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!!

The Veggie Garden in July

Remember a thousand years ago when I started a bazillion seeds in my lower level?

Well guess what....it was all worth it! 

Check out the veggie garden, it's a jungle! 

On Your Mark....Get Set.....GO!!

Are you ready? 

It's time to get started!!

The Garden In Late June

Thank you for all of your sweet comments on my last post. It's amazing how this little blog has connected me with so many wonderful blog friends in the three years I've been writing it. I truly appreciate all of my loyal readers and your comments are so precious to me.

The Garden in MidSummer

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

End of Summer Garden Update

Happy Weekend, Friends! I hope you all had a glorious week and have some fun plans for the weekend! 

Time is flying by and before you know it the garden blooms will be gone...but for now we still have some beautiful things happening all around us. 

The begonias have had their best year ever! They are so happy down on the lower deck and they just put out non-stop blooms. I will bring them in for the winter once more and they should continue to bloom in the house, which will be so lovely to enjoy in the winter months. 

The Zinnias are still shining bright in the late season garden. 

As are the cosmos. They like to be continuously deadheaded, which I'm a little behind on at the moment, but so far they aren't too mad at me!

The gorgeous Casablanca Lilies are nearly done, but this new bloom just opened this week. I look forward to many years of beauty from the bulbs I put in this spring, and they should continue to multiply to create an even more amazing display each year. 

The Cleome is still going strong and the bees love it! This little guy was buzzing happily through the garden while I was taking photos and he didn't mind me one bit!

I never know what color Cleome is going to pop up but it doesn't really matter because I love them all. 

The Autumn Joy Sedum is coming into bloom while the Monarda (Bee Balm) fizzles out. I had a great season with the Monarda, it bloomed for about 3 months so I really can't complain!

The Nasturtiums in the veggie garden are so much happier than the ones on the deck. I'm really not sure why as they were from the same seed packet, and they both got plenty of sun and good soil. The ones on the deck are truly pathetic, while the ones in the veggie garden have spilled out onto the garden paths and have taken over!

The Morning Glories in the veggie garden are still going strong, popping up here and there. The blooms are the size of a saucer from this variety, while the self sown ones from last season are about a third the size, but a vibrant purple. 

I found this butternut squash blossom hiding under some leaves...but I'm pretty sure it's too late in the season for anything to come of it. Too bad. 

The tomatoes are still rocking the veggie garden - there are HUNDREDS yet to ripen - and I have lots of plans for filling my freezer with amazing things created with all these yummy tomatoes! Not a single tomato will go to waste if I have my way!

The carrots are nearly ready to pick - they are showing their shoulders above the soil so I'll start bringing them in soon. Hopefully by removing some of the larger ones that will give the smaller ones room to continue to grow. 

Same with the onions. I'm leaving them in the garden as long as possible to keep growing...I hope my plan works. Hey, I'm still new at this whole farmer thing!

The herb garden is OUT. OF. CONTROL! Insane. I see some herb butter in my future. Lots. 

The zucchini is still trying but I have yet to actually get even ONE zucchini out of my garden this year. Weird. Everyone else is trying to give them away!  Which actually works for me....thanks, guys!

And the grasses. Oh, my! They are truly my garden love this year. Next year I will put some in the large planters on the deck so I can enjoy them up close. I love the way the breezes move them, and the sun shines through them. Just gorgeous. 

The Dahlias are still doing amazing. 

They are like little drops of sunshine in the garden. 

This little guy was enjoying the sunshine on a geranium leaf. As long as he stays outside...

The geraniums are hanging in there although not blooming as profusely as in the warmer months. But I'll take every bloom I can get for as long as I can get them!

Have a fantastic weekend, everyone - take a moment to observe the beauty around you!

Weekend Things

It was a busy but beautiful weekend here in the mountains....the best part being that I was NOT WORKING!!  Well....not working at the office, anyway - but let's face it, there's always a ton to do around the house. And after being in the office every weekend for what seems like forever I was one busy girl around home this weekend!

And I was happy as a clam. 

I kicked off the weekend with a lovely evening with my sweetie on Friday with dinner out at a local brewery. 

Followed by dessert at home.....

Just look at those beautiful chocolates - and I'll tell you, they taste even better than they look!

The Walkabout

Every morning and every evening I go for my "Walkabout", which is basically a walk around my property, taking stock of what's what. I am accompanied by my two faithful companions of the furry variety, who bounce around with happy tails and floppy ears. They have adjusted extremely well to the new house and while I'm on my walkabout, they go on their own little "Sniffabout", chasing anything that squeaks or moves. 

Some mornings I grab the shears to deadhead spent blooms. 

Other mornings I'm on a "beetle battle" against the God-awful Japanese Beetles. Did you know a handheld propane torch is a great weapon against Japanese Beetles? 

This morning my weapon of choice was the camera, as it often is. Come with me on my walkabout and let's see what's happening in the garden today!

We head out the kitchen door, which is on the second floor, which is the main living area in my chalet-style mountain home.  The deck is a wraparound, with many pots of flowers and plants and various seating areas. 

First stop, we check on the baby fig tree a friend grew from a cutting of her own fig tree. She dropped it off just the other day with a basket of veggies (what a good friend!) and although I have yet to plant it in a decorative pot. It seems quite happy here and I look forward to watching it grow and flourish in our new home. Figs and Gorgonzola......mmmmmmm!!!

We head around the corner to check on the Jasmine, which has yet to flower. It's so close now, with many, many buds, but the cool nights appear to be hindering it's progress. Summer is returning tomorrow so we should see flowers in the next few days. The Jasmine was planted near my favorite evening sitting area, not only for the glow of the white flowers but for the intoxicating evening scent. In the winter the pot will come in and live in the sunny front window until next spring. 

The GIGANTIC pot of Petunias is doing well, and their fragrance in the evenings when we sit out on the deck is pure heaven.

Just look at that color, how could that not put a smile on your face at the end of a long day?

The Geraniums are happy - can you tell I like bright colors around my home?

And the Verbena mingles happily with the white Petunias and the Geraniums to create a cool counterpart to all the hot colors - I always include some white in my plantings to give the eye a rest and to make the other colors "pop" - not to mention, the white flowers glow so beautifully in the early evening light. Gorgeous.

Down in the garden, the Cosmos are wet with the morning dew. We've had a heavy dew the last few mornings, brought on by the cool mountain evenings.

The Casablanca Lilies will be opening soon - I check on them daily to make sure they are still there and haven't been devoured! I lost a few of them early on this season when the deer was around on a regular basis. Fingers crossed that the remaining will survive and I get to enjoy their bloom!

The Zinnias have been flowering like mad all season - I don't normally put them in but I'm sure glad I did this year.

Another one to watch.....a volunteer sunflower, coming up in a pot of flowers, planted by some thoughtful critter. The bloom isn't far off now and I can't wait - I love sunflowers but don't normally have much luck with them!

Cleome is a regular in my garden every year. They haven't done as well in this new home as in the past, perhaps I shall give them a little more space next year - they have been swallowed up by some of the perennials.

The Black Eyed Susans were a surprise to me....a great surprise as I love their sunny faces in the late summer garden.  I will surely put in more of these at the edge of the woods to grow among the wildflowers. I made the mistake once of putting them in my main perennial garden and they absolutely took over!

We pass the Coneflower patch on our way to the veggie garden. Another great display of late summer flowers with Coneflower, Queen Anne's Lace, and Bee Balm all growing happily together. Love them all!

The gate to the veggie garden, with the arbor I added in the spring. On each side of the arbor I planted a climbing rose and a clematis. All are doing well and next season should put on quite a nice show!

In the veggie garden the Dill is flowering around the Nasturtium, creating a beautiful contrast.

The tomatoes are heavy on the vine and the harvest will be a big one this year! I might have to learn how to can tomatoes!! This transplanted city girl never quite got the hang of canning yet.....

The Nasturtiums and Butternut Squash have taken over the garden path.

And the beans have climbed up and over the fence, into the Lilac tree, and bent it right over!

Around the back of the veggie garden the ornamental grasses grow beautifully among more Petunias and Dahlias. The Dahlias were another impulse buy this year and I love the way they have performed in this corner!

And this GINORMOUS cucumber had escaped the garden and was growing on the outside of the fence. I've been watching him and he was ready to pick.....but he wasn't destined for a salad....

I had other plans for this guy!!

Cucumber infused Tequila makes an EXCELLENT margarita for a little taste of summer in the long winter months!!

He now rests with the others in the lower level fridge....

Perhaps the surplus tomatoes will meet a similar fate? I'm thinking tomato basil infused vodka would make a mean bloody mary!

Thanks for sharing my walkabout today!