Of Ivy, Plums, and, Lazy Gardening

There is a part of my yard I call the Jungle. It is filled with the plants that most people, including me, hate. The worst one is poison ivy or as some folks call it Sister Ivy. I know she is doing her job covering the soil and keeping people off of damaged land but boy am I allergic! And I’ll just say it, not all of us get along with our siblings.

In my hubris, as a new gardener, I cleared this area once and started planting without fully killing all that was brewing below the surface. I planted thornless blackberries, blueberries, a dogwood tree, some other things I’ve now lost in the morass, and a cherry tree.

Many of the things that I planted began to thrive. This only made it more frustrating when Sister Ivy roared back filling every crack and crevice with her shiny leaves of three. The blackberries glinted at me, just beyond my reach, the blueberries needed pruning, and the dogwood was being swallowed up.

For the first few years, I watched in dismay as this area got more and more out of control. I was busy with the rest of the garden and I had no intention of going to the ER covered in rashes. I cursed Sister Ivy, my foolishness, and threw in an extra curse for vines in general!

But this year, something interesting happened. The cherry tree bloomed and to my surprise, it isn’t a cherry tree, it’s a plum tree! Frustratingly, our area is known to be difficult to grow plums, plagued by late frost and heavy pest and disease load we don’t do well with stone fruit in general. But this year, there was no late frost and that tree is loaded with huge green plums. The first one ripened today and the taste was unbelievable!

So what am I going to do about Sister Ivy? I’m going to put on my girl pants (and long sleeves and boots) and harvest those plums. There is no way I am letting them go to waste.

Perhaps the Jungle is trying to show me that mistakes, neglect, and poorly labeled plants can all turn out well, and never give up even on the most challenging parts of our gardens. Maybe delicious plums are only a year away.

This fall, I’m going to make a plan to reclaim the jungle, this will probably include a lot of tarps, some paid help, time, patience and most importantly, a humble attitude.