Category: gardening

More Garden Progress

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

We have had the fenced garden for a couple of years now. It’s been okay, but always seemed a little messy. The dirt was always piled up in mounds. The stepping stones would end up buried. Part of the wood is rotting, but it will make it through at least one more season.

I was going to go get bricks to put up an inside border. It would have cost about 15 dollars which really isn’t bad, but since we are trying to use what we have I decided to cut some boards and use those instead. I didn’t like the plain concrete stepping stones so I painted them red. While those were drying I tilled up the soil and started spreading it out. After I dug the trenches for the boards and put them in I filled the space with mulch and laid the stones back down.

It looks so much neater now. The door used to close. For a while now we have used the rake to hold it closed. I bought some garden hooks at Dollar Tree. You get 4 per package.

Just looking at this picture I’m pretty sure I’ll be repainting the boards.

I used the other two to hang up the onions and the lantern.

Now I needed to get some seeds in the ground. I have tried all different kinds of plant markers. No matter what kind I get, they never seems to work. They either get moved, washed away or are just missing. I decided to make a diagram (poorly) .

The big blank space on the side is where the tomatoes will go.

I started filling in the planters with dirt from my really big pot and some others I’m not using right now.

I’m so excited because my seeds are starting to sprout finally. It’s a fine line between watering them too much and not enough. We got a new hose and sprayer. It’s still very stiff and hard to maneuver. I was looking online for a hose holder. The one that I really liked was, unfortunately $80 so that was a no go. I saw some free standing holders, but the reviews were not so great. There are baskets and pots that hold the hose also, but I just didn’t feel like paying what they were asking. Then I remembered that we have a huge pot that we have had trouble growing things in. My Jasmine died. My begonias died. So I thought this would be the perfect solution and it was.

I didn’t realize that you need to soak parsley and broccoli seeds overnight. So hopefully I will get those in the planters tomorrow.

The sun was out all day with not a cloud in the sky so that meant that my solar lights were getting all the charge they needed.

The lights make all the difference at night. I can’t believe how far this side yard has come.

So Much Better

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Ever since the fenced garden was built and we had the two baby pools plopped beside it drove me crazy. Then add the gargantuan grill that was so heavy I could never quite get all of the weeds pulled from behind it and it made me even crazier. I knew there had to be something better we could do with it. I started watch Tia Weston and her $1 house on Youtube. It is a great series of amazing DIY that her and her father did. Anyway, I loved what she did to her backyard and it sparked an idea in my head.

First of all I wanted to buy as little as possible and just use what we already had. When I took apart the wooden trellis I saved the boards. The fit perfectly as the garden edge and I decided to paint them red to match the bottom of the fenced garden. I already had the red paint so no extra money spent there.

While those were drying I finished pulling the rest of the weeds and digging the trench for the border.

I knew we had some weed barrier out in the shed so after I laid the border down I went to get the barrier. I think the garden gods were smiling down on me because the barrier was the exact width and length that I needed.

I figured out where I wanted the planters to go. I know the baby pools are not the prettiest things, but they work so well and since we already had them they didn’t cost a thing.

I used the two bags of mulch that I already had but I needed some more so Jackson and I ran to Home Depot. I picked up mulch, soil and some pansies that were on sale. I cut up cardboard that we had been saving to lay in the purple planters. I also finished the mulch. I knew I wanted solar lights, but Walmart didn’t have the same ones I have in the front. I almost bought some that just looked to industrial. I ended up with the glass crackled solar lights.

It turned out so good.

I found a box of the solar string lights that I had gotten when Big Lots was going out of business. I put those around the fenced garden. I haven’t done much work on that yet. Hopefully tomorrow.

I covered the pools with screens for nighttime because the cats will dig in them.

I love how bright the lights are. I now want to get these for the front. The string lights didn’t get a chance to charge.

This week I’m going to fill the purple planters with dirt and work on the fenced garden. I need to get some seeds in the ground by the weekend.

I picked up a pot that was out by the shed. It had ants in it and then got all over my hands and started biting me. I remembered that if you chew up purple nettle and put it on the bites it takes the sting out. It sure does! It’s classified as a weed, but there are so many benefits that it provides. I’m just glad I remembered that one.

Blowing Away

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The last two days have been so windy. So windy, in fact, that one of my wind chimes blew down. I needed to get my seeds started. All I could manage to do were two of them because the seed starting containers kept blowing away.

My planters came in so I started putting them together.

It wasn’t hard, just time consuming.

One down and one to go. I was so excited to see that I could order purple containers. They are so much more fun than the plain silver ones. I can’t wait to set them up and get to planting.

On a good note, Jackson finally cleaned out his closet and got rid of the things he doesn’t wear anymore.

I now have a stuffed bag to donate tomorrow.

There is one shirt that he had in the pile that I’m not going to donate because it has his character that he developed for Tower Heroes game.

The characters name is Hotdog Frank. Yep, I’ll be saving this one.

Spring Is In the Air

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I had an hour and a half to kill in Kilgore. Instead of hitting the thrift stores I needed to go to Dollar Tree and Walmart to pick up some items for starting our garden. But first I need to make room in my trunk. I had been hauling around two big bags of clothing donations for months. Luckily for me, there was a donation drop off next door to Walmart.

Because I was picking up three kids I couldn’t use my backseat so I was thrilled to find these bins to make room for my purchases.

In Walmart I picked up the seeds I needed. We decided to only plant crops we would actually eat. I also found a good deal on a huge bag of potting soil.

Didn’t realize that the picture came out upside down, but you get the gist of it.

I was also out of bird seed for my feeder so I needed to pick that up also.

At Dollar Tree I picked up these baking pans with lids. I’ll put the seed starter pots in them to act as a terrarium. I have had the seed pots since last year. I got them 90% off at Dollar General.

Dollar Tree had some cute flower pots. I needed some for herbs.

My best finds at Dollar Tree were these celestial metal art. This one is the exact color of our front door.

I loved this one, just not the color.

Nothing that a little spray paint won’t fix. I left the can so you can see how big these actually are.

It looks so much better.

I also did some weeding and looked to see if any of our plants are worth saving after going through winter. The hydrangea is budding. I was worried about that one.

The mint comes back every year.

My mums actually survived being dragged from the laundry room to outside about a million times.

I brought my peace lilies outside to do a little trimming on them, add some more soil and give them a good soak.

Also, here is a cost efficient, easy to make dinner.

If you don’t like Italian sausage you can substitute whichever kind you like. I took this picture before I added the parsley. Donny thought that the potatoes were pineapple. The whole dish was really good and it made enough for me to pack leftovers for his lunch today.

Garden Growth

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We did not do a big garden this year. I got the seeds started late, but I am proud to say that everything I am growing is from seeds. Not a big flex to anyone who gardens, but it is for me because I’ve never been able to do that before. Everything I’ve ever tried to start from seeds, except the cantaloupe last year, has died.

This squash is in the enclosed garden. It should be ready in a few days. I’m embarrassed to say that this garden is half empty. We do have tomatoes, tomatillos (they came up from the crop last year) and cucumbers. I finally got around to weeding this area last week because it was a mess.

This is the before.

And the after.

I do love my little front bed, but it doesn’t get as much sun as I would like. The cucumbers are starting to flower along with the tomato plants so that’s encouraging.

Donny planted this butterfly plant a few years ago and this year it has really taken off. I can’t wait for the hot pink flowers to really open up.

I have always bought a basil plant every year. This year I decided to try seeds and they are actually growing.

We even have a corn stalk. A piece of corn from the bird feeder must have fallen down and sprouted. I thought it was funny so I just left it to grow.

Our hostas that did not do very well last year, and we even thought they had died off, are going crazy.

I decided to plant some avocado seeds and I guess now I have a mini orchard.

We had some sunflower seeds that we had harvested from one of our giant sunflowers a couple of years ago. Donny planted them in the backyard and they are doing their thing.

I’m still trying to work on the back corner, but we’ve just been getting so much rain lately, I haven’t had the chance. I did make a little bell wreath for the patio on one of those rainy days.

So that’s the outside update. Fingers crossed that everything grows.

Months ago Jackson asked me to get these two cat pictures from a thrift store. I loved them so it was a yes. Last night we realized that they reminded us of Queso and Bailey so I guess it’s like a little tribute to two of the best fur babies there ever were.

Green-ish Thumb

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My seeds have finally grown tall enough to go into the ground. Yesterday I got the front bed weeded and tilled up in preparation for the little sprouts.

I have 5 cucumber plants and 10 tomatoes.

Some of them went into the front bed.

The pots have Calendula seeds that I’m hoping will eventually sprout.

I planted the squash and 2 of the cucumbers in the garden.

The 2 extra cucumbers went in the corner by the potatoes that are getting pretty big. It will still be a while before we can harvest them.

I had quite a few broccoli sprouts that I just planted in pots and we’ll see how those do. I still have some lettuce and tomatoes that were just slower growing than the rest and are still to small to plant. It’s supposed to rain for the next few days so we’ll see how it goes.

Jackson wanted to go thrifting today. I only found one thing that I thought was pretty cool.

Sharon made it, or bought it and gave it to someone, in 1974.

I just love giving old objects a new life and home.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

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I am extremely late this year starting my seeds. Will they sprout? There is no telling. I don’t know why I was putting it off, but yesterday I began the task of getting them all done.

I have no room in the house so I put in the enclosed garden.

After this was taken I went out into the shed and found trays to put them in so that I can keep them moist.

I had picked up some garlic at the Asian Market last week and it had already started sprouting so I decided to go ahead and plant those.

I didn’t get all of them planted so they are sitting with damp paper towels on them in a pie plate. I did manage to get 8 of them done.

I cut up our celery for the week and decided to plant the “celery butt”. I can’t wait to see if it will grow. I did it last year and it did grow but it got too hot and it died. Hopefully I’ll have better luck this year.

I also planted the white part of some green onions. I have a lot of luck with those. They grow fast and you can just snip off the green part to use in cooking. I didn’t take a pic of those. I just forgot.

I was pleased to see that our hosta is coming back in full force. I swear it grows at least an inch a day.

The plant we got when we got the Hosta is coming in. It’s a bit of a slower grower but, I’ll take it, because at least it’s coming back.

We still have the construction going on. They are actually moving quickly, but it’s a mess. They are digging on the opposite side and our side will be next.

I keep telling myself it’s for the greater good.

The Coop

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Day 3 of working on the yard I decided to tackle the very overgrown weeds around our chicken coop. I didn’t want to use the weed eater because they grow so fast and I just wanted them gone. What I thought would be a quick task turned into 3 hours. I didn’t know much about Johnson Grass before I started, heck I didn’t even know the name of this atrocious weed, but I know much more now. The roots are very long with a bulb like structure at the end that resembles peas stuck together. You cannot just pull them up with your hands either. I had to use this garden weasel thing that has prongs on the end that you push into the ground and twist. That only loosens the roots. I then had to use my weed shovel to really go underneath and pry it up.

If you don’t like insects, earthworms or spiders this isn’t a job for you. I thought my chickens would like the earthworms, but they turned up their noses at them. They do however like baby snakes but I didn’t run into any of those today.

The weeds were so thick.

You can see where I had finished on side of the door. I ended up finishing the whole perimeter. It was really hard and there were many times I wanted to stop, but with a lot of water and determination, I finished.

I still need to go inside and get the weeds out of there, but they are only on the side and aren’t Johnson Grass, thank goodness.

The chickens had a ball on the pulled up weeds before I bagged them up for the trash tomorrow. They were digging around for bugs, but making a mess.

I still need to weed around the outside of the house in the backyard, dig up the grass in the fire pit and weed around the a/c unit. I decided to do one project a day so I don’t stroke out in this heat. Tomorrow I think I’m going to wash the front of the house and maybe also my car. I think I need a day break from weeds.

Yard Work x 2

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I am beat. Yesterday I mowed the yard, the thorough kind of mowing where I moved everything out of the way even all the garden pots out by the shed that had so much grass growing through them. It was hot. I was tired. So tired that I was making tea and fell asleep waiting for it to steep.

Today I started on edging the flower bed, patio and front stoop. We have these weird weeds that look like something that should be growing in a pond. I finally got them all out. Now I just need to get some gravel to fill in where it used to be.

The flower bed had grass and weeds growing up to the landscape timbers so I dug a trench to try and keep those at bay. I also weeded. I need to get more mulch and wipe down the house because of the algae. For some reason houses that face a certain way tend to get this green algae on them

There’s so much more that needs to be done in the front and back. We really need to get the power washer out. I also cleaned up around the grill and the garden and swept out and cleaned off the patio. It’s been a long two day, but the weather has cooperated. One step at a time and hopefully one day everything will be finished. Maybe.

My Monet Yard

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I know we live in the South. I know we’ve been getting a lot of rain. I just can’t believe how fast our grass is growing. Today I thought it would a really good idea to go out and mow. I figured that I could get it done and not have to worry about it for (hopefully) another week. The only thing I didn’t take into consideration is that we would be under a heat advisory.

Between the humidity and the feels like temperature, it was rough. We have been working on the dead spots in our front yard and they are getting better, albeit slowly. By the time I finished mowing I was dripping in sweat and I was beat. If you were driving by our house you might think, Oh, their yard looks nice. Truthfully though, it’s like a Monet painting, It looks really good from afar, but when you get closer you can see it’s just a bunch of dots that doesn’t make much sense. I so need to move things out of the way and really get in with the weed whacker. I need to straighten up the flowerbed timbers. But here is a before of the backyard.

And the after.

The front yard still has a way to go with the dead patches and all, but it’s getting better.

My flowers are still doing pretty good.

It’s just all the little details like the grass growing up against the chicken coop, the fence and the shed, that drive me crazy. I have to tell myself that I can’t get it all done in one day because then I’ll be wiped out for the next 2. Sweet tea and a whole Brita pitcher of water served me well today.

If you have a yard crew that does your lawn you need to go hug their necks the next time you see them, because this is some hard work they are doing. How hot do we think this summer is going to get? I’m scared.