Cottage Garden Diary

21 May '06 12:26 am

I've been playing with my camera AGAIN..... Very Happy

I've been putting out pots for the last couple of days. I have them nearly all finished... but I think I will need to visitthe nursery for a few more annuals... just in case. Wink

Now I just wnat them to all hurry up and GROW!

And I've finally gotten to plant my old wheel barrow.... this is one of my favorite pieces in the garden. I love the way the old red, rusty paint contrasts with the perfect green of the plants.

24 May '06 4:58 pm

Hi C/Garden, your iris close-ups are soo..oo pretty, such a beautiful shade of purple! Wow, a bed full of them and your third pic showing different stages of blooming with the bud soon to unfurl (in the foreground) reminds me of another beauty (shade in navy blue I think) shown at Sjoerd's recent post "Some flowers in bloom..." - hopefully he'll post some pic of it when in full bloom!

Your garden is progressing very well, the plants look so healthy and green and that antique wheelbarrow plus other fixtures complement the surroundings! Smile

25 May '06 12:03 am

Thank you Jaqueline! The flowers will grow, fill in and look nicer as the season goes along. The wheel barrows are pretty popular in the Midwestern U.S.... we like old things. Rolling Eyes

I'm hoping it will look pretty with vines trailing over the sides and the plants growing up around it. Its supposed to look like its been there a long time.

25 May '06 12:07 am

I had an are of my garden that was just tacky looking.

In 2004 we put in the raised rock beds.... one along the south side of the garage, which we can see from the deck and most of the backyard. And one on the east side of the garage where there's a sidewalk from the alley into the backyard. But the area behind the garage, between the sidewalk and the driveway looked crappy.... full of weeds and hard to mow.

Here's a photo from earlier this spring....

25 May '06 12:13 am

I'd been planning to do something with this area to make it look better. Well, as it turned out, Sunday was the day. Kevin was off helping a friend and I was bored....

I put in the step first. Its costructed with limestone slabs that are really meant to be used to edge flowerbeds.... They came from my late father's garden and there weren't enough of them for any of my beds. I've hadthem for 3 years and had vowed to use them SOMEWHERE in my own garden.

Just as I was finishing up the step Kevin came home so he got to help me with the rest! Wink

We removed the sod, set in the rocks, then backfilled with soil. Because there were so many nasty weeds I put down 2 layers of heavy black landscape fabric, then topped with about 3" of mulch.

There are no flowers for now, but after the weeds have been deprived of sunlight long enough to kill them all I will probably remove the landscape fabric and put something low-growing in this bed....

7 Jun '06 11:55 pm

Well, I'm in the middle of another project... this one in the front of the house. It is just so flat and boring that it really isn't very attractive.

I started redoing this area last spring. I took out all of the old roses that were here before we were... gave away the ones that were actually alive... Moved the William Baffen to a new spot on the West side of the house. And, dug, expanded and reshaped the beds. I expanded each of the little beds all the way down the sides of the house.

Well, it was an improvement... but it still just looked flat. boring. Not so attractive.

So far this spring I've transplanted the few perennials that I had in this bed to other parts of the garden, ammended the beds (again) with compost, and planted a completely new collection of plants. There are 6 hydrangeas, bellflowers, delphiniums, hardy geraniums, great daisy,.... more cottagey style plants all along the foundation on both side.

I finally decided that the only way to dress it up was to either do alot of expensive construction to the house itself... which is not happening. OR... and something interesting in front of the house. So, I'm right smack in the middle of this project....

8 Jun '06 4:05 am

In many ways your place is just like ours. I love what your doing with the place. I want a wheelbarrow planter too, but I'm going to build one. I really like the stone walls and borders you have constructed. We were out at my wife's sisters farm. It is about an hour and a half drive from here. I loaded up a whole pile of big stones and brought them home to edge my garden with.

Your new fence is wonderful too. It makes all the difference. I built a picket fence for our house. There was the remains of a fence when we moved in, all rotten and falling down. I made my fence out of recycled lumber. Over 740 pickets. Took me more than 2 years, but it looks nice now and we are getting on with planting the gardens.

Check out my thread when you have the time.

http://forums.mooseyscountrygarden.com/viewforum.php?f=12

Well done.

Christopher the Garden Gnome

8 Jun '06 2:33 pm

Thank you, Christopher.

I wanted to wrap the front yard with picket fencing, but couldn't. Unfortunately they don't allow the front gardens to be fully enclosed in our town. They are afraid people will build tall privacy fences in the fronts of the houses, and there's the issue of fire saftey. If a fire breaks out they don't want the efforts of the fire fighters to be hindered by having to drape hoses over fences. So.... we're only allowed decorative fences. They either have to be no taller than 24", or not fully enclose the front of the property. I opted for a partial fence.... a 2' tall picket fence would look just plain silly! Wink

I've managed to prime the fence, now its just a matter of getting a couple of coats of paint on it and I'll be ready to plant.... Which is the part I'm really looking forward to!

I'll stop in over on your thread in a few minutes.... Very Happy

22 Jun '06 11:59 pm

I've been busy as a bee in the garden... But actually getting alot accomplished. I've gotten the front of the house complete, as well as several of the other beds.... and I'm so glad.

Its taken 3 year to get here, and will take another 2 or 3 for everything to mature and get well established.... just so glad that I've finally gotten to the point of having mostly perennials in the gardens. Just a few beds left to complete....

23 Jun '06 6:53 am

You have done well in your effort. Your garden beds are showing your patience. I only became acquainted with the "wait and see" theory last year. I must say I wasn't impressed when I found I had to wait a whole year to see certain flowers I planted. But this year it is exciting to see the plants getting bigger and bigger, soon to bloom.

I love your Shasta Daisies. They are my favorite flower. I planted some last year and only had one bloom, but this year they are growing like a champion.

Your new fence looks real nice with a coat of paint. I sure like the little fence. I'm thinking of putting some in my garden to stop the wind blowing everything over.

Looking real good!

Christopher the Gnome.

Cottage Garden Diary

My sunday Project....

Sunday project... continued

I like what you've done

Busy,busy, busy.... but finally getting some things done....

The wait and see theory.