Stop Fighting Your Garden
What if the secret to a beautiful garden isn’t better soil, but better
plant choices? Garden Moxie explores what happens when we
work with the land rather than trying to change it.
A Different Way To Garden
For a long time, I asked myself what I wanted to grow in my garden. Then I would make my garden accommodate the plant. I’d amend the soil, irrigate, fertilize, and intervened when things didn’t go to plan.
I’m starting to think we have this completely backwards.
What if we start asking a different question? What if we ask what plants actually want to grow in our gardens?
The soil, light, moisture and climate of the landscape is telling us something. The challenge is to listen and discover what plants are best suited for the conditions. Then we can use our design skills to turn that group of plants into a extraordinarily beautiful garden. This is what I am exploring at Garden Moxie.
Rabbit Run: The Experiment
Rabbit Run is my laboratory. It’s a temporary garden planted in unamended Kentucky clay soil. This is where I am testing a simple idea:
What happens when we stop trying to make our site suit our plants
and instead choose plants that naturally want to live there?
Some plants will thrive and others will fail. I’m documenting the results. This won’t be a perfect garden. But I know that the time I spend observing, documenting, and learning will help me create a more resilient garden at Sugar Hill.
I’m Sue Libertiny. A mechanical engineer who traded a career solving other people’s problems for a slower life building a garden in Kentucky.
Garden Moxie Field Notes
Garden Moxie Field Notes is a record of my Kentucky garden as it unfolds. Each issue explores the principles behind my design choices, the plants being trialed, and whatever else the season brings. Field Notes arrives every other week.
Latest from the Garden
I’ve spent the whole summer following the progress of my Rabbit Run trial garden. I purposely didn’t amend the clay soil, hoping to find plants that would survive without spending money on extras like compost and fertilizer. This has turned into one of the great gardening discoveries yet.
Start with the foundations of great garden design
If you’re new to Garden Moxie, I suggest you begin with the design principles that help us create beautiful spaces.
Start with the Bones
Why structure matters more than plants
Timeless Design Principles
The elements that make a garden feel complete
What Great Gardens Teach Us
Lessons from the designers who built them
These aren’t quick tips. They are the design principles that will help you build a beautiful garden.