This year, PT’s Garden was one of five gardens on the Adel Garden Tour, a project managed by the Adel Chamber and This is Adel group. Our gardens are located in central Iowa, in the beautiful Midwestern part of the United States.
PT’s Gardens has seven gardens to tend (and an 8th garden being built). I enlisted the help of my sister, Cynthia, to assist me in the weeding and prepping of all of the beds. The FFA students from the local high school helped with pre-prep of the gardens: spreading the manure, etc.
We made plans to donate a Plant Patron® to a lucky winner during the tour. The drawing would be held the afternoon of the tour. (See our lucky winner, Jane, at the bottom of this page).
For the better part of April, we had unseasonably cold, wet weather in central Iowa, making it very difficult to start any seeds outdoors. Or even be outdoors. I knew at that time the Adel Garden tour would still be held on the affirmed date, but the gardens themselves would not be at their usual peak, because…you guessed it…they would be three weeks behind.
Undeterred, Cynthia and I hit the beds on May 1, cleaning, pruning and planting.
The tools of gardening are not flashy: a garden spade, pruners, hoses and bags of seeds. All are simple, yet practical; useful and not high tech. The fresh air is amazing, rejuvenating mind and spirit. With a quality gardening tool, it makes the task of gardening much easier.
Cynthia and I carefully combed through each bed, uncovering new sprouts, pulling weeds, pruning back old growth. We pulled poison ivy (carefully) and put all of the clippings on the compost pile. For four weeks, we did this routine. It was hard work, yet so satisfying.
Signage was made for each of the garden beds, indicating the name of the bed and feature flowers within the space. Plant Patrons® that had been protecting new plants all winter, were pulled up and moved to another new plant because the root systems of the current plant were healthy enough to resist any new critter visits.
The day of the Adel Garden Tour dawned, sunny, yet windy. Our meadows had been mowed to accommodate parking of cars. People began arriving fifteen minutes early. We were ready! Lulu the retro bicycle was in place, a bouquet of fresh flowers in her basket.
Over 100 people walked through the gardens. Because of the cold weather in April, the zinnias were not yet blooming and the cucumbers were not yet flowering. But the lettuces were abundant and all of the plants were budding and ready to be in full bloom.
And the visiting gardeners seemed to understand this. Gardeners are caring, understanding, hard-working people. If you need to get a difficult job done, call on a gardener. Right?
It was a big relief, yet so satisfying, to have the Adel Garden Tour come to an end. We met new neighbors and friends from the community. We learned some new tricks for gardening, and made new acquaintances.
My only regret is this: the zinnias and summer phlox are now in full bloom…and none of our garden guests were able to see them.
The 2022 Adel Home Garden Tour is now in the books.
P.S. Our gardens finally came into full bloom mid-July. Please enjoy the photo in the McGillicuddy Bed of: giant zinnias and Summer Phlox (a 20-year old plant).
Visit your Garden every day…if only for a short while. It will do your heart much good.
Order your Plant Patron® today.
**We have lowered the price of shipping on the Plant Patrons®. Order now to take advantage of this great value.
Meanwhile, let’s Plant On together.
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