Behind the Scenes

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

January at The Secret Garden is often pretty wet and pretty quiet in relation to customer traffic. However it is a month where we take advantage of good weather, when we have it, and tackle upkeep and renovations out in the nursery. This year is no exception.

When we moved from Old Town Elk Grove to our current site in 2010, we brought grape vines with us in large terracotta pots. Over the past 15 years we trained them to cover the arbor and provide summer shade. They provided us with grape leaves for dolma, lots of grapes, (which we made into grape jelly to share with the team,) but unfortunately they also created a lot of mess and needed a lot of upkeep. So this year the decision was made to remove the grape vines and install a cleaner, less labor intensive, cover. It was also time to repair rot, caused by heavy watering, along the building wall. Victor and Hunter have been hard at work to make these changes.

Addressing the heavy watering and subsequent rot in that area led to the decision to move the plants that were on display in there over to where the other perennials live, closer to the freeway. That move ultimately meant we were going to need more space to display all those plants. So the decision was made to move the fountains over to the shade tunnel, thereby opening up the whole area leading to the white gazebo. Yay! We are so excited for this move! However, since the shade cloth over where the fountains have been living does not offer complete sun protection in some areas, we will need to make some adjustments so plants don’t burn there. Had you ever noticed that some of those fountains sit on underground reservoirs? Yes, well now those reservoirs needs to be removed. And since this new plant area will have to handle heavy watering for all the new plants, we’re going to need to install better drainage. Of course it also means that we need some new shelving options for the plants that will now live in that area. Oh and we also need sturdy shelving over in the shade area to display the fountains we’re moving there.

Have you read the children’s book “if you give a mouse a cookie” by Laura Numeroff? Yes, right … you get the picture!

We’re no strangers to hard work and while the to-do-list is somewhat daunting, I keep reminding everyone that the only way to eat an elephant is “one bite at a time”. Next time you’re in the nursery be sure to check out the progress but maybe keep the bit about eating an elephant between you and me. Since I’m not the one in the nursery doing the work every day any more, comments like those don’t go over as well as they used to!

Thanks for continuing to support The Secret Garden. Your encouragement and involvement in our family venture means everything! Here’s to another year doing what we love. Can you believe we’ve been at it for 23 years?!

Jennifer, Vic, Jasmine and Sabrina

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