A Small Montana Garden Evolves

Indulge me in a few "before," "after" and "during" photos of our tiny in-town garden in Montana. We weren't sure that we liked the configuration of the backyard when we bought the place nearly two years ago. There were too many square corners, too much lawn, too little privacy from the alley and too many old-fashioned plants.  But, basically, we decided to watch what was growing there over a first season before attempting radical change. We only planted a few vegetables and herbs last summer. And we still have a lot of tweaking to do.  But this year, our little backyard garden has begun to come into its own.  And in true Bitterroot fashion, we've spent only a little money doing it -- mostly re-purposing what perennials we've found here, adding a fence ourselves, hiring a hard-working contractor to build a small porch and an equally hard-working young Missoulian to tear out deep concrete borders and some sod.

1--Before, Rear Backyard: We back up to a typical dusty Montana alley.  And we inherited a serviceable but old garage, a bumpy lawn, a couple of old garden beds and a row of raspberry plants in need of renovation. All of this dimmed our view West, toward the spectacular Bitterroot Mountains.

1--After, Rear Backyard: We've kept the big vegetable bed's shape for now...

...Someday more of an interesting raised bed will go in that vegetable space. The herb/rock garden to the right also needs defining, but we had young Chris Milner of Missoula tear out a misshapen and very deep concrete edging there.  We improved all bedding soil with compost last year and, in the fall, planted "green manure" that is a cover crop of peas and oats. Those we turned under early this spring. Now we're growing crops, from seeds of fava beans, snow peas and sweet peas along and up the metal trellis attached to the fence (Alex got it for $16 at a ranch-supply store) and squash and cucumbers up his homemade trellis to the left. Broccoli rabe is our tallest crop; along with a mesclun mix of lettuces, it has been harvested many times (only this morning, we had a woodsy omelet of chopped rabe, chives and the morel mushrooms that a neighbor collected and brought to us). Tomatoes are in the ground early (Alex couldn't wait and I relented; I hope the raised bed and my covers at night will help keep them from stunting, although temperatures have been above normal). Our tomato varieties include such short season ones as Oregon Spring and Celebrity (that I started from seed) and Early Girl and Roma (that Alex purchased as transplants). We're having a little tomato grow-off! He already has tiny fruit on Early Girl, so he may win.  Boo, hiss!  Beets, onions, carrots, peppers, eggplant, arugula and the heirloom lettuces that are Amish Deer Tongue and Black-Seeded Simpson round out this quirky and intensive little space.

2--Another Rear Backyard, Before: This view from alley to house precedes the back fence plus our removal of monster weeds from the vegetable bed. That's the old paint scheme, too.

2--Another Backyard, After: The porch!! It replaces foundation plantings and adds a "room" to the re-painted house.

3--Before, South Sideyard: Scary weeds (everything grows big in Montana) hid some pretty wonderful old plants.

3--After, South Sideyard:  Our hardworking friend Chris Milner, again, removed squares of sod from under where the porch would be and placed them onto a quickly-weeded sideyard for an emerald-green walkway edged by rhubarb, irises and a variety of repurposed plants.

4--Before, Foundation: This is the inherited straight line of old-fashioned foundation plants that were along the back of the house. Some are hollyhocks that I've come to love. We even divided older hollyhock plants and put them on the alley-side of our new fence.

4--During, Foundation and Porch Work: Early this spring, Alex and I moved half of those foundation plants (from where the porch would be) and heeled them into an as-of-then unplanted part of the veggie garden. See a patch of snow, far left? It still was pretty cold back then.

4--During, Porch Work: Contractor Danny Lellek worked on the porch over mostly bare ground, where sod and plants had been removed by us and Chris.

4--During, Porch Work: More of Danny's quick (3 day) effort. Alex and I stained the cedar planks for all horizontal surfaces and, later, had painters Noel and Renee Boyer finish up the rest of the porch in a house accent color, olive green.

The new view from the porch looking south is of a greatly expanded and rounded bed of perennials -- most moved back from their temporary holding pattern and a few newly purchased, such as Arctic Willow, salvia Purple Rain and two different sized and colored bee balms -- all in a concrete-free bed (thank you Chris Milner!) between stone path and raspberries.

What next, you ask? Of course there's a "next." I hope that it will be even less lawn plus more of an oval shape to it (see sketch, above, from Fine Gardening's book, Beds & Borders). I want raspberries and perennial/vegetable beds to merge. A small fruit tree also would be nice, as would flagstones instead of round concrete ones that we inherited).  I can dream, can't I?

Meanwhile, back at the porch, we're enjoying views of mountains and weather with our wine, of an evening. It's a perspective we only had through a glimpse out a rear window or from standing out in the yard. Now we get it full bore as we sit under a big market umbrella, toast friends and marvel that spring is here and that we've got so much done!!!