The Garden June 12

Before we moved to Zoe Cottage, we had a terraced back yard with a long raised herb bed and several raised "box" beds.  I had just gotten the soil conditioned and everything like I wanted it before we moved, and this house doesn't have much of a place for me to replicate my old set up.  Last year we purchased some barrels and cut them in half thinking we would try out a different system, and while we liked the barrels, we have not been able to find any more of them.

The main reasons I have chosen container gardening are 1) I can't get down on the ground to weed and plant like I used to and containers are higher and easier to maintain and 2) Bermuda grass is no respecter of edging, no matter how deep it is set into the ground. In this part of the country Bermuda grass is the lawn of choice because it thrives in heat and is hardy--which means hard to kill. Once it invades a bed you may as well start all over because it will soon take over everything in it.

Here are some better pictures of the whole set up this year.  Last year it looked a little better by this time, but then I had actually had some time to work out there.  This is just the beginning. :)  Much rearranging will take place once I can lift again.

This is the view from the edge of the covered porch.  The flagstone patio and pergola were the main selling features of this house when we were looking.  Ornery built the two white benches for me last year so I could keep the pots up off the ground keeping slugs and rabbits out of my strawberries, herbs and flowers.

When I was out taking pictures of things this morning I noticed the nasturtium had put on a red flower! :) What a happy surprise!

The view from the edge of the patio toward the "garden" -- Looks like I could stand to clean things up a bit, huh?

This is the happiest Gerbera Daisy plant I have ever seen!  There are several blooms on it so hopefully it will bloom for a few weeks, anyway.  This is another plant I have not had good success with in the past, but then I usually put them directly into the ground--maybe containers are better.

The farthest on the ground is creeping phlox waiting for the front flower bed to be terraced/rebuilt and replanted.  The big pot on the far end of the bench is strawberries, then working toward the right, Mexican sunflowers, chrysanthemums, basil, lavender and rosemary.  The basil will need to be transplanted if it actually survives.  It was one Elizabeth had on her back porch and failed to water, so it is in distress.

This is the actual vegetable garden so far.  Left to right: onions; empty (going to put my potato tower in there); Heirloom tomato and marigolds (good for certain insects), four pepper plants--three various chili peppers and one red/purple bell; another heirloom tomato and bigger marigolds (volunteer plants from last summer) and in the far right barrel is asparagus. It is not what anyone would call a real big garden, but I will do well to keep any of it alive if this summer is as hot as the two previous years.  Hopefully we will get some bounty from it and won't have to share it all with the birds and bugs. :(

I have two really big Rubbermaid totes that I plan to put into service out here with some other plants, but I haven't decided just yet what I will put in there.  I would like to put in some pumpkins, but I don't know if they will grow in a container or not. Mowing around them is always a challenge, but I may try it anyway and just put up with the grumbling. ;)

I spent some time in the studio yesterday, although a lot of it was writing letters.  I did get a few cards made and have posted them on the design blog. In case you wanted to see.