Planters for the Front

I've always liked the look of houses in the neighborhood that had planters along the front. I didn't think I would ever put them in because I didn't feel that strongly to spend the money on the materials and time but last year, I was given a bunch of cedar from a nearby deck demolition and the idea came to me to use it for this project. 

I designed the planters around existing 36" planter containers I found on clearance at a garden store. The idea was to create a box that I could just drop these planters into, making them easy to care for and change out when needed.  

I don't have the highest degree of carpentry skills but I certainly have enough for some simple boxes that could hold the planters. It took less than a couple hours to cut down the wood and assemble all of the boxes.

Once assembled, I painted them the same color as the exterior trim. I was initially going to leave them exposed but decided they looked a little too rustic that way and the painting was in order. Between the finished cedar and stainless steel anchors used to hold thigns together, I think these should hold up for a long time.

I mounted the wooden boxes with three 6" strap anchors each, screwed to the back of the box and then mounted with a cabinet screw to the face of the porch. 

The porch is broken into 6 sections across the front, with 5 of those sections having windows and one has an opening at the stair. I centered each box on each paired section.

I chose a simple array of trailing and upright plants for the boxes so that purple sweet potato and vinca plants will trail down the front of the boxes. In the center are blue "cathedral" salvia plants that will be bushier and taller. I've used all of these plants in the past in containers in the garden so I know that they will do well in the sun up front as long as I keep them watered.

I am happy with the overall look and the planting and mounting took about a half hour to complete. All in all, with time for paint to dry, It took two days but relatively little time for the project. 

I am looking forward to seeing how they fill in over time. I've spent quite a bit of time in the front garden this year, since the painting and work is just about complete out front. It has taken a beating during the siding repair and painting so it hasn't looked "right" in a couple years. It is nice to have at least a small part of the place looking "finished".

Updating the Window Art on the Garage

About 8 years ago, my daughter and I took on an art project; painting some windows and mounting them on the back fence. You can read about it HERE.

This year, we did an update on the windows, featuring my daughter's artwork again. She loves to sketch animals from photos she finds around the net or in magazines. We desided to blow up a couple of her favorites and use them as the template for this year's art. 

She still did most of the painting but I helped to guide things so that we could have a complete project. It took the better part of the day but it was well worth it.  

After we finished the artwork, we hung it on the garage. I asked her if she had fun doing it. She kind of shrugged and said, "well, if you weren't going to let me watch me TV and I was just going to sit and do nothing, this was more fun than that". Not the highest praise but I think she enjoyed it much mroe than she wants to let on.

Spring in the Garden

Some pics of the garden this spring. The lilacs are blooming, the forget-me-nots are spreading and the wisteria looks like it is going to be very showy in a few weeks. There is a ton of work to do out there but I still have painting to do indoors. Hopefully things don't get too carried away before I finish inside.

This Year's Garden

After a long and hard winter, the fist of the spring blooms are starting to show their colors. The winter took its toll on the foxgloves. Many are dead or stunted. Hopefully they will eventually bounce back. Two pleasant surprises are the lupines and the wisteria. Both look and smell great. 

I planted the lupines two years ago and though I got part of a flower last year, this is the first year I've gotten multiple blooms. They really look great. I am very happy with the wisteria I planted last year too. I chose an amethyst falls variety and it weathered the winter well and has more than tripled in size.  

I have much work to do to get the yard in order. Not winterizing last year does not help at all. Hopefully there will be more to come as the summer approaches.

Garden Flowers 2013

Time for the annual posting of cliche flower photographs. The garden looks particularly nice this year and there are a few new plants that I am pretty happy with. Enjoy!

Cabbage white butterfly on lavender

 

Liatris - Blazing Star

 



Echinacea - Purple Cone Flower

 

Rudbeckia - Black-eyed Susan

Flea Bane

Day Lilies

Butterfly Weed

Bee Balm

 

Raised Beds: After the First Year

This is what the planting beds look after the winter. Everything fared well. I have a minor repair to make to one of them and most of the herbs died this year but otherwise, I am happy with things. I started clean up in this area of the yard yesterday - it seems like it is the first really nice day we've had on a weekend this entire year.

I added a bag of soil and humus to the raised bed before re-planting and will probably do the same for the others. I still haven't figured out what I am going to do with the rest of the beds this year but will likely do some of the same items we did last year: cucumbers, zucchini, maybe some tomatoes and greens.

I also started pulling out the hops this year. A lot of folks will lament this. I am trying to find another place in the yard where I might put them. Perhaps I will start a trellis in another part of the yard. They are starting to spread in a big way and are even lifting up the patio stones. I think that became the last straw for me. I also have always wanted something flowering on the pergola. The neighbor thinks I should put in grapes. I planted a bunch of perennials last fall and they are all coming up again so I am trying to get the area near the patio to be a perennial garden as well. We'll see how successful we are.

A good year for gardening

This has been a remarkable year in the garden.  I believe that the draught and warm weather has actually helped us out.  Typically, at this point in time, I am throwing away tomatoes that have developed black spots and mold and others would be sitting green on the vine.  This year, we've been harvesting ripe tomatoes for weeks.  I also already have winter carrots and lettuce in the ground and they seem to be doing well too. 

The showiest tomatoes we have are these violet ones.  They are the deep color of eggplant and have an interesting sweet/tart flavor.  The other two varieties are a pink variegated variety of cherry tomato and another called "black truffle".  The latter, pictured below, are the tastiest.  They are also the ones that are taking the longest to ripen and they are also the ones that the squirrels seem to like the most.  

The true star of this year's garden are the cucumbers.  We over planted with eight plants but the towers have worked out nicely.  Where the towers left off, my daughter's fourteen foot tall sunflower took over.  Some of the cucumbers are so high, we will probably need a ladder to get at them.  We are harvesting about ten a week and giving away many of them.

This past weekend, we pickled several jars of cucumbers and beans.   They should be ready in a few weeks and I am anxious to see how they came out. 

The whole family got in on the "pickle assembly line" this year, which made things run more smoothly than usual.

Until the pickles are ready, we can still enjoy a mix of our cherry tomatoes.  This year has been a real treat.

The state of the garden

The gardens are looking very good this year but something tells me that they are right at the point before the get beyond my control.  The sunflower at the back of the garden was brought home by my daughter at the end of the school year.  The leaves had barely broken out of the cotyledon at the end of May.  Here we are, two months later, and the plant is over nine feet tall.  The flower bud has not even started to show either.  Compare it with last week's photo (in the previous blog) to see how much this sucker is growing.  It is a little crazy. 

The cucumbers and tomatoes are also going crazy.  I think I over-planted for the small area I have but I guess I'll live with it.  There are well over ten cucumbers on the vine and I am guessing there will be ten times that many before the summer is through.  The tomato plants are about four feet tall now and still growing.  We have about fifty tomatoes that I am hoping will stick with it until they are ripe.  I am loving having the rain barrel in the garden but I may need to lower the spigot.  The folks that designed these barrels installed it about the third way up the barrel so it stays one third full.  Not sure I get that. 

The front yard is looking nice also but the weather has taken its toll on anything that isn't yellow.  The sunflowers, brown and black eyed susans and marigolds look great.  Everything else seems a little stressed even though I think I have been watering things plenty.