June 02, 2008

Garden Photos

Here is a photo progression of what has been happening in our yard.

Arrival

This is what the front of our trailer looked like the day we moved in. We hadn’t even been inside yet at this point.

Home

Here is a photo of our garden in the winter, after we had pulled out all the plants in the garden. I was sad to pull out plants that I knew were valuable, but I didn’t know what they were or what to do with them. David convinced me to start from scratch in the spring.

fence

Here is a photo of the fence Mindy and I worked on just before I went to New Brunswick for Dad’s birthday. Also, notice that the bush on the right is gone. David took it out for me so I would have more garden space for veggies.

pots

Here I am wanting to plant the garden, but it’s still a bit early, so instead I am playing with a less expensive idea to redirecting the rain that comes off the front of the trailer into the garden (the broken pieces of pot under the hardest hit areas of run off). I’ve also built a trellis for my cucumbers or peas.

garden

This is where the garden is at today.

*I added a bit of fun willow branches to the fence to make it more filled in.

*I’ve added a second trellis so the peas and cucumbers can each have their own trellis.

*I have Vinca (Impatients) planted in the long green planter on the ledge of the trailer. I also have Cinnamon Basil in the terri cotta planter.

*I have tomato and sweet basil planted in the bucket on the trailer hitch.

*The roses have been pruned and are growing like crazy, as well as the chives in front of the roses. Where David took out a bush, a root of the old rose bush that was also there is re-sprouting and growing.

*I planted a few marigolds to keep the rabbits out of the unfenced area.

*David helped me put up a little netting to keep the deer out, we used some willow branches for the posts.

*The part you can’t see yet is that all the seed are in the ground, and some a slowly coming up!

new garden

We also have official permission from the park to put in another garden plot. This past week David took out the sod and helped me plant a few flower seeds in this area. I received a lilly plant from the neighbour. The large yew was there and we just planted around it. The plants in the planters are mint, basil, and oregano in the planters on the sidewalk. Behind the yew bush I have Lemon balm. In the holes of the cinder blocks I have planted pansies. And the wine barrel has peppers, banana pepper and jalapeƱo pepper. The blue bucket is sitting there to catch the runoff from our gutters that don’t work. In the back I have a few wooden boxes that I hope to fill yet with onions and maybe potatoes.

And that is where we are in our gardening adventure. It has given me a lot of pleasure and satisfaction to be able to work so much with my hands and to work towards growing things myself. I’ve never wanted to be a gardener, but something changed over the past year and now I’m excited about it!

One last photo for you, of the new view from our front door. I have to put away the gardening supplies yet, but it is satisfying to be able to see a bit of garden from the inside of our house too.

view

Comment~ permanent link ~ • Category: [News / Rita]

Inspired Creativity - Gardening

So, I started the post a few weeks ago, but for some reason I never posted it. Here is it anyway. It embodies my creativity spirts one and two.

“I’m not sure why, I think it’s spring, but I’ve been hit pretty hard with the creativity bug! A few weeks ago I was leaving the public library and a book caught my eye called You Grow Girl so I picked it up. I knew I wanted to do a bit of gardening this year. I’ve been thinking about it ever since we moved to a home with a bit of land. I so enjoyed making strawberry jam last year, that I can’t wait to try more things this year.

“My first inspiration has been to make a little fence around my garden. It was one of the first projects suggested in the book. It sure looked like fun, but was a lot more work than I bargained for! My friend, Mindy, came and helped me out evening and we got quite a ways done. I worked on it a bit more in the next few days. It’s not as high as I was hoping, but it will do for this year.

“I can’t wait to garden and watch things grown! I keep going out to see what other surprises keep popping up in my garden. So far the roses have been leafing beautifully, and the chives are coming back, as well as the mint. Can’t forget those dandelions either.

“I hope to plant cucumbers, peas, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce and some flowers. Those are the seeds I have right now at least. Alas, I was told the day to start planting here isn’t until May 21st, I have to wait longer! I did start my green peppers today though, inside, and a bit of spinach too. I am so excited to see SOMETHING grow that I couldn’t wait any more. I am probably late on my green peppers though, I couldn’t decide if I should start them from seed or buy them in plant form first. I’ll try the seed and see how that goes.”

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