The Front of the House

First off lets start at where we enter...Not a bad looking home, but very dated,  with the hedge going across the front...ick.  But baby steps first, my goal is to landscape without spending much money.  In other words use what I have.  And I can do this in several ways, cuttings, separating and collecting seeds.

 THE ISSUES

Underneath this giant window is a built in planter box...at first glance you would think...OH so many choices, what to do with this.  But...see the over hang?  Yep...dry shade. Well, I could put a rain barrel under the drain pipe right next to it and run some drip line from it to keep that area watered...this would take care of more than one issue. But that would be costly.  Any suggestions?

And here is the other issue that could be resolved with a rain barrel as well.  Isn't this special, the drain pipe go's right across the path in front of where you would step up onto the porch.  Who thought this would be a good idea? And the drain pipe directs the water to the side of the house where there is an erosion issue! UGH!  really people?  This leads me to the water fall and the delta.

I am standing in the back yard looking towards the front at the street.  CRAZY!  When it rains this turns into a water fall and becomes a swampy delta at the bottom.  Second problem, I know you say throw some trees, bushes and plants in...cant do it.  The home is on a septic system and it is in the back yard.  This is the only accessible rout to the septic.  But I have an idea to make it a long curve, wide enough to get a truck down but curvy.  Also I have started a plan to slow down the erosion. What is this amazing plan Carrie, you ask?

MONDO GRASS...and lots of it.  This place is covered in this Stuff.  And it is one tough plant, you can plant it anytime of the year...no matter the condition and it thrives.  This bed is in the front yard at the top of the waterfall slope, we just planted it.  I will be moving some shrubs and separating some hostas to put in this bed.

This bed is an established bed of mondo that has helped slow down some of the erosion.  I have a few azaleas that were moved from another part of the yard in this bed.

And here is the top of the hill where it all starts at.  At one point Crape Mertals were planted, good idea, wrong spot.  But they will stay, and I will transplant and move Mondo Grass, Lilies and Irises up along the road.  I would like to get some Hydrangea as they have an incredible root system...but the cost.  What is a girl to do?  Any suggestion or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Burpee vx. Annies

I decided to do a little experiment, I had two packs of Bachelor Button - Blue Boy seed. Both were purchased this year and both were the same type of seed.

Burpee $1.15
Annies $2.00

I did have to pay shipping on Annies darn I'm not sure what that would add to the price. And I did have to pay gas to go to Home Depot to buy the Burpee ugh.

I planted one flat of each supplier and I wanted to share my results.

The Tray on the left is Burpee and the one on the Right is Annies each tray holds 36 seedlings. Only 7 of the Burpee's came up. And 21 of the Annies. I still have more seeds left in the packets as well.

A few more of the Annies came up after this photo was taken but no more from the Burpee.

What made me decide to do this experiment? Well, I found that certain seed in the spring did well and certain seeds didn't. I already had an idea about it, but I wanted to try this to make sure.

Once the true leafs pop out and the plants get better roots I will compare them again then slip them in the ground. Lucky me, living in the south I can grow these in the fall. I am going to add them to the humming bird garden. Just to cool off all the red a bit.

Starting Seeds

 We started several seedling in trays. To get an early start this year on our garden. January 22, 2012

We have a full tray of Leeks (American Flag) Ferry-Morse $1.25
In the other tray: Organic Cilantro - Burpee $1.88
                          Mint (Spearmint) Burpee $1.00
                          Organic Parsley (Single Italian Plain-Leaf) Burpee $1.88
                          Catnip - Burpee $1.57
These seeds and the trays were purchased at Low's

The trays came two to a pack offering 72 cells for $7.99 The soil pellets have no netting around them so the roots wont get bound up (Like that) The cell tray fits down into another tray to catch all the water and it also has a clear lid to keep in moisture.  We used food spears to make holes to put the seeds in.

Seed Catalogs and Cheap Thrills

My New Bedspread

Oh I just get all goose pimply when the seed catalogs start coming in. I am trying not to over do it but its so hard to hold myself back.

I also made it by the library and picked up a few books to keep me up at night

Toadstool Tips Quick Start Seeds

Toadstool Tips

(extra info)

To give your seeds a quick start place the pot in a wagon where they can be kept in a warm garage at night and then brought out in the sun during the day. This will get the sleepy little seeds up and at em in no time.

Potted Butterfly Garden

Not only do butterflies need food but they need a place to lay eggs and have food for the larva. So we have made a garden just for that...plus some sunflowers thrown in for fun.

First, find out what type of food butterfly larva in your area need. This book here "Beginner's Guide to Butterflies" By Donald and Lillian Stokes list them. For us we have allot of swallow tail. So we are planting Dill and fennel (they also like parsley) and some short Sun flowers. And a good night time read is "The Hungry Caterpillar."

Add a really cute helper with a big hat...just for some fun.

These are some pots we bought a few years ago that the kids painted then stamped. We replaced the soil and sprinkled some seed starter soil on top...about an inch. The kids drew a circle in the middle and that is where they planted the sunflowers.

Each of my kids are very different gardeners, one wants to get it done and onto the next and the other looks for perfection. Trinity just sprinkled the dill and fennel all around.  Alex divided up the soil and very carefully placed his seeds. Two very different gardeners showing how really opposite they are.

 

Starting with Seed

 

For me gardening is as much of a therapy as is meditation itself.
I wanted to share with you all my knowledge, triumphs, lessons, crafts, discoveries and musings on the subject.
Let us begin with the seed. They are wonderful little things, full of life. Allow me to slip in here that most of my projects are suited for children and I would recommend a favorite book of ours at this most appropriate time.

"The Trellis and the Seed" By: Jan Karon. Is an inspiring tale of a timid seed, a friendly lady and encouraging earth. Read this the night before any seed preparation...you'll be glad you did. It will bring about that lovely world of wonderment, questions and inspiration from you children as you work with your seed.




Another book I would add at this time would be a good seed book. I use "The New Seed-Starters Handbook" By: Nancy Bubel. This book is a good reference guide and will help you on your way to great success with seed.

Not only is growing from seed economical it is great fun...what a wonderful feeling when they start popping out of the ground.

OK Sharing time.
Trinity and I got busy with some "Seed Trickery." We got those little things believing that it was Spring in February, of course having an unusually nice day for such behaviour helped.



We started with Nasturtium.

Trinity and I did a little scarifying with nail files. No it didn't include Halloween masks. Scarifying is the practice of scratching the seed coat to hasten germination. Gently file the surface a bit...perfect for little hands.

Then we plopped them in a cup of hot water and let them rest for 5-10 minutes. Pre-soaking cuts several days off germination.

While she and I sat busy with seeds, Alex fresh out of the tree prepare our containers. He added a layer of compost (to feed the Hostas sleeping...we are tricking them as well) then he put a layer of a light weight soil, you can get seed starter soil. He pressed the seeds into the soil then sprinkled some more seed starter over the pot and watered.

Another sneaky seed trick. Keep them warm. The wagon holds my big pots, resting in a warm garage at night and sunbathes during the day.






We repeated this with hanging planters.
The hanging baskets keep us company on our sunny school room porch till spring.