I was just in Annabelle’s garden last night and it was amazing to see how it’s evolved. So while we’re experiencing our computer issues (we’re kicking it old school at the shop these days- the motherboard of our main computer has died) I thought I’d pull up some relevant posts from the vault!
It’s hard to believe it has been three years since we bought this house.
I love my house. The moment I walked in I loved it. On the other hand, it took quite a bit of convincing to get D on the same page. I had been under the illusion that we’d be completely synced up when it came to what kind of house we wanted to live in. I know better now! I have also learned to never go to IKEA/assemble furniture together. It’s the small things, really.
Granted there are some “space issues” i.e. no closets. He might have been right about that. Apparently no one believed in closets in 1897. Sometimes I feel like I’m going to be consumed by plastic trinkets I can’t seem to throw out quick enough.
The other issue is we have zero time and even less money to actually make the changes we want to the interior. Annnnnd we won’t even make a temporary change (like wall paint) because, why invest in temporary when we know it will change significantly in the future? Sanity might be a good reason. I haaaaaate the yellow paint & schizophrenic living room colors and weird embossed wallpaper to the point that I find myself apologizing for it when we have guests over… so sorry about the yellow paint. We do have a new water tank, though. It’s very pretty.
So it is our garden that I take great pride. D built a new shed and moved it into our tall cedar hedge last summer, and it has made all the difference. We re-painted our porch twice to get the color right. We’ve set a stone path & stone garden walls. This year we added solar-powered garden lights. ($2.99 at Canadian Tire). I’ve been making lanterns out of used soup cans. I made a little reversible round table cloth at the shop. And the garden. Third year garden has been so rewarding.
Here are my rules in gardening:
- just plant it. (Forget about starting your seeds in March. Psssht.)
- try everything, try it again, and don’t be afraid to rip stuff out and try something else. (I’m giving up on gladiolas for now)
- plant vegetables you can eat in abundance or pawn off on someone (this year it’s shallots, green onions, beans, asparagus, & hot chilis).
- put mint in a container
- never grow tiger lilies (even as a favor to future buyers! The BANE of my existence.)
- plant geraniums & sprinkle cayenne pepper to ward off cat poo
- invite friends over often & eat dinner outside for as long as you seasonally can
And you? Any tips to share when it comes to outside spaces?
Suzanne
/ July 4, 2012When we bought our house 7 years ago, the previous owners had spent a ton on putting in a fancy flower garden. I wasn’t that into gardening then and it really wasn’t to my taste so we sort of left it alone except for the initial spring weeding and fall closing.
This year I decided to give gardening a try and to make it more to my liking. Who knew…. I am addicted. I’ve replaced some of the plants that I was not so crazy about and also put in solar lights (which really make your garden pop at night). Planted some cedars in the front and back and ripped out my neighbor’s cedars that were encroaching on my garden. It really opened up the yard. Also put down some red cedar mulch. When it’s wet it looks amazing.
I didn’t know about cayenne pepper and cat poop, I’ll have to try it, but something that has worked and saved my hostas (which slugs really like) is putting crushed egg shells around it and I’ve put in a beer trap (aka the beer garden). It works like a charm. Slugs prefer beer to hostas (and I’ve heard that they like light colored beer to dark beer).