Garden – Page 6 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

2 Step Bench Update

Published on May 20, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Remember my $25 bench? This is what it looked like when we first got it. It was pretty enough, but it was definitely worn and in need of some TLC.

This weekend the sun was shining and I just couldn’t resist doing projects outside. Since my yard is still on hold while waiting for the builder to clean and grade our lot, I focused my energy on other outdoor tasks like updating the bench. While the fur babies played in the yard, I moved the bench out to the driveway and did a quick sanding by hand to even out a few rough spots.

Next, I applied a dark stain we had on hand and about 30 minutes later, this was the result! It looks a meeeelllion times better and I didn’t spend a dime! It just doesn’t get better than that!

Since it’s just a tad big for the corner of the porch, I plan to put it down by the rain garden so I have a spot to sit and appreciate the blooms. That means I’m now on the hunt for some outdoor chairs in need of a touch up to fill my empty porch! 🙂

The Wheel Thing

Published on May 15, 2014May 13, 2014 by Jenna1 Comment

The other day the hubs texts me this picture and asks “You want? It’s free.”

Do I want a rusty metal wheel thing that I have no clue what I’ll do with for free? Ummm, OF COURSE! I love that he knows me so well. 🙂

Apparently, it had been sitting in a pile of scrap at his work and was about to be destroyed. He rescued it from the pile and set it aside to bring home. Only problem was that he’d forgotten his truck was in the shop for a blown water pump and he had a Jeep Cherokee for a rental.

Luckily, his 17 years of Loadmaster experience wasn’t going to let a little thing like that stop him from bringing this treasure home to his bride. And this is how I first saw it the following morning as I got in my truck to head to work!

I still haven’t decided exactly what I’m going to do with my amazing rusty wheel, but I’m thinking it will likely end up as a trellis of some sort in one of the gardens or become ‘yard art’ – possibly holding bird feeders and houses or those cute bucket planters that hang over fences. What would you use something like this for? Maybe your suggestion is better than my ideas, so I want to hear it!

Planning by the Yard!

Published on March 21, 2014April 10, 2015 by JennaLeave a comment

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m ready for warmer temps and the chance to get the yard landscaped. I’ve already shared my plans for the vegetable garden that will fill the alcove between the house and the garage and mentioned that we plan to add a deck off the Master to match the one off the Family Room, with a stone patio between for the hot tub and fire pit.

We also plan to fence in the cleared area behind the house and along the side, which will be hydroseeded to create a lawn for the dogs. We decided on using the hog panel fencing with a strand or two of electrified rope I have from an old horse pasture back home to keep what belongs in, in and what belongs out, out.

I’m considering planting my berry bushes along the bedroom side of the house within this fence so they are protected from wildlife, but I might need to add a layer of protection from the dogs since Tequila has figured out how to pick her own berries and I’m sure it won’t be long before she teaches Stoli and Bacardi! I’m anticipating blueberries, raspberries and salmon berries if possible. My strawberries will be grown in the freebie barrel I picked up last summer.

I also plan to install posts around the yard which will become mounting spots for Tequila’s favorite toy, the over-sized balls on a rope that Uncle Mark and Auntie Mere sent some time ago. This set up should prove much tougher than tying it to a tree branch, which only lasts a few minutes. I also want to use the posts of the fence to hold bird houses and feeders in strategic spots where we can see them from inside the house. I’m sure Luna will appreciate that.

Our wine bottle tiki torches will return, although I’m not sure if they will be hung on the remaining fence posts or from the posts of the pergolas we’d like to have over the decks. The pergolas might not happen until next season, so I may start with some on the fence and add more once the deck covers are finished.

Out front, I plan to do flower beds on either side of the front porch, with a walkway of some sort to garage. Because we intend to use the space off the front corner of the house for extra guest or trailer parking I anticipate adding an odd shaped area of grass between that and the front flower beds. I also want to DIY one of these pot fountains between the garage and the front door. Since my vegetable garden will take up most of my ‘gardening’ time I want these beds to be filled with bulbs and annuals that bloom in sequence such as:

Tulips
Daffodils
Iris
Daisies
Hydrangea
Lilacs
Salvia
Lavender
Hosta
Basil Lime (natural mosquito repellant)
Smoke bush

My rain garden will be located just down the driveway in a lower-lying area to collect run off rain water. I’m envisioning this space being my ‘cutting garden’ with:

Fireweed
Wild geranium
Forget Me Nots
Lupine
Daisies
Iris
Campola
Salvia

Here’s my horribly simple rendering of the birds eye view of all this glory. It’s not exact, but you get the idea of what’s going where.

I anticipate there will be some trial and error with different plants in various locations, so feel free to make suggestions if you know of things that grow well in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Alaska!

Spring Fling? More Like Break-up!

Published on March 19, 2014March 19, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Tomorrow is the first official day of spring, but we do everything a little different here in Alaska, including Spring. When you live near the Arctic Circle spring doesn’t include pretty little green sprouts popping up after misty rain showers. Here, spring brings a continued chance of snow, slushy roads edged with puddles and grey everything – not the 50 shades kind either.

Spring is known as “break-up” season in Alaska, because that’s when the ice on the rivers starts to break apart and move downstream. In fact, traditions are based on it. Many native villages hold contests for residents to guess when a wooden tripod placed on the thawing river will fall as the ice below it gives in to rising temps. It’s usually the talk of the town and you’ll find everyone available on the river bank watching, because it’s what you do in rural Alaska.

One of the things I love most about Alaska is the change of seasons, but now that the beautiful snow of winter is melting and we’re left with wet, slick ice splotches I’m ready to fast forward to summer’s greenery. Maybe it’s spring fever because I didn’t get a “spring break” like the school kids did. Or maybe I’m just eager to get my garden set up and my landscaping installed.

I have big plans for the yard, including hydroseeding a lawn for the dogs, flower beds near the front door and several birdhouses with feeders nearby so our feathered friends stay. Watch for a post on the full plan soon. But none of that can happen until the ground thaws and the warm temps are consistent. Until then my ‘yard pretties’ will remain stashed away in their cabinet in the garage and I’ll continue to day dream about the pretty flowers I’ll be planting.

A Little Indoor Gardening

Published on January 28, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Remember my little terrarium project? Well it’s gone so well that a few of the plants have since outgrown their little bubbles and were in need of a bigger home. I’ve been collecting little crocks and containers to serve as planters and trays to set them all on for a few weeks now from clearance bins and yard sales. I decided I finally had enough and got some potting soil to get things going. Here’s what I started with.

You can sense that I had a plan as I set all these out! I moved the larger plants into new pots where they can continue to grow, and transferred the slower growing plants to the now empty terrariums.

I ended up with enough planters to fill the laundry room window, the master bathroom window AND one of the windows in the family room.

At some point in the hopefully near future the terrariums will once again hang in the windows, but I’ve given the hubs marching order that his priority is getting the garage unpacked and organized first – which will also hopefully result in him finding his fishing line to do said hanging! Once I rearranged everything there was still a bit of room in the laundry room window tray so I found another small container for future repotting, or even a new additional plant.

I was afraid that the dogs might bother the ones in the family room since it sits at eye level for them, but luckily they haven’t seemed very interested. Hopefully that statement didn’t just jinx things! LOL

I love having something green and alive around the house, how about you? What kinds of plants do you have in your home?

The Easiest Pinterest Project To Date

Published on January 21, 2014 by JennaLeave a comment

Remember that pretty copper pot I thrifted a little while back? I finally got around to converting it into my cache pot for the kitchen and it was seriously so easy I barely really don’t have much to explain. I followed the steps I found on this DIY post and I think it took me all of 10 minutes! So without further ado, here’s the how-to in just 4 easy steps.

Gather the supplies: container and charcoal filter. — Step 1: Gather the supplies – container and charcoal filter.

Step 2: Cut filter in half and prep with glue dots.

Step 3: Attach filter to underside of container lid.

Step 4: Put lid on container and sit back to appreciate your handiwork!

And that’s it! My pretty kitchen scrap pot is ready to collect trimmings for a future compost pile. Until then it holds the things I’d rather not put into our new septic system. For now, when it’s full I wander out into the woods on our property and dump the contents in random places so if wildlife do sniff it out, it’s never in the same area and they don’t become accustom to eating scraps.

I could have saved the other half of the filter for when this one wears out in 3 months, but instead I put it on the underside of our regular trash can lid to help with the odors that tend to accumulate there and I’m pleased to report that it seems to be helping!

So there you have it. Easy Peasy, Cache Teesy! 🙂

How Will My Garden Grow?

Published on August 28, 2013August 21, 2013 by Jenna15 Comments

As I mentioned last week I plan to install our garden in the alcove created by the side of the house and the back of the third garage bay. The space measures 12′ wide by 22′ long, which is a great space for a garden. Here is the space as it sits.

I knew I wanted the garden fenced off from the rest of the yard so the dogs wouldn’t be in there when we’re not home, but I hadn’t really decided what kind of fencing to use until I saw this community garden here in Anchorage! Can you say AH-MAZE-ING?!

And the construction seemed simple enough – hog panels stapled (with heavy duty staples) onto posts and trim supports. While I love the arbor around the top, that might come in “Phase 2” but it would provide a great spot for plants such as strawberries or even tomatoes to trail! I also plan for the pergola over the gate to come later. It’s more important to get the garden going and producing than making it super pretty right?

Granted, my garden won’t be this big, (and if it was I might have to quit my day-job just to maintain it!), but the overall layout and design is a perfect example of what I want. I took the hubs by to make sure it was doable on a smaller scale and he liked it. He even mentioned how their raised beds were probably the exact design he’d suggest for our garden!

Although I’d love to have a green house right away, I know that likely won’t happen until next summer. But when it does happen, I plan to use these Ana-White.com plans! I’m thinking the green house will end up somewhere to the right of the garden where it will get sunlight all day. Until then I will use hoops over the raised beds to extend the growing season on either end.

Right now I plan to grow chard, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes (regular and cherry), bell peppers (different colors for salsa!), carrots, green and yellow onions, potatoes, jalapenos (not sure how they will fare in this climate, so I might have to wait until we have a green house), garlic, snow peas, green beans and broccoli. I also recently inherited a purple cauliflower plant which will find a home in my garden if it survives the move. I also plan to have stacked planters like these on the back deck in which I’ll transplant my current salad bowl and create an herb garden with basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, dill and cilantro, which can be moved during the winter.

I recently found this plastic barrel for free on Craigslist and plan to create something like this with it to plant my strawberries in. A planter and compost all in one? Sounds great! Made with a freebie barrel – even better!

We will also be installing rain barrels with rain chains around the house like this. Luckily, I have a previous photography client who used wine and whiskey barrels as their wedding decor and no longer needs them, so I’ve got some earmarked for me at a discounted rate! 🙂 I also found this super simple and inexpensive tutorial for a copper rain chain that I plan to make. And because we are working with the rain garden program, any money spent on these rain catchments counts toward our overall budget, of which half will will be reimbursed!

Now we just need to fast forward to move in day and put all these plans into action!

A Sweet Freebie!

Published on August 14, 2013August 11, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

I love browsing the “Free” section of Craigslist because you just never know what you might find – like a hot tub! The other day I spotted an ad for free raspberry plants. I’d been planning to add raspberries to our landscaping and/or garden at the new house and thought even if they weren’t in great shape I just couldn’t beat free, so I called the number.

The lady told me they were growing behind a trailer she was renovating and I could go anytime to take as much or as little as I wanted. She also said that they were producing berries already, they just weren’t turning red. I told her I’d come by the next day to get them. And the next day it rained. All day. I decided to hold off and see if the weather cleared, which it did the following day so off I went, with boots, gloves and shovel in hand.

When I arrived I was shocked to see a thicket of plants along the entire back side of the trailer. They were almost as tall as me and growing like weeds. I picked out the plants with the most berries that were the easiest to get to and started digging. They came up fairly easily, so hopefully I got enough of the roots for them to transplant well. I took about 5-6 plants as that’s all I had containers for at our rental right now and kept a few of the feeder branches that broke off but had small roots. I wish I’d taken a picture of just how full the back of my truck was, but here’s what I ended up with once they were planted!

It’s hard to tell from this angle, but the tub in the back is just as full as the one in the middle. The first tub holds the iris I traded tulip bulbs for in Kodiak and was able to bring with us when we moved this winter. You’ll notice there are also some tall purple flowers in the back of that tub. I collected those from the same place as the raspberry bushes since they were right next to the bushes and would have been demolished in the process of me digging. Hopefully they take and can be transplanted into our yard next season. They seemed to be growing on their own all around the site so I’m thinking they might be a local wildflower. Here’s a closer shot. Anyone know what they are?

The raspberry branches I kept ended up in their own planter. That little bucket was the only thing I had left to plant in! I’m not sure if any of them will take root, but I figured it was worth a shot.

The hubs and I wondered if they might be salmon berry bushes rather than raspberries and set out on an exhaustive Internet search to see if we could confirm that theory. I’ve come to believe they are in fact raspberries based on the leaf shape, but if they develop purple/pink flowers next year they might just prove me wrong. And just to prove that they do in-fact produce fruit, here’s a shot of one of the berries.

I decided to leave everything be for now and let them settle in. If it looks like they take root I might prune them a little in the fall, just before winter to clean them up before the move. If we get into the house before the first frost I’ll get them planted in the ground, but if not they can winter over in these tubs once I wrap them. Either way, I’m now planning for a sweet harvest next summer – provided that the dogs or the moose don’t get to the berries first! LOL

Bring On the Rain

Published on July 11, 2013February 6, 2014 by Jenna1 Comment

Where has the week gone?! It’s somehow Thursday and I have yet to do a post this week, but I guess I have good reason. We were dealing with construction allowances for the house on Monday, drove to Whittier to drop off a trailer for a friend on Tuesday and had friends in town Wednesday so there just hasn’t been a spare moment to blog until now.

During my allowance budgeting I did do some research on a couple of things we’re looking at tackling right away when we move in. I’d like to get some planting done, if we get in before the first frost, so that I have things started for next season. I toyed with the idea of going to the nursery plant sales to snag up all the 40-50% off perennials and shrubs I plan to use, but I’ve held off just because I don’t want to be stuck with a bevy of potted greenery that I can’t plant because the ground is frozen and needs somewhere protected to winter over. So instead I decided to research things I can prep for spring. One of those things was rain chains from our eaves to a barrel which will collect run-off water. I plan to snap up the supplies during the off season for less and prep them so everything is ready to be put in action as soon as weather allows.

While researching ideas for that project I discovered that our community has a Rain Garden program. I had never heard of a rain garden, but it sounded interesting. Described as a vegetated areas, built specifically to manage storm water runoff from driveways, sidewalks, roofs and other paved surfaces, it provides runoff an area to spread for removal of sediment and pollutants while also preventing flooding and erosion.

What a perfect complement to the rain chain and barrels I was already planning to use. Plus the natural ravine we have on our property provides an excellent footprint for this type of garden. If we can get it installed before winter takes hold it should be a big help in controlling spring’s thawing run-off.

What’s even better is that the local program encourages the use of rain gardens by paying home owners to install them! They will reimburse up to $500 of the cost you incur to install your garden, green roof or porous pavement. How awesome is that? Check out these gardens that have been created around the community through this program.

The hard part will be deciding what vegetation to include in my rain garden. Although I’m pretty sure the first round of plants will be those that are currently living in containers around my home now – iris, hydrangea, strawberries, lavender, marigolds, and daisies along with bulbs that I have not yet planted because I’m out of room. I’m sure not all of them will survive the transplant and impending winter, but those that don’t will create pockets of space to try new things come spring! And then I’ll be singing Jo Dee Messina’s “Bring on the rain” to watch our handy work in action!