I’ve been a crafter, baker, quilter, and all-around homesteader for as long as I can remember. Gardening was never something that came naturally to me though. Plants don’t cry when they’re hungry so I would forget to water them. Once I remembered, I would usually overcompensate by drowning them, and I haven’t even gotten started on the bugs! Gardening in style was never on my radar.
It’s safe to say I never identified as a gardener. I’ve successfully dabbled in gardening the last 5 years growing herbs in pots and containers. I discovered if I was growing something I used a lot like green onions, parsley, or cilantro, it was easier. I paid more attention to them because I was using them several times a week, and as it turns out, herbs are really easy to grow.
In the beginning of March when we were all waiting for the virus to hit, I ran out and purchased all organic seeds, starter plants, container soil, soil amendment, and neem oil. I basically went into the garden center and said, “Give me everything I need to start an organic garden.” Poor Allie didn’t know what she got herself into when she walked over to help me! (Yes, I’m now on a first name basis with my “Garden Guru” as I call her.)
Now it’s August, and I’ve been successful at growing over 50 different varieties of fruits and vegetables! I’m amazed every time I step out into my own private produce stand to “Shop” for the ingredients I need to make a meal.
Needless to say I’ve spent a lot of time out in the garden these last 5 months. Anywhere you’re going to spend that much time should be cute, don’t you think?
The first project I created under “cute factor” was my cucumber frame. I had seen plain wood frames people created on Pinterest and I had an old frame I’d been wanted to upcycle. I had it sitting out in the garden for inspiration. It was a lot of fun making this adorable climbing frame and it inspired me to do more. The directions and more detailed pictures can be found in my previous post, Picture Perfect Cucumbers.
The next thing I worked on was my Herb Garden box. I had some scrap wood left over from our chicken coop build (which honestly was a huge cute feature on its own). You can see more about that in my posts, Building A Better Chicken Coop and Our New Chicken Coop. For the Herb Garden, I envisioned a raised planter bed that looked somewhat like an oversized shipping crate. I designed it with staggered slat sides because I was using scrap wood and they weren’t all the same length. I then hand painted my “shipping stamp” on the end. It turned out really cute and has become a great eye catcher for a small herb garden that may otherwise go un-noticed.
A couple months ago I discovered an amazing YouTube channel called Roots and Refuge. Jess really does a great job at teaching her followers about gardening and inspiring them to try things for themselves. One of the first things I noticed in her garden tour was the adorable tires she has hanging around her garden as planters. She mentioned that her husband, Sweet Mia as she calls him, painted and hung them for her. I grabbed a random tire I had sitting out back and hung it on the fence. It looked so cute! Then I ran down to our local tire shop and grabbed 4 more.
The tire shops pay to discard used tires so they will give them to you for free if you ask. I drilled a few holes in the bottom of each one for drainage and spaced them out on the fencing around the garden. I was trying to figure out what color to paint them when my friend Gale from Thrift Around the Clock stopped by. She made the awesome suggestion to paint them white like the old white walled tires. Genius! The black and white theme went perfectly with my nearby coop!
The tires create more vertical growing space in my garden. I use them for growing herbs. I have Peppermint and Purple Basil growing in mine, but you can plant whatever you’d like in them. Just be sure it’s not a root type plant like carrots or potatoes. The tires aren’t deep enough for that.
Having a garden is consistently work. Besides the watering, weeding, and harvesting, there is always one project or another to keep me busy. I’m currently working on 3 garden projects simultaneously. The smallest one is creating a “duck pond” out of a stock tank. My ever-handy husband, Mel is going to attach a drainage nozzle to the bottom. This will allow me to attach a standard garden hose and use the naturally fertilized water in the garden when I drain the pond for cleaning.
The other 2 projects a quite a bit larger in scale. The first one is a potting shed for me. I’ve designed a small shed built with recycled doors and windows that will allow me space to plant seeds for germination, store tools and supplies, and still have that cute factor I want.
My third and largest project is a complete revamp of the garden layout. I’ve spent some time watching the garden and taking notes on what worked and what didn’t. For example, I chose to plant the squash closest to the lawn. I know squash are ground plants and figured they’d be easiest to see over making the rest of the garden more visible. Turns out this was a bad idea.
Our lawn is on an automatic sprinkler system. They turn on at night. The over spray lands right on the squash plants which creates the perfect breeding ground for powdery white mildew. This mildew inhibits the plants from growing fruit and spreads very quickly. I’ve had to battle with it constantly. Mel turned off the sprinklers so it doesn’t keep happening.
This time, I will be planting herbs along the lawn edge. Herbs naturally need more water and are more resistant to white powdery mildew.
This is just one of the many things I’ve learned in my garden classroom. I can’t wait to share with you all the new things I have coming up! Be sure to subscribe to my blog so you don’t miss anything!
Happy Homesteading!