horrifying yet real.

But fun.

Be kind.

Potential blog changes – need your input

Posted on June 20, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Blog stuff .

Howdy y’all.

I’ve been mulling over some potential changes to this blog (and my writing platforms overall) and I would love your input. After all, you’re the ones who keep coming back each week (and why the heck do you?) and nobody knows what you want more than you.

I’m not considering drastic changes, more like a tweak here and there. I’m leaning more subtle.

As I’ve looked over my posts here from the past few months, it’s clear that I’ve come to favor the garden tour. A tour of my garden that particular day along with some brief notes accompanying the photos. Not a ton of detail as the photos ultimately tell the story.

Do you like these posts? Should they continue to be the bulk of what I post each week?

Or would you prefer shorter, more detailed posts that I post more frequently? These would focus on one topic only.

A mix of both of the above?

Are there new topics you’d like to see me cover?

As you know, I just published my second book and I’m actively trying to promote that book. While it has a lot of gardening, that really isn’t the focus. Should I separate my non-gardening writing from this blog? Keep this to plants and gardening only?

I just created a new “John Markowski – Author” Facebook page that for now, will include all of my book writing news, promotions and non-gardening writing.

Psst – if you want to follow the page, click here.

I may eventually get rid of the “ONG” Facebook page and group all of my writing under the new FB page. We’ll see where that goes. What are your thoughts on the different FB pages? Do you even follow FB pages? If so, what would you like to see there?

I’ll end the questions for today so not to overwhelm you. Again, I’d love to hear your thoughts so I can make this blog the best it can be.

One last thing.

If you picked up a copy of my book (and thank you BTW), I’d love for you to write a brief review on Amazon if you’re up for it. And I beg you to be as honest as possible. Those reviews mean the world to a new and unknown author like me.

THANK YOU ALL!!

One more last thing.

The plant below is my new fave in the garden. I’ll keep you in suspense as to its name until a future post. Any guesses?

The only way to prevent weeds

Posted on June 12, 2018 by jmarkowski Posted in Weeds .

I’m overwhelmed.

If you saw the weed sitch in my garden you’d scream in horror. It’s really bad. With all the rain and the inability to get outdoors, the weeds have exploded in numbers I never thought possible. It’s close to pushing me over the edge.

I’d show you some pics but I need to maintain some level of your respect. I can’t have you leaving in droves to visit better gardening blogs. I’ll never get you back after that. This blog would then collapse upon itself in loneliness and disappear into oblivion.

I can’t have that.

Just imagine the worst case weed scenario and add on 10% more badness.

I’ll try to attack it over the next few weeks and then show you more of my garden when it’s looking all nice and pretty. Maybe we’ll look back and all have a chuckle.

So as I ignored 75% of the garden this morning I quickly realized why the other 25% was okay to photograph. That 25% has no room for weeds. It’s completely filled in with nothing but plants.

The weeds don’t have a chance to see the light of day.