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A More In-Depth Look at My Garden(s)
I know a few of you are fellow gardeners, or at least garden enthusiasts, so I thought I'd take a little time to show you around mine (virtually, that is.) A lot of this is already posted on my facebook, so it may be a little on the boring side for some of you. Sorry about that! I'll try to add in extra tidbits and random thoughts to keep it fresh. :)
We'll start at the front of the house. My original intention was to build a raised bed with a water feature, but there were just too many factors working against me (no outdoor outlet to run the pump, worry that the maintenance would be too much hassle, cost of supplies, etc.) I'm a little ashamed to admit that I went so far as to build a box-shaped 'bed' of cinder blocks (they were already here, so materials cost was zero) that was big enough to hold the small pond form (also already here.) It then sat that way, unfilled except for the leaves that drifted into it and the weeds that freely grew inside it, for two years. This spring I finally decided a reality check was in order, tossed the pond form behind the garage, and rearranged the blocks into neat rows so the holes would act as planters (for actual flowers and beneficial plants, not weeds!) I'm calling it my redneck flowerbed, though a brief search on Pinterest might make you want one yourself!
Here it is April 1st after planting gladiolus bulbs (mixed colors, back two rows), Swiss chard seeds (rainbow and neon lights varieties, next row forward), and moss roses (actual plants, clearance at Lowe's for 50 cents per 4" pot.)
Here's an updated pic as of this morning:
The moss roses are sort of a succulent-leafed plant that's drought tolerant, requires little water, blooms colorfully (orange and yellow in my case) and supposedly trails out around planters. Mine haven't trailed yet, but maybe they will later. I've been seeing new green growth lately around their bases so I'm hoping for another mass blooming soon. Here's a closeup:
I've also got some additional planters by the front door. There are pansies in the hanging basket, petunias below them, cockscomb (aka celosia) in the front square planter, and lupine in the back square planter. This was taken April 1st and I haven't taken an update photo since then. Everything except the pansies are doing well. There was an epic battle with aphids (which I won) and it took a toll on them. You can see I was still futzing with the drip irrigation lines when I took this.
On to the backyard. I have an extensive container garden that is mostly herbs, but also some flowers, salad greens, and one tomato plant. It's conveniently located right out the kitchen door.
It looked like this on April 1st:
And like this earlier today:
In the background you can see some of the limbs we trimmed earlier this week. We're still debating the best way to handle them. I'd love to chip them all for the free mulch, but we don't own one and renting one is a little pricier than I expected. For now, I'm letting their leaves dry and fall off. ;)
There are additional hanging baskets of pansies and petunias in this area and on the garage wall (Another April 1st shot):
Around the corner is where I planted Asiatic lilies.
April 1st (the wire mesh protects them from squirrels, dogs, and chickens):
April 20th:
Earlier today:
Close-ups of the colors that have bloomed so far:
Edited to add: These grew from a variety pack of bulbs I got at Home Depot. The box didn't list what varieties of lilies were included, just that there were various bulb sizes which would grow to various heights. The box picture didn't show the gorgeous orange and black lily above, but does show several varieties that either haven't bloomed yet or weren't actually included:
Next up is a bed I cleared this year. Part of it gets maybe a couple hours of early morning light, the rest is full shade. I planted 3 bare root red astilbe in the back and 5 hosta bulbs in the front.
April 1st:
And...this bed was a total, utter failure. The astilbe never came up, two of the 5 hostas grew some but then slowly died, the other 3 hostas grew very slowly but appeared healthy until my dog dug one up to make a nice cool hidey hole while I obliviously weeded in another part of the garden. I'm back to square one now, but my tentative plan is to get several types of coral bells (their foliage comes in amazing colors!) and a clematis that will thrive in the shade and add some interest to the very white siding of the house.
Next up is the 'old' garden. This has been established and used of and on for 6 years, and was apparently a garden for the previous owners as well. I've planted sweet onions (TX 1015 variety), another variety of Swiss chard (started by my New Zealander neighbor whose sister sent him the seeds from Australia), okra, yellow squash, zucchini, round zucchini, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and garlic.
