Adding Unique Style To Your Garden

I'm sure, like me, many of you are doing a ton of planting these days. I have been logging some serious steps on my fitbit, no doubt!

I love gardening season!

The Garden in MidSummer

I've wanted to share updates on the garden throughout July, but somehow the month got away from me! 

My Crooked Little Country Garden

Yesterday I mentioned that one project seems to lead to another....and another....and 50 more. And my list just keeps growing and growing. 

Well, today I'm happy to share one big project that is finally complete!

The Veggie Garden Rescue

Remember when the veggie garden looked like this?

And this?

Looks good, right? I was so very excited when I initially toured my new house and saw a fenced veggie garden with raised beds already in place - it was on my list of things I would do in my new house but even better - the hard work was already done!!

Well....fast forward a few months and when I went to rip everything out of the garden before the first frost I stepped into the garden and fell through the whole back wall....it just collapsed. It was completely and totally rotted out. 

Oh boy. 

Sweetie to the rescue!

I asked him to put his amazingly creative brain to work and come up with a plan to rescue the veggie garden. 

His initial thought was that we need to bulldoze it and start over. 

I crushed that idea. I don't need or want a "perfect" garden - I like my little crooked country garden!! 

His brilliant mind came up with what I think is a great plan. I just love seeing how his mind works - totally different from mine but I can learn so much from him!

He drilled through the railroad ties that were the foundation of the garden and into the ground below, a total of 10 inches, and inserted 5 pieces of 40" tall re-bar. 

Then he wedged three 16 ft  2 x 10 pressure treated boards in between the soil and the re-bar. 

This photo was when he only had two boards in....he asked my opinion on whether or not I wanted the third...the answer was YES. 

The property is on such a slope (we live on a mountain, after all!) I figured we needed all the extra support we can get to keep the soil from washing out. 

The corner supports were rotting out as well - my sweetie replaced some, reinforced others. Leveled things out the best he could, given the slope the garden is on. 

His little shadow was right there to help, of course. 

Look how much better it looks now!! 

The back wall is now incredibly strong and sturdy! It was so wobbly before we actually had a rope tied from the top rail to one of the ground level boards holding part of it up! 

Don't mind the cedar shakes sticking out of the soil - that marks the edge of my garlic patch so I don't forget where I planted it when spring rolls around. My memory is not what it once was...

Such an amazing improvement over the way it was!! Oh, wait...you weren't there...you didn't see when it all collapsed on top of my foot. And filled my shoe with dirt. And bugs. Ugghhh. 

Sweetie picked up 8 bags of drainage stone to put down back here to help keep the weeds down and make it a little less muddy. That will clean things up nicely!

It looks so good now - the garden was really in desperate need of some TLC!! Yay, Sweetie!

You can see where the garden is tucked in next to the detached garage. It's really a good spot for it - plenty of sun shines back here! The little corner behind the garden has a new container garden I put in this past summer. There's also a Lilac growing up against the garden fence as well as a Forsythia. 

The border against the side fence of the garden has a mess of mint along with a rosebush, some Rudbeckia I put in over the summer, and few other random perennials. It needs a little rehab - it's on my list for next summer. 

The little corner at the back of the garden was a horrible mess when I first moved here. The previous owners used to get their garden soil (mushroom dirt) dumped back here and the area was full of giant weeds and old rotten tarps and other junk. It got a good clean out, I laid down a weed barrier (cardboard boxes from moving day that I cut up) and bordered it with stones. A few bags of mulch really helped finish things off. 

I put two small whiskey barrels I brought from my previous house in the corners and planted grasses, Petunias, Million Bells and Creeping Jenny in them. I absolutely loved the grasses - they were one of my favorites!! 

The center planter is an old metal trough I found over by my garden cottage - I placed it on top of two andirons I found near the fire pit and planted Dahlias, Petunias, Creeping Jenny, and a type of Coleus in there. 

I love how this area turned out - it did not take much $$ as I used many of the items I had or found around the property. Just some hard work! Of course it's all dead now but I have big plans for the spring. 

The front of the veggie garden has an arbor I put in this summer with a climbing rose and Clematis on either side. There's a clump of Iris at the corner along with more mint. That darned mint. Bane of my gardening existence. It's not even GOOD mint - I can't even use it for Mojitos!!

The arbor needs to be straightened out now. I intentionally installed it "crooked" to go with the original crooked garden. Now that the garden is straighter we'll need to shift it over a bit. 

One of the last things Sweetie did to spruce up the garden was to make me this lovely new gate. He made this out of cedar and gave it a coat of Sikkens stain to protect it. The garden got a facelift and it looks so happy!!

Sweetie is putting in new flat stones in front of the gate and is thinking of putting in a stone path leading to the patio to keep my tootsies clean. 

Such a cute and thoughtful man I have!!

Of course at the end of the day it benefits him also when we rake in all these gorgeous veggies....after all, I create some wonderful meals for us out of all this beautiful produce!!

I would like to hang a cute sign on the garden gate....I'm just not sure what just yet. 

Is it wrong that we haven't even celebrated the holidays yet and I'm already looking forward to spring? 

Enjoy your weekend, friends!!

Walkabout, Part II

I had so much fun sharing my gardens with you yesterday! Today I'm going to take you on a tour of the property, so you can get a better idea of the space as a whole. 

Welcome to my home! I am so very fortunate to have this beautiful, private space to call my own. My house can't be seen from the road at this time of year with all the leaves on the trees, and when you pull up the driveway, this is the first view of the house. It's a Chalet style house, with the main living space on the second floor, and a secondary living space on the lower level. There is loads of parking for visitors and lots of space for the babies (of the furry variety!) to run about and chase critters. 

When you walk towards the house, this is the pathway that leads to the various areas. It's a rustic flagstone path that is crumbling away in a few spots but I love it. And yes, I have weeds. LOTS of weeds. I work full time so sometimes the weeds get out of control. It doesn't look so bad here, does it? That's because I was gardening in this area yesterday after work and yanked out a bazillion weeds. And planted a gazillion Hostas....more on that in another post!

Another view of the stone path. 

If you head to the left you will be in the front garden. There's a small lawn, some weeds (yup), a rescued bench that was destined for the dump before we rehabbed it, and some lovely shrubs against the front of the house. 

Including these incredible Hydrangeas, with blooms twice the size of my head!

There are also Lacecap Hydrangeas, Shasta Daisies, Lambsear, and a Burning Bush along the front of the house. In the center of the lawn there's a Dogwood tree that is destined for transplant - it is NOT happy on the mountain top. 

I'm researching ornamental trees for the Dogwood's replacement - it needs to be something with 4 season interest, that will thrive in our zone 4 climate. Any ideas?

When you walk past the house and look up the hill you can see my potting shed, which has been getting various repairs since I moved in back in April. I have big plans for that shed some day, when it's done with the structural repairs!

Here's a view of the front of the shed. It's truly a wonderful space, with windows on both sides, a skylight, and two sets of french doors. It's not finished off on the inside, but it's perfect for storing my garden tools, pots, soil, etc. And it has a workbench that is ideal for....potting up plants! How perfect is that for a potting shed? My daughter has dreams of making it her "tiny house" someday.

Those two metal chairs were also heading for the dump before I rescued and rehabbed them. Love those chairs - they remind me of my childhood!

Stay tuned in the future for updates on the shed as I turn it into my dream potting shed. 

Looking from the shed back to the house you can see the garage and veggie garden off to the left, and the mountain view beyond the house. I truly love it here and I'm so blessed to spend my days in this glorious space. 

Looking across the back garden from the potting shed is the other garden shed - I don't go in there much, it's dark and dusty and full of spider webs. but it's a great place to store things like snow tires and such. There's a nice wood fire pit here that will get christened during the housewarming party, whenever that may be. And the house backs up to hundreds of acres of woodland, which is incredible for both privacy and wildlife. The bears and the coyotes make me a little nervous....but I've been living in the mountains now for about 12 years so I have just learned to be cautious when walking around in the evenings. And the bird feeders have to come in at night or the bears will put my property on their nightly agenda!

At the back of the veggie garden, against the edge of the garage and across from the dark dusty garden shed is this little corner. This corner was in BAAAAADDDD shape when I moved in! It was where the previous owners used to get their mushroom dirt dumped for the veggie garden. There were rotting old tarps under dirt filled with GIGANTIC weeds. I found all sorts of other debris in this corner as well - it was truly an eyesore. I am very pleased with it now, it makes me happy to turn the corner and see this! More rescues from around the property were used....the center planter is an old, rusty rectangular metal box - I have no idea what it was used for in the past but I knew right away it was going to be a planter! The andirons were over by the firepit, in a jumble of weeds. The metal box now rests on the andirons and makes a perfect centerpiece for this garden. The two small whiskey barrel planters came with me from my old house. The weeds still try to pop up here and there in this corner despite a thick layer of cardboard topped by mulch, but I yank them out and hope I'll be the winner in this war. 

We head back around towards the front of the house now. The whiskey barrels here are very happy and blooming like mad!

Can you believe it's mid August and I still have happy Pansies? That's the cool mountain air right there!! It's a different kind of gardening on the mountain top than in the valley where I had my last real garden - the growing season is shorter, the nights are cooler, and the frost stays later and comes sooner. But we make do!

Back to the front path now, we've made a complete circle around the house! If you go to the right and then a quick left, there's a path to the lower deck, and the entrance to the lower level. That's my daughters' space, and a tour for another day. But here's a peek at their deck. They have a little sitting area with my favorite spot down there, a hammock swing!  :)

We head to the right now and up the garden stairs, towards the smaller of the two staircases that lead to the deck. 

And yes, those most definitely are weeds on the stairs. A project for the weekend. 

The perennials here are gorgeous. I've added quite a few things this spring but most of this was in place from the previous owners. How very fortunate for me!

Up the stairs now, and onto the deck. These stairs take you to the kitchen door. They shall be demolished soon, when construction begins to connect the house and the garage. Stay tuned for plans!

Looking back towards the path from the stairs

The view from the deck to the stone path. I love this view! The anal person inside me that loves symmetry and order appreciates these breaks in the chaos that is my country garden. 

The side deck, by the kitchen door. This side is more utilitarian than around the corner. This is where I grill and keep the watering can along with the plant food, etc. On the railing you can see the Morning Glories growing among the Gloriosa Lilies. 

The Morning Glories were particularly lovely this morning!

Around the corner is the entertaining portion of the deck. I absolutely love this place! Sorry - I didn't get it ready for "company" this morning when I snapped the photos - the cushions are tipped up against the dew, the umbrellas are down against the wind....but it's still gorgeous! I have my coffee and breakfast out here on weekends, and my cocktail out here in the evenings, around the fire pit. Heaven on earth, right here. 

Another view of my happy place. With a furry little photo-bomber!

And I had to take a photo of the container garden on the railing because it was all being dismantled this morning for repairs to the railing. Boooooo!!! But, safety first. Can't have the housewarming party until the railing is repaired!

The Jasmine opened a bloom just in time for your visit today. I can't wait to catch a whiff of that heady fragrance this evening!

Thanks for stopping by and taking a tour of the property - stay tuned for a peek at the inside of my happy home in the near future!