Updates for May 2011

Finally!

A long overdue update from this weary Cottager, who has been busy with everything *other* than gardening.

In-between massive construction updates to the Cottage itself (mostly related to insulation and heating and cooling systems), I have also completed my graduate degree in Library Science. I'm thrilled to be done of course, and am definitely ready for some time in the garden!

The vegetable garden feels horrible neglected this year---I have yet to seed my beets and all of my chard and edible flowers, but things are gradually coming together as time allows. I have already mowed the lawn twice this year, so not everything has been flung to the wayside.

Here is a taste of something rather new at the T.G.C; our Cayuga ducklings, Pomona and Ophelia who turn one month this week!

The girls just love swimming in our bathtub and eating baby spinach greens. They have also learned to quack as of this morning!

Weekend of Rest (Sort of).

Spring in the Pacific Northwest is oftentimes cold, grey and wet.

Yesterday's weather featured rain pouring in savage sheets which effectively plucked away the majority of the blossoms from my neighbour's Cherry tree.

The wet weather prevents any further fence construction, but I can't help but be a little relieved and thankful for this mini-break in the interim. Things have been going non-stop since January!

Another Weekend, Another Project

Like an octopus spinning plates, we have many things going on! It seems like every two weeks we jump from one major project to the next. It is hard to believe that by the time March is over we will have successfully completed three major projects! 

 In the midst of all of the hub-bub, we got our first tulip!

 Other plants are coming up too! I am impressed with how much the front beds have grown and how large the Voodoo Lily has gotten!

 Our latest to-do is the installation of a twenty foot fence section which will separate our front yard from the back. This is for privacy of course, and added curb appeal. Also, it will be nice to have an enclosed backyard for the chickens to roam in the winter. We've finished framing the fence yesterday, and begun to hang the cedar boards. We anticipate this to be done soon!

Additionally, we are converting our mud room into a walk-in pantry. I re-purposed one of our bookshelves into a storage area for our canned goods and clean jars. I am amazed by how much food we have left from last year!

We are also planning on re-painting the mudroom these two colours from the Martha Stewart paint line. The brown is intended for the trim and is called 'Tilled Soil'. The grey is for our walls and ceiling and aptly titled 'Flagstone'. Martha has the best colours!

We are planting potatoes for the first time this year. Notice all of the chit (growth) from a few of them! Those Fingerlings do not slack off! We've been so busy that we haven't had a chance to place them in the garden. It will happen this week, I promise!

Green Things! Chickens! More!

Having spent the entirety of last weekend installing--and completing a flagstone pathway, we were in a race against time to locate a suitable ground cover before the soil was reclaimed by grass and weeds. To the right of this image, you can see the grass attempting to creep upon our freshly laid stones, and we certainly couldn't have that.

After some research, we decided to place Irish Moss between the stones due in part to its natural heartiness and the fact it can stand quite a bit of exposure to the sun. One car trip to Portland Nursery later, our moss was procured.

Have you ever wondered what nearly $70 of moss looked like? There you go!

Here, Valentina and Drucilla express their approval of our Moss selection. They love to eat the grass and weeds we tear out, and are more than happy to help 'garden' with us when we are in the yard!

Speaking of chickens, here are a few shots of the girls since I haven't talked about them in awhile. They love their side yard and now that we have the appropriate height of fencing, are free to run around all day long.

 A few weeks ago, our neighbour Pete gave us this new chicken house. Isn't it beautiful? It is completely weather-stripped, roofed and insulated. The roof opens with a latch for easy egg access and we have a little ramp for them to clamber inside. We don't know if we are going to 'retire' our ark design or keep it a bit longer. This new chicken house seems much more effective with the small space we have, but the ark is still fully functional.

 Unfortunately, the girls haven't quite figured out what to do with this new space, and poor Gwendolyn is a tad too large to fit inside of the entry. She weighs nearly 7 pounds!! We will have to use a jigsaw to cut the door large enough to accommodate her size.

On account of the nice weather, the seedlings inside of our greenhouse are doing very well. We've planted many additional peat pots with our friends in mind. In the last week of April, we are going to have a little seed swap party with snacks, boozy drinks and many, many plants. We thought this was a creative solution to sharing heirloom varieties with friends and neighbours!

Many green things are coming up in our yard. Here are a few shots of the things growing for us right now.

Tulips...

Lilac...

Comfrey..

'Casablanca' Lilies....

'Jackmanii' Clematis and Hollyhocks..

And my front garden is finally moving and shaking! I want the Agapanthus to thrive this year and effectively screen  that hideous gas meter, it looks like it is off to a good start! It, like my Delphinium has been getting very generous applications of fish emulsion and manure tea since January. Let's hope that is all it needs!

Our front beds have been busy too. Here, you can see the 'Lavewa' Spinach and 'Purple Globe' Turnip varieties finally emerging from seed. Everything but the 'Russian Red' Kale I planted has germinated. I wonder what the hold up is?

Lastly, The Husband built me this little work bench for washing and prepping vegetables during harvest time. The flat surface will be eventually covered with a self-healing plastic so I can clean, cut or peel vegetables without dragging mud and dirt into the tiny kitchen. The peg board behind it will have hooks for various kitchen utensils such as knives, peelers and whatever else I fancy! This table should be a huge help during bean and tomato harvests or  for general outdoor entertaining!

Flagstone Path Project and Front Beds

It has been a busy few weekends!

This past Saturday and Sunday, we installed a  fifty foot flagstone path which extends from our front door to the street. We dug out and leveled the path mostly by hand, only using the rototiller for hard, rocky areas. Once the dirt was removed and relocated to random parts of the yard, we ordered gravel, tamped it into place and placed our flagstone.

 Our gravel order awaits!

After we placed our gravel, we laid out our flagstone and began to arrange the stones. It was similar to a very heavy and frustrating game of Tetris!

We selected a native basalt to use in the path as we felt it would blend in most convincingly with the area and would help 'age' the garden a bit.

 Once the foundation for the path was laid and covered in with gravel, we then proceeded to dig 18 inches into our front yard to create steps. This endeavor required an additional 600 pounds of rock.

These stairs are now level with the street, replacing the overgrown bricks and cinder blocks we recovered from the same area.

 After a hard rain, we pulled out tubs containing our dirt reserves and begun to fill over the gravel. We left a generous amount of space between each stone because we wanted to plant Irish Moss throughout with the hopes it will creep and weave, looking very charming and sweet. I hope to replicate the look of some of the churchyards I visited in Scotland and Ireland which had very ancient, worn stones in their garden pathways.

I also added new soil to the front herb beds and placed some stones recovered from all of these projects around the garden beds to form a nice, visible border.

Here is a nice shot of how the path looks from the street. We received many compliments from friends and neighbours throughout the process, which was just the reassurance we needed!

 Lastly, here is a nice view of the front beds with newly embedded flagstone and four extra pots! We are growing an heirloom garlic in these pots in addition to more pansies!

New Project Photos

Here at the Tiny Green Cottage we've been very preoccupied with completing our front yard projects. While the construction for the raised beds in the front is finished, we've also decided to fill the spaces between with black plastic (to kill grass and weeds) and layer white stone on top for a finished look.

 

Here is what the beds looked like in the interim while waiting for the grass to die and the rock to be purchased.

After some creative towing, we got 55 bags of white rock home in my tiny car (on three separate trips).

We arranged the bags into piles and then slashed each one open. These were taken at night, so I apologize about the poor quality. 

 

The final results! Can't wait for the white of the rock to 'mellow' a little bit with some moss for an aged appearance. We also decided to arrange four matching pots filled with herbs such as French Lavender, Pineapple Mint, Horseradish and Parsley on the gravel. Once these fast-growing herbs fill in, it will age the garden a bit which is what we are striving for.

During all of the excitement, we got our first Daffodil!

  

Here is one of the aforementioned pots with our Horseradish sprout.

Between all of that, there was also time to build Blueberry Boxes for the side yard. We've filled these with our own ericaneous mixture of pine, peat and regular garden soil.

Additionally, we've also decided to complete our front walkway. The Husband dutifully smashed the concrete of this path two years ago (I will attempt to look for a photograph of it in the original state), but as many home-projects go, our good intentions were waylaid and eventually overtaken by weeds and grass.  Last Sunday, we decided to hand dig our path with shovels and use our rototiller to level out the odd spots. It took about five 1/2 hours to complete.

 

The next day, our flagstone delivery arrived, and we began to unpack the pallet.

  

The gravel delivery is today, so this project should be completed and updated soon!