April 20th:
Earlier today (it needs some weeding!):
I've already pulled one yellow squash and many more are on the way. I expect the zucchini to start up with female flowers next week. The cucumbers are growing well, but still no fruit on those vines. I saw my first okra flower earlier today:
Then I pulled up one patch of garlic and braided it for hang-drying:
I've currently got two trellises on one side of the big chicken coop. Last year I grew morning glories, but they couldn't handle the worst of the summer heat. This year I'm trying out cardinal climber, a morning glory relative with very red flowers that (I think) stay open all day. Mine haven't bloomed yet, so I can't say that for sure. They should attract pollinators to the garden (and hummingbirds!) as well as shade that side of the coop. They're supposed to grow 10-15 feet tall, so I may end up adding a shaped bit of wire fencing to the coop roof to allow it to fully cover (and shade) as much as possible. I tossed out some seeds on another side of the coop right before the last rainy days in the hopes that I'll have two full sides and the roof covered with gorgeous vining flowers! Here's what I have right now (notice the 'frilly' leaves):
At the front of the coop I added a teensy space for leftover gladiolus bulbs, a couple zinnia, one four o'clock, two salvias, and some snapdragons. It still needs to get hooked up to the irrigation system and mulched, but I keep putting it off.
Now for the 'new' garden! This is the space I cleared this year. It was clogged with weed-tree stumps. In fact, there are still a few left at the very back, but I wanted to make sure there's enough light to grow tomatoes (or other veggies) before I devoted any more of my life to digging. So far, so good:
April 20th (I shared this in a previous post, so this is just for reference):
Earlier today:
This area gets morning shade, but midday-evening sun. I worried that wouldn't be enough, but it's working great so far! Even after planting all these tomatoes (18 in this area) I still had many seedlings leftover. I cleared a little more space between the two gardens, but behind the chicken coop and planted 6 more:
These get morning-midday sun and (mostly) afternoon-evening shade. I'm curious to see which works best. All my tomatoes have marigolds companion planted with them for their pest-repellant properties. Next year I think I'll alternate marigolds and nasturtium, which should make the tomatoes taste even better.
The only plants I have left to show you are my sunflowers. I've never felt that strongly about them, but Ben likes them a lot so I decided to plant some this year. To get the most bang for my buck, I decided their height made them excellent camouflage for an otherwise ugly part of the yard...the forge. At the time, the forge hadn't been used since my landlord moved out and I expected it to stay that way. Plans changed, and Ben decided he wanted to try his hand at smithing (yay!)...a few weeks after I'd planted the sunflowers just inside that area (boo...) Luckily he's managed to set the space up in such a way that they're not in his way too much, and they don't get blasted by heat. They work pretty well as a living curtain:
I'll leave you with one last image of the backyard, as seen from the garage roof after tree-trimming was complete:
We'll start at the front of the house. My original intention was to build a raised bed with a water feature, but there were just too many factors working against me (no outdoor outlet to run the pump, worry that the maintenance would be too much hassle, cost of supplies, etc.) I'm a little ashamed to admit that I went so far as to build a box-shaped 'bed' of cinder blocks (they were already here, so materials cost was zero) that was big enough to hold the small pond form (also already here.) It then sat that way, unfilled except for the leaves that drifted into it and the weeds that freely grew inside it, for two years. This spring I finally decided a reality check was in order, tossed the pond form behind the garage, and rearranged the blocks into neat rows so the holes would act as planters (for actual flowers and beneficial plants, not weeds!) I'm calling it my redneck flowerbed, though a brief search on Pinterest might make you want one yourself!
Here it is April 1st after planting gladiolus bulbs (mixed colors, back two rows), Swiss chard seeds (rainbow and neon lights varieties, next row forward), and moss roses (actual plants, clearance at Lowe's for 50 cents per 4" pot.)
Here's an updated pic as of this morning:
The moss roses are sort of a succulent-leafed plant that's drought tolerant, requires little water, blooms colorfully (orange and yellow in my case) and supposedly trails out around planters. Mine haven't trailed yet, but maybe they will later. I've been seeing new green growth lately around their bases so I'm hoping for another mass blooming soon. Here's a closeup:
I've also got some additional planters by the front door. There are pansies in the hanging basket, petunias below them, cockscomb (aka celosia) in the front square planter, and lupine in the back square planter. This was taken April 1st and I haven't taken an update photo since then. Everything except the pansies are doing well. There was an epic battle with aphids (which I won) and it took a toll on them. You can see I was still futzing with the drip irrigation lines when I took this.
On to the backyard. I have an extensive container garden that is mostly herbs, but also some flowers, salad greens, and one tomato plant. It's conveniently located right out the kitchen door.
It looked like this on April 1st:
And like this earlier today:
In the background you can see some of the limbs we trimmed earlier this week. We're still debating the best way to handle them. I'd love to chip them all for the free mulch, but we don't own one and renting one is a little pricier than I expected. For now, I'm letting their leaves dry and fall off. ;)
There are additional hanging baskets of pansies and petunias in this area and on the garage wall (Another April 1st shot):
Around the corner is where I planted Asiatic lilies.
April 1st (the wire mesh protects them from squirrels, dogs, and chickens):
April 20th:
Earlier today:
Close-ups of the colors that have bloomed so far:
Edited to add: These grew from a variety pack of bulbs I got at Home Depot. The box didn't list what varieties of lilies were included, just that there were various bulb sizes which would grow to various heights. The box picture didn't show the gorgeous orange and black lily above, but does show several varieties that either haven't bloomed yet or weren't actually included:
Next up is a bed I cleared this year. Part of it gets maybe a couple hours of early morning light, the rest is full shade. I planted 3 bare root red astilbe in the back and 5 hosta bulbs in the front.
April 1st:
And...this bed was a total, utter failure. The astilbe never came up, two of the 5 hostas grew some but then slowly died, the other 3 hostas grew very slowly but appeared healthy until my dog dug one up to make a nice cool hidey hole while I obliviously weeded in another part of the garden. I'm back to square one now, but my tentative plan is to get several types of coral bells (their foliage comes in amazing colors!) and a clematis that will thrive in the shade and add some interest to the very white siding of the house.
Next up is the 'old' garden. This has been established and used of and on for 6 years, and was apparently a garden for the previous owners as well. I've planted sweet onions (TX 1015 variety), another variety of Swiss chard (started by my New Zealander neighbor whose sister sent him the seeds from Australia), okra, yellow squash, zucchini, round zucchini, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, and garlic.
April 20th:
Earlier today (it needs some weeding!):
I've already pulled one yellow squash and many more are on the way. I expect the zucchini to start up with female flowers next week. The cucumbers are growing well, but still no fruit on those vines. I saw my first okra flower earlier today:
Then I pulled up one patch of garlic and braided it for hang-drying:
I've currently got two trellises on one side of the big chicken coop. Last year I grew morning glories, but they couldn't handle the worst of the summer heat. This year I'm trying out cardinal climber, a morning glory relative with very red flowers that (I think) stay open all day. Mine haven't bloomed yet, so I can't say that for sure. They should attract pollinators to the garden (and hummingbirds!) as well as shade that side of the coop. They're supposed to grow 10-15 feet tall, so I may end up adding a shaped bit of wire fencing to the coop roof to allow it to fully cover (and shade) as much as possible. I tossed out some seeds on another side of the coop right before the last rainy days in the hopes that I'll have two full sides and the roof covered with gorgeous vining flowers! Here's what I have right now (notice the 'frilly' leaves):
At the front of the coop I added a teensy space for leftover gladiolus bulbs, a couple zinnia, one four o'clock, two salvias, and some snapdragons. It still needs to get hooked up to the irrigation system and mulched, but I keep putting it off.
Now for the 'new' garden! This is the space I cleared this year. It was clogged with weed-tree stumps. In fact, there are still a few left at the very back, but I wanted to make sure there's enough light to grow tomatoes (or other veggies) before I devoted any more of my life to digging. So far, so good:
April 20th (I shared this in a previous post, so this is just for reference):
Earlier today:
This area gets morning shade, but midday-evening sun. I worried that wouldn't be enough, but it's working great so far! Even after planting all these tomatoes (18 in this area) I still had many seedlings leftover. I cleared a little more space between the two gardens, but behind the chicken coop and planted 6 more:
These get morning-midday sun and (mostly) afternoon-evening shade. I'm curious to see which works best. All my tomatoes have marigolds companion planted with them for their pest-repellant properties. Next year I think I'll alternate marigolds and nasturtium, which should make the tomatoes taste even better.
The only plants I have left to show you are my sunflowers. I've never felt that strongly about them, but Ben likes them a lot so I decided to plant some this year. To get the most bang for my buck, I decided their height made them excellent camouflage for an otherwise ugly part of the yard...the forge. At the time, the forge hadn't been used since my landlord moved out and I expected it to stay that way. Plans changed, and Ben decided he wanted to try his hand at smithing (yay!)...a few weeks after I'd planted the sunflowers just inside that area (boo...) Luckily he's managed to set the space up in such a way that they're not in his way too much, and they don't get blasted by heat. They work pretty well as a living curtain:
I'll leave you with one last image of the backyard, as seen from the garage roof after tree-trimming was complete: