Gardenizer of the month:
Garden Blogger Natalie Bauer

I am Natalie, I`m 38 years old and I’m completely crazy about gardening. I`m writing for about 3 years in my blog (www.wildes-gartenherz.de). Two years ago I started my business as a gardening-planer and create complete gardens as well as smaller perennial-beds. In the middle of my planning stands the thought of Wilderness and Gardens which is a habitat for humans as well as nature and animals.

•  Where do you live?
  I’m living in Germany in the beautiful Donnersbergkreis. This is situated in Rhineland-Palatine, in the western part, nearly one hour from the border to France. Our village is rural.

• Which climate zone are you in?
  The Donnersbergkreis is sited in climate zone 6.

• Do you have a family, any pets?
  I’m living in a small “witch house” together with my husband. We have two dogs – one Dachshund-lady named Lulu and one Jack-Russell-terrier named Fips. Moreover, we have chickens – some of the race “Deutsche Zwerghühner” and some “Vorwerk”.

• What is your occupation?
  I got a universal degree in cultural sciences and pedagogy with focus on adult-learning. I was a consultant for further education and after many studies I’m working as a private Garden planer.

I can remember that my interesting in gardens started in my early years. Already as a four-year-old child, I loved flowers and was interested in the gardening work of my grandmother and neighbours. I think this passion given by birth. The first 20 years of my life I was not gifted with a garden. But I dreamed of my own piece of “Green”, where I can plant flowers, perennials, and vegetables on my own.

At that time, gardening literature was some kind of replacement. At the time I met my husband I took over a small garden from his mom. 10 years later we found our new home with a 1.200 square meters big property.

The gardening part of our property has about 800 square meters. The first part which we planted was the vegetable garden. It is surrounded by a beautiful old-fashioned picket fence where milkweed, indian nettle, phlox and wiesenknopf can lean on. In the vegetable garden we`re planning normal varieties for example kohlrabi, tomatoes, zucchini, peas and much more. Important to us is the use of old variaties of vegetables. Therefore we sometimes have yellow or round zucchinis, blue tomatoes or curled peas.

After the vegetable garden we created the perennial-beds. Those are placed in the full sun. As we found the place, I decided to use drought-loving plants, what turned out to be correct. Scented nettle, gypsophila, scabiosis, knapweed, sun and sedum plants are thriving there well.

After the vegetables and the perennials, we have reserved the space for our chickens. We started with the “Vorwerk”-Chickens. This race is threatened with extinction, but they are easy to care for, social and is a two-use-race but we use them only for the eggs. Later we got the “Deutsche Zwerghühner” in a special coloration. This race is also seldom.

Regardless of whether vegetables or perennials – both can be decorative. In my vegetable garden are flowers like marigold or different kinds of cornflowers blooming. Even some vegetables like fennel or artichoke have pretty blossoms and their entitlement in a wild and blooming garden.

My strength is my creativity. That`s why I become a garden-planer. While some people look unhappy on the current state of their garden, I see the unfinished paradise.

That is why I focus on change when I`m planning or looking at gardens. Every year I got new projects to implement and new combinations of perennials to try.

• I’m very proud of my field edge-bed. Therefore, I planted rye combined with different kinds of cornflowers and wild flowers. A very beautiful mix, which I seldom see in other gardens.
• For a short time, I started planting lotus-flowers in my garden. The last year I began with a big one that is hardy. It turned out good so, I decided to expand that part of the garden this year.
• And finally, I’m proud of my Chicken-Project. We remodel the enclosure every year a little bit. They got a chicken-swing, a sleeping-tippi and since last year a herb-bar. In this year they gonna get a luxury sand-bathing-spa-corner.

I water my plants the less I can, even if they look a little limp in the spring. But the roots are going more deeper into the ground. In the summer they got a good water-supply, even if it doesn’t rain that much. The right watering method should be learned. Many water at less times is better than watering every evening a little.

My second secret is a covered ground. Sometimes it could make sense to plant the perennials closer together or you can put mulch-material on the ground. I can recommend miscanthus-mulch for that. This is relative unknown to many persons, but a good mulch-material.

The garden itself makes me happy. With all it’s different aspects. No matter where I look, there’s always something to discover and things which please me. For example the chickens which run after a fallen walnut or a blackbird which is searching for nesting material or the delicious tomatoes in which I’m biting. Most of all I love watching the annual circle in and around my garden.

The most relevant key factor is to stay calm. Most gardeners react panic-struck when leaves turn brown or (supposedly) damages occur. We should even plants allow to get sick, and most things are going by themselves. The second point is “Learning by doing”.

A key factor if we want to have success in our garden is to fail and learn from that. No books in the world can replace your own experience.

Start with easy tings. There are some flowers, perennials and vegetables which grow nearly on their own. Marigolds forgive at least everything. Even some ornamental shrubs and zinnias are easy to grow and make something in the flower-garden. Perennials like the catnip are permanental bloomers and insect-magnets and easy to have.

Suculentes, rose veil and wild roses. Also, zucchini is an uncomplicated vegetable to grow, which you just have to protect for snails in the early days. Peas also have turned out to grow every time I planted them.

ABOUT NATALIE

Natalie is 38 years old and completely crazy about gardening. She has been writing her blog for about 3 years (www.wildes-gartenherz.de). Two years ago she started her own business as a gardening-planer and create complete gardens as well as smaller perennial-beds. In the middle of the planning stands the thought of Wilderness and Gardens which is a habitat for humans as well as nature and animals.

If you’d like to learn more about Natalie, please visit her website.