Dreaming of a Garden Shed

After buying our house 6 years ago, I've been patiently waiting in the never ending line of home improvement projects to get a new garden shed.  This project keeps getting pushed back for more pressing items, such as the night it was pouring rain and I could hear water dripping in our basement from the main level!  Did I mention we bought a fixer?

We don't have any projects right now, so it's the perfect opportunity to make a case to my handyman extraordinare.  I've downloaded photos, looked at plans, and even considered the possibility of purchasing and customizing a prefab shed.

What makes this project sort of desperate is two factors -- 1) The shed is falling down; and 2) It's a graveyard for motorcycles and other assorted items, leaving no room for me to access my gardening items.  I don't know if I can resolve #2, but here's to hoping.

Let's talk about features.  You should always know what you're going to use a space like this for, so you can do the best planning for it.  I need to store tools and a wheelbarrow, and need a bench for potting up plants.  I'll also store potting mixes and pots in there.  And someday I hope to convince Eric to let me buy chickens, so I'll need an annex on the back for a roost.  The shed will also have to be positioned in an area where I can attach a run for the chickens to be in during the day.

It's hard to see because of all the plantings around it, but I love the rustic charm of this design.  It looks like a small cabin.  I love the star hanging on the side, and the cedar shakes are great as well.

The double doors are very practical.  I like the transom windows and door hinge style.  I'd go without the window boxes though.

This one is a little fancy for my needs, but I like the detailed trim and the roofline.  Colors are nice too.  I could imagine this in pale yellow with white trim, to match our house.

This one has a nice little covered area for storing firewood... and maybe some old motorcycles.  I like the color and simple design.  It would be easy to embellish the side roofline with a star, like in the first photo.  I might trim the windows in a different color though.

What's Blooming

Apricot Ruffles Daylily (I don't know what the name of it is -- so I named it)

Coneflowers!

Early Girl tomatoes

Fritillary butterfly on a coneflower

Hydrangea Tardiva -- it's about 7' x 5'.  Any takers?

Hydrangea Limelight

A red and yellow daylily that I rescued from the woods on my property.  It wasn't blooming the year I found it, I just recognized the foliage.  What a delightful surprise!

Things You Don't See Every Day



3 English Sparrow babies in my Boston Fern.  Good thing I got this photo, since they flew the nest today!



This tree frog kicked out the bird tenant, and has been here for months.




My Magnolia tree has several blooms on it, and more buds are swelling up.  It is clearly confused.



A volunteer Roma tomato.  This is the third or fourth year they've come up.  The plants get HUGE.  I finally got smart and staked it this year.

A Garden is Born - Part 2

Today, installation began on my new garden.  Yes, it is the worst time of year to plant.  Yes, we have a heat index of 100+.  It's okay to question my sanity, I am as well.  But I had to get the blueberry plants in before they cooked in their packaging.

I know this doesn't look like much, but it was 5 hours worth of effort.  I started by reinstalling the landscaping fabric in the ditch, because I started to get nervous about the rocks' ability to sit on the steep pitch of the ditch-road slope.  They've paved our road twice since we moved in six years ago, and each time they've used a substantial layer of blacktop.  There's a silver lining in all things; it's actually created a natural toddler barrier for us.

It took 14 bags of rocks to fill the ditch.  I don't think I have a future career in ditch digging.  It will be interesting to see how well I did with the overall pitch after the first rain.

I planted the three Top Hat blueberry bushes.  They've already got a good shape.  In doing research, I see many people use them for bonsai.  I can see that, since they're so compact.  These are 2 year old plants.  They mature to 2'x2'.  They really pack on the berries, despite their small size.

I also added 3 Green Velvet boxwoods.  I like a little evergreen interest in all of my gardens for the winter time.  A few daylilies found a new home in this garden, as will a few more of the Sarah Bernhardt peonies (one is in).

Each plant received a generous helping of sand and sphagnum peat moss mixed into the clay.  This should help breakup the clay, provide some drainage, and add the organic matter that plants thrive in.

Typically, my next step would be to lay newspaper over the grassy area and then dump a 2" layer of mulch over the top, but I have a shortage of newspaper.  It's the best weed barrier I've used.  It smothers the weeds, decomposes into the soil (enriching it), and then after a few months, you can plant anything you want without the hassle of scraping sod.  I did purchase some weed fabric, but I'm holding off installing it in hopes of landing some newspaper.

A Garden is Born - Part 1

This is going to be the first of many posts about my new garden.  I'll share thoughts, experiences, and photos along the way.

It's the worst time of year to plant.  Spring is so busy with pruning, mulching, etc., and then you're supposed to be done?  No, sorry.  I feel compelled to be productive throughout the year.  I know I'm supposed to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my Spring labor, but I can't.

I've spent a lot of time planning this new garden, which is not normal for me.  I thought I'd take a planned approach to this one and see if it leaves me with less transplanting a few years down the road, when I realize I've stuffed things too close together, or a combination is just not working out.  I have spent a lot of time staring at the sunny patch of grass dreaming about how it will look when it's established.  I've measured and plotted and even purchased some plants.

