Growing – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

As I promised last week I’m sharing a little update on the progress we’ve made in getting the green house ready for the season. But before we get to the progress, let’s take a look at how things looked when we started. Since the Hubs finished the structure as fall arrived last year we used the space for storage of all my pots and planters, along with some of the patio furniture and accessories. We’ll call it organized chaos.

Luna decided to join me in the greenhouse as I started clearing it out. She seemed to appreciate the warm cozy temps inside and made herself quite comfortable.

While Luna took in the warmth I harvested the dried blooms from the lavender I’d stashed away in the fall. It was a decent little harvest, which I used to give the chicken’s nesting boxes a bit of freshness.

After that I made Luna move off the table so I could drag it out to the deck. When I returned she had found a new favorite spot in one of the planter boxes. I let her be as I sorted and dug out everything else to make room for the new set-up.

We purchased large plastic totes to serve as our planters in the greenhouse. I filled the bottoms of each with plastic containers from our recycle bin – plus a few from the coffee shop at work – to help fill some of the space to reduce the amount of soil I had to use and provide space at the bottom of the containers where moisture could settle and then be wicked back up. There are no drainage holes in the bottoms of the totes as that would become quite messy on the floor of the green house so I’ll have to water carefully.

And here’s where things are now. We’ve got four totes down each side which sit on plant dollies so they can be moved easily, allowing me to work on the plants from all sides – a feature that might come in handy during harvest. On the left side I brought in the two rusty bed frames I’d used as trellises in the wheel bed last season. They worked well for the peas in the wheel bed, but this time one will be for green beans and the other will support cucumbers. The tote in the back corner will be for dill and the one in the front corner will be for peppers. The Hubs plans to secure them to the wall just to be on the safe side. This side of the green house will also get vertical strawberry planters in each corner to maximize the space.

The right side has a shelf where the Hubs will be setting up a hyponic system for the buckets you see there. Those will hold 4 varieties of tomatoes and a squash. Below them will be yellow and red onions, asparagus and peas, which will get a smaller DIY trellis to climb.

In the back I added a large galvanized trash can under the window to hold extra dirt and the Hubs installed a wire shelf above it to serve as a potting bench. That way when I’m preparing pots for the deck and porch if I spill it can fall right back into the dirt bin. Plus the way he installed it I can lift it up against the window if I want it out of the way for any reason. The ledge created by the wall framing was the perfect spot to store all my garden decor over the winter. Once the yard finishes thawing out I’ll be moving those items out to their ‘summer homes’ and that space can hold any extra pots awaiting occupants. My hand tools will be kept in the small tub you see on the shelf, which will be filled with sand to keep everything sharp – an idea I found on Pinterest of course.

It’s still getting pretty cold overnight so I haven’t put any plants out in the green house just yet, but I have purchased the first round of veggies and a couple of flowers which are pretty happy in the laundry room sink and on the kitchen counter for now. I’ll be going to the big annual season kick-off sale at my favorite nursery this weekend to buy the rest of my stock and will test out a DIY trick I learned on the local garden club page to heat the green house up a bit at night to make sure it’s ready for planting.

I’ve also got a few things planned for just outside the green house, including moving the gutters I used last year for strawberries and potato towers, but I’ll share those once we get things set up a bit more. It’s going to be a lot of work but if it all goes well we’ll have a great crop of fresh food because of it! I’m so excited to see what works and what we can improve for next year. If you have ideas, tips or suggestions on what might be an improvement please share them below and I’ll try to test them out this year.

Shared on Savvy Southern Style’s Wow Us Wednesdays and Knick of Time’s Talk of the Town.

Today I thought I’d share how the front flower bed and rain gardens are looking this season. The perennials from previous plantings have slowly been coming in and I’ve added a few new items as well to get the front beds going for the season, although like most other things around here, it’s a work in progress. (On that note, pretend you don’t see that crazy hose situation going on in the foreground there. Our expandable hose bit the dust last season and unfortunately we haven’t figured out a good system for storing the long hoses we replaced it with just yet so they stay coiled in this pile for daily use for now.)

The first thing that showed up was this amazing allium, which sprouted and then produced a long stalk with a odd shaped bud at the top. At first I thought an alien had taken up residence in my flower bed, but thanks to the local garden group I was able to identify it and enjoy watching it blossom.

We moved the rain barrel out of the small corner next to the garage so it can be used in the backyard with a gutter so the space needed a bit of rearranging. I filled the void from the rain barrel with white iris from my mother-in-law’s garden that I brought back when we picked up Brinley and added some phlox between that and the hosta that has come back much better than it did last year. The phlox is doing quite well and has doubled in size since I planted it, so I’m pretty sure it’s happy there. I’m also loving the metal hearts I added on the wall, which will look even better when the plants grow up and fill some of the empty space below them.

None of the previous plantings on the other side of the walkway came back so I took the opportunity to try something new – an anemone and a sea pink armeria. The armeria reminds me of a Dr. Seuss plant, but hasn’t rebloomed since I deadheaded spent blooms, so I might need to find a better spot for it.

The anemone is doing very well, although upon closer inspection last night I noticed aphids so I’ll have to address that. It’s been a horrible season for pests so I’m checking out every DIY remedy available online.

I moved our little wooden moose statute into the corner to hide a cable that comes out of the garage wall until the plants grow in and do that on their own. In the opposite corner next to the porch, I paired this metal sphere and piece of driftwood for a fun little garden vignette.

There are more spheres on the far end of the bed on the other side of the porch. This space got several new plants including daisies, lupine, yarrow and day lilies transplanted from my mother-in-law’s garden.

The daisies got a little wild as they started to grow in so I used some of rusty cement stakes to create a little support system for them. I’m hoping they go to seed at the end of the season and self-sow an even bigger crop next year.

Mr. Frog found a nice little resting spot next to a big piece of driftwood in the back of the bed. He’s sorely in need of a paint job but I think I’ll let him be this season and address that next year since I love his colors in this spot.

I filled the whiskey barrels on the stoop with dusty miller and purple alyssum, which has been slowly growing in. Beyond that there is white alyssum in wire and burlap pots on each side on the first step, with purple daisies in rustic metal pails on the top step. Those extra pots you spot hanging out on the porch are awaiting new homes in the gifted garden along the side of the house. Before that can happen I need to weed that bed and make a bit of room for them.

The rain garden is coming along quite well, and without much effort on my part, which is my kind of garden. I moved the tall obelisk we got at the Great Junk Hunt last year to this space for some height at the back of the garden and really like it here. I plan to transplant a lilac in the gifted garden to that same spot at the end of the season so it has more room to spread out, which will hide a large section of the tire wall. 🙂

The clematis on either side of the garden weren’t growing in to cover the tire wall as I’d hoped so I decided to give them a bit of guidance with temporary tape. One side is looking fairly lush and seems to have adapted well, but the other side is still a bit sparse. I may add a third and forth clematis along the back wall next year if I don’t see much growth by then.

The chives I planted out here at the end of last season when cleaning out the garden box are doing well and have actually bloomed.

The mint from our herb planter last year is also coming in quickly.

This mystery plant in the front of the garden is growing quite rapidly, but I haven’t been able to confirm what it is just yet.

I was surprised to discover the vinca vine I planted when we first did the rain garden had come back in after it showed little signs of life last summer. Next to it the spikewell is quite lush although it hasn’t shown any buds yet.

The water iris are slowly growing, but I’m thinking they may not bloom again this year.

But the large clumps of iris that came from our friend’s yard in Seward have finally started blooming! In fact almost every plant has several blooms opening on it!

The other two lilacs that were at the back of the garden have been relocated to either side of the garden so they have room to establish and spread out without crowding each other. I still need to clean up the areas around them but at least they have their own space now.

The lambs ear from my mother-in-law’s garden survived the winter after transplant and has grown taller, so I’m hopeful it will continue to grow and create more shoots.

Here’s the view from the driveway of the whole scene. The pile of rocks in the foreground are headed for our new rock garden and there are small batches of ground cover along the front that will eventually grow in to cover the slope.

Between the house and the rain garden lies the raspberry patch, which is coming along nicely. I pruned back the dead branches to encourage the new branches to produce which worked well since we have lush growth on the stalks and numerous white buds on each plant so we’re on track for a bountiful harvest.

We also added a haskap bush in front of the raspberries. Haskaps are similar to blue berries, but are better suited for our climate. Hopefully we’ll harvest those to accompany the raspberries in our summer time desserts.

The hubs also rigged up the big water tank you see in the background to gravity feed the soaker hose in the raspberry patch, which has been super convenient on the occasional hot sunny day. I’ve decided to let the fireweed that’s encroaching on the raspberry patch be for now since both are fairly dominant and should fight each other out. Plus it blocks out the ferns and other undergrowth that would like to spread out from the woods just beyond and if something going to spread I’d rather have fireweed than a thorny Nuka Rose!

Hopefully I’ll get the gifted garden in shape soon and can share that as well, along with the finished rock garden around the back deck. Stay tuned for those updates and a few other little projects in between. 🙂