Pink Alexander Magnolia Tree

With shopping list at hand, Mr. S and I went to H & H. I had difficulty keeping on track with the nursery filled with Pink Alexander Magnolia trees. Mr. S and I stopped to admire them and I ignored my impulse to buy one. On the far side looking for the plants on my list there was more magnolia trees to tempt me! I tried to ignore them as I looked at plants, one of the workers drove up with a cart right beside me and began loading the entire row of magnolia trees. A part of me wanted to grab one of the trees, but I'm happy to say I remained strong. We left without caving in.

I had always wanted a pink magnolia tree since the first time I had seen one years ago at The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens in San Marino. The next morning Mr. S asked if I was still thinking about the magnolia tree. I told him, yes. He encouraged me to go back and buy one. I didn't think twice and was on my way back to H & H hoping they still had trees! 

My Pink Alexander Magnolia tree!

 Afew days later, I took the afternoon off to meet the 

workers from H&H to deliver and plant the tree.

 I can't wait till the tree grows to full height! So beautiful!

Gardening is art, dirt is a blank canvas

Planning and designing took a long time, for me, it helps to draw the plans to help visualize the garden and where to place everything. I also started a Pinterest board for inspiration and an Excel spreadsheet to log the pants. If you are like me, I get overwhelmed when I go to the nursery. I want to buy everything, so I bring a shopping list to keep on track. It doesn't always work because an interesting plant always catches my eye. H & H Nursery in Lakewood is my favorite and I also frequent Armstrong Garden Center.

Now that the vegetable beds are in, there's always work to be done in the garden. I find there is never enough time to spend in the garden. Unfortunately, I have to work and the weekends are never enough time to spend in the garden, so I wake up early to send some time in the mornings before getting ready for work. I use to think watering was a chore, but now I enjoy it. I find it relaxing giving me the opportunity to admire my plants closely.

The beds are filling up!

 Kale, strawberries, onions and garlic

 5 or 6 differnt varieties of lettuse and 2 kinds of cabbage

 Lettuce!

Nasturtium & Black Berries

Images of Watermelon Vines

While shopping at yard sales many years ago, we met a nice man who Mr. S bought some fishing tackle from. I think they chatted for over a half hour about fishing. He showed Mr. S one of his fishing reels that didn't work, so Mr. S asked if he could take a look at it. He borrowed a screwdriver and had the reel apart in seconds, adjusted something inside, and the reel worked like new!

The man was so appreciative that he showed us his back yard, which was covered with a vine that had taken over at least half of the far side of the yard. After my eyes adjusted, I realized there were several watermelon hiding under the large leaves on the vines. He promised us a watermelon when they were ready. Mr. S and the man exchanged phone numbers and a month later he called. It was the juiciest watermelon!

Since then, I have had the image of the watermelon vines in my mind and tried to grow watermelons and pumpkins twice each with no success, so I was determined to have room for a watermelon and pumpkin patch. The space for the the vegetables beds was larger than I had ever had to work with, 30ft X 21 ft! So much potential for lots of varieties of vegetables.

The plan was to have 4 main raised beds 12' x 6', with 2 ft wide boarder beds, and walkways in between. So off to the hardware store again for wood and supplies and to the city dump for more mulch.

The raised bed boxes are constructed with 2" x 8"s 

and anchored with wood stakes in the ground

The boxes are in place

We lined the beds with cardboard to minimize 

the weed and grass from coming through

This time we rented a trailer because we estimated that 

we would need at least 4 loads of mulsh to fill the beds

Even with 4 full loads of mulsh the beds were only half filled

We filled the balance with a mix of Kellog Growmulsh and Miracle Grow

 which has been a suscessful combination for several years

Finally ready to plant! Now the real work begins!

The blue and black berries are planted

I planted a few flowers along the fence

The Lettuce bed

The Kale and Spinch bed

The tomato trellises are in place

The first Tomatoes are planted. This is only the begining.
Now to plant more vegetables, water, weed and wait!  

Through the Garden Gate

In the past I had pets dig up flower beds and lounge on cool vegetables, so I knew a fence had to be built for the vegetable garden. For months I looked at hundreds of photos for fences and garden gates for inspiration trying to decide the style I wanted. Mr. S helped narrow down the choices and finally we decided on a white picket fence.

We did a lot of prep work during the week in preparation for another back breaking weekend. I measured and checked my plans I had drawn and took a trip to the hardware store to buy the wood, hardware, and supplies for the fence. For the main support posts we used pressure treated wood. There were pre-made sections of  picket fences, but Mr. S did not like the construction, so we bought the pre-cut pickets instead. Lots of measurements later we had a fence!

The main posts were set in concrete

 All the pickets are spaced the same 

distance apart with the dogs watching

 I think Zoe has figured out the fence is to keep the dogs out, 

she doesn't look happy about it.

 Making progress

 The finials were a bit pricey, 

but they added the to style I was trying to achieve.

 I drafted a pattern on my CAD system to use as 

a template to achieve the curve for the gate.

Time to paint!

 The fence is looking closer to what I had imagined!

 I'm so happy with the results!

 I had to search for the trellis. H&H had trellises, 

but they were all too wide for the gate opening.

I had to special order the trellis at Armstrong Garden Center.

Breaking Ground

Thanksgiving is a big holiday for the Somervilles. We have hosted family and friends for 27 out of 29 years. This year we planned to work on the vegetable garden during the long weekend. Barley recovered from the festivities, we were up early Friday morning ready to work.

The location for the vegetable garden was used to store building supplies and as a dumping ground while the house was being remolded, so before we could begin breaking ground we had to clear the area of everything along with the remnants of old forgotten raised garden beds.

We feared the raised garden bed planters were big boxes and hoped that we didn't have to dig all the dirt out before we could excavate them, but thankfully they were 30" deep sheets of metal. I did my share of digging all around the planter while Mr. S tried different methods of raising the sheet metal.

Months prior, Mr. S had chopped a tree down located in the center of where we planned to build a fence, the entrance to the vegetable garden. He had already killed the stump, what remained was to dig it out. While digging we also found a huge piece of concrete with part of a pole, which we determined must have been the support to a clothesline.

Finally we had cleared the area, but the area was far from level. My plan was to level the sandy ground with healthy soil and mulch. We went to the local dump where they give mulch away for free, you only have to bring your own shovel and buckets. Where ever I can find freebies I get excited because my garden design will be costly.

After days of back breaking work we had made progress...

One of the metal garden beds

Some of the metal sheet being excavated

I did a lot of digging! I think that was the most I've ever done in my life!

  We used rope and a jack to lift the sheet metal

The ground is terribly uneven 

Filling up barrