Gardening on a dime

So remember all that dirt that sat in my front yard and how I just dumped it in the backyard, for lack of a better option?  I decided to see if I could transform it without spending much money.

Back in August I went to Portland Nursery and visited their Island of Misfit Plants sale section. They had a heavenly bamboo and a flowering currant.  I already have FOUR flowering currants in my yard but, hey, they're fricking gorgeous and hummingbirds love them.  And they're pink. I love pink in the garden!  I got the plants for less than $20 total.  Not bad, right?

I borrowed some ferns from other parts of the yard, just to have something there. Fast forward to now, when that soil has had a chance to attract every bad element in the neighborhood. Cats have visited, weeds have established themselves, and that clump of bamboo, which sat untended for four years and didnt budge, sent out a runner.

Son of a . . . !?!

I cut out as much as I could and called it a day.  Bamboo, you may be tenacious but I am STUBBORN.  I will move that whole dirt pile (again. later.) if I have to.

Nature!  It just does what it wants, am I right?

I have planted 21 ferns in my yard but this one popped up all by itself. Note to self: replace this deck next spring.

La la la la, I can't hear you!

It may be getting into the thirties at night, but this little corner of my yard thinks it's still summer.

I so love an optimist.

Readying for winter

Somewhere in the last two months I forgot how to blog.  There was an incident with the big window in the front of my house (turns out it's rotting!) and my sad, sorry attempt to reglaze it.  It's better not to talk about it and instead save my money for a new window. 

I went to Hawai'i with my boy and hit the tropical gardens and I almost rethought all the NW natives I have in my yard. 

Maybe high maintenance tropicals are the way to go?  How gorgeous is that?

I've been clearing out the yard for winter, chopping down my unruly dahlias and planting tulips en masse.  I also planted this freakshow:

It's an allium, which is the genus of onions, and boy did the bulbs smell like it.  Apparently they are good to plant around your tulips and other bulbs because they deter would-be bulb eaters, like voles.  While I was in Hawaii a huge storm came through Portland, which knocked over the patio umbrella (I meant to take it down before I left, I swear) . . . which took the table with it . . . which took out my birdbath . . . which smothered my chives.  There's nothing like returning from paradise to a little bit of reality.  Surprise! You're still a homeowner!  There are no drinks in coconuts here.

It's sort of sad to see everything cleared away, like my poor tomato plants that never got past the green stage.  

I think I'm going to turn my focus this winter to planning the front yard.  And maybe applying for jobs in Hawaii.

Because I'm obsessed with making crappy videos

Oooooh, sweeping shot!

A long sweep of the backyard from ChuckT on Vimeo.

What do you think, peanut gallery?

Is it shabby chic or yard trash?  This drawer was from the old vanity in the bathroom.  I threw some cheap dowels on it, thinking I'd seen enough salvage DIY on Design Sponge to make it work.  I decided it looked stupid, then temporarily moved it to the side yard where it magically adopted the perfect leaning angle to look awesome.  

But then I moved it to plant sedums in it and it looks not-awesome again. 

Yes? No? Would it look great if I just had a stone statue of frogs playing checkers?

My crazy is showing

Summer was incredibly short this year.  I had to really hustle to get some of my outdoor projects done.  I have a couple of projects that have been weighing heavily on my mind.  I don't know if other people do this, but I worry that something will happen to me and my family will get stuck trying to sell my house and they won't be able to because the back of my garage looks like this.

It's fun being tightly wound.  It's also fun realizing you left a trowel on the roof when you were cleaning your gutters. *Sigh.*

The back of the garage was really dirty so I had to scrub it down with a brush and some TSP.  That part sucked but painting the cedar shake with a brush was so meditative I *almost* stopped crying over the fact that I'm having to evict my housemate.  It's a long story.

After washing it down I slapped on the only neutral paint I had in a flat finish.  This is my kitchen color.  It really doesn't go well with the mint green.

But! The back of my garage is ONE color that doesn't go with the mint green.  And some day I'll replace that light fixture that's hanging by the wires.  Baby steps.

We'll call it shabby chic.

Time lapse!

The yard from March 23rd until now:


Long shot of the yard on Vimeo.



The slab, March to August on Vimeo.