The whole idea for this garden came from the need to move some sun-loving plants from shadier parts of my yard to this sun-bathed area in hopes that they will do better.  Somewhere along the line, I got the genius idea to make it an edible and flower garden.

Over the weekend, I ordered three dwarf "Top Hat" blueberry plants from Hartmann's Plant Nursery and they arrived today!  They were supposed to ship in September, but this is fine, because as I mentioned, I was itching to get going and purchased my "bones" for the garden -- 3 green velvet boxwoods.  Looks like I'll be starting the installation this weekend.  And I should mention the blueberry bushes look awesome.  They are 2 year plants, and are covered with blueberries, some already ripened.  This variety yields in August, so we are going to enjoy blueberries right away!

Other plants that will be featured and on the way -- reblooming "Immortality" (white) and "Orange Harvest" iris, and iris pallida variegata (foliage is stunning) from KVB Wholesale. Transplants include standard white bearded iris, daylilies, Sarah Bernhardt peonies, and a hydrangea or two.

I bet you're thinking -- how big is this garden going to be?  Well, according to my measurements, it'll be 25 feet long and about 9 feet deep at the widest point.  Once I set the shrubs out, I'll have final specs to share.

Formal & Wild Spaces

Growing up, I was a "food can't touch" kind of kid when it came to my dinner plate, so it should come as no surprise that my favorite style of gardening is neat, tidy, and leaning toward formal.  All of the plants I choose have some sort of structured foliage.  I avoid wispy and floppy foliage plants.

My victorian-styled home is screaming for formality in the form of neatly trimmed boxwood hedges and sculpted shrubs.  But, I live in the country, so that's not a practical or fashionable look for my garden.  Oh, if I only had this same house in an urban setting with a perfectly rectangular yard, the formal garden I've been dreaming of could come to life. But then I'd also be a sad, crabby garden gal, because I love the peace, serenity, and privacy of the country.

Country gardens are often hap-hazard, random plantings of loose, breezy flowers.  Not my style.  But I have found a nice way to blend the two worlds together.

I have boxwoods all over my property.  They are neatly trimmed into sphere shapes.  I don't clip them too tightly, and the key to keeping them nice and natural looking is to hand shear them with manual clippers.  Electric shears would get out of hand pretty quickly and damage the overall shape.  Trimming takes place 2-3 times a year.

I have used boxwoods in a semi-formal setting directly by the house and that has worked well.  As you move away from the house, I get less formal.  There is a garden in the back of my house on a very steep slope that I keep looking tidy by having the boxwoods line the front of it.  It creates a wonderful green fence all year, especially in winter, when all of those country perennials are no longer standing.  In summer, the perennials can lean against the boxwoods for support.  It's a win-win situation.

Another trick I've employed to keep my wild spaces looking more formal is to repeat the same plant over and over -- plant in mass. When you have the same flower blooming in large drifts, it's comforting on the eyes.  One flower here and there just looks like a jumbled mess.  If you have this problem, it's easy to fix, but time-consuming.  You need to dig up those plants and move them closer together.

Another way to ensure you get enough "mass" is to purchase plants in a minimum of 3, and when purchasing more than that, always buy in odd numbers.  They always end up looking more natural when planted that way.  There is something about dealing with even numbers that makes us want to line them up like a corn row, which is not the look you want.

Anyway... I continue the journey with finding the right balance between formal and wild spaces, given my location.  And it will continue to evolve for as long as I live here.

Butterflies

My mom taught me the names of Missouri butterflies and moths. We caught, raised, and collected many over the years. Just observing them and learning their names is a great activity for all ages.  Being able to properly identify what's flitting around my yard is gratifying, and sometimes a great conversation starter.

Butterflies are such an important part of the garden.  Aside from the pollination benefits, they add a lot of interesting color and graceful movement.  When I'm daydreaming about my aspirations for my own garden in winter, one of my thoughts always drifts to how I can make it more butterfly-friendly.

One of my favorite butterfly memories is of my grandma's Zinnia row.  She had a very large garden, probably close to an acre in size, and planted one row of Zinnias. When they'd be in bloom, there were so many butterflies you couldn't count them.  It was an awesome sight.

This year has been a particularly good year for butterflies in my garden.  I've seen a lot more varieties than in years past.  I believe it's due to the maturity of my gardens and the additions of butterfly-magnets such as Coneflowers (Echinacea).

I'm not nearly as talented as my hubby when it comes to capturing these winged beauties on camera, so I don't have any photos to share.  But here are the ones that have visited my garden.  Maybe you've seen some of these too.

• Giant Swallowtail
• Tiger Swallowtail
• Pipevine Swallowtail
• Black Swallowtail
• Zebra Swallowtail
• Snout
• Question Mark
• Blue Hairstreak
• Crescent
• Great Spangled Fritillary
• Wood Nymph
• Skipper
• Hackberry