Janet’s Garden

Ab Fab. That’s what my fellow blogger Janet’s garden is: absolutely fabulous. There is a stone meditation pool that looks like something out of Chanticleer (A Pleasure Garden as it’s billed) in Wayne PA, a stream bed that deals with runoff in a productive, water-wise, and beautiful way, fruit trees and veg patch and xeriscape section with strategically-dripped drip irrigation. And much much more. I had joined Master Gardener, Vida Morley, and a clutch of other curious (no, no, interested, supportive) MG’s to inspect the place while Vida vetted the garden for the Bay Wise program. But as soon as we got there, it was obvious that the careful use of water, bio controls, native interplantings, beneficial bugs, birds, incredibly healthy peas and herbs, water features with natural filters and water re-use, and virtually no lawn let alone chemically-fortified (lawn fertilize? HA!) yadda , yadda, yadda, made the vetting part superfluous. She passed. She got her much-deserved sign.



What put me to shame was the fact that Janet’s garden looks like she has a troop of energetic elves perpetually running around, it’s so beautifully kept. (Well yes, I’m envious.).Vida ran down the long points-based list of Bay Wise specifics as per the vetting process, but mainly we wandered around, snatched snow peas off Janet’s prolific vines, and gawped. I tried to solace myself with the thought that she had nearly killed herself prepping the place for inspection, but the truth is it probably always looks like that. No wonder she gets such great bird and nature pictures from her living room!