Tuesday, July 24, 2012

So, this is my garden spot.  It is fenced with split rail (bordering my yard) and tall t-posts with deer netting.  The North side of the garden borders my house.  
View from the deck
View from my yard
View from the gate area in the split rail
View from ground next to deck 
same
View of cheat grass and knapweed in garden area :)
more knapweed.  There is quite a bit of knapweed in the garden spot.  Closer to the south end is mostly native grasses.  There is not much for soil... and a lot of rocks.
Now, the exciting part (at least to me! ) I am planning on following the garden plan of Paul Gautschi, a gardener from Squim, Wa.
Check out the link to a website/film on his garden philosophies. 
Check back to watch and see my progress!
thanks
KimVDR

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Look... I now have grass and some flowers and some trees!!!  We hauled in a little of the composted manure that was piled in the back and spread that on the "lawn" and scattered seed in the late summer of 09. Then 2 years ago the high school was cleaning up  an area along the creek where someone had dumped tons of wood chips.  They would haul it for free to anyone who wanted it.  I got 3 truck loads.  I used some of these chips in the flower beds both under the weed block to mound up the beds and on top of the weed block.  (I have some left)
 Catmint or Nepta is one of my favorite plants at this time.  It's the blue/purple flowers.  It blooms most of summer gets nice and big, survives my mountain zone 3 and best of all... the deer really don't seem to like it much.  Yes, they will nip it... but for the most part they leave it alone... and that makes me very happy! :)  The bees and butterflies and hummingbirds do seem to like quite a bit.
 

Stay tuned... I have a new project starting... I'm very excited about it!!! 
Kim
First flower bed that I planted.  Tried to plant native plants and herbs that the deer shouldn't eat... they still did.  Somewhere out there is a well seasoned deer... lol







Wow... I started this blog and only posted a couple of times... we had just moved here.  I went back to find more photos of that time.  You forget things.  I will post new pictures... 3 years later.  The progress and the improvements that we have made (at least I think they are improvements)  In these "before" pictures note the fences, the grass, the deck, the general appearance.  Remember too that these were taken in early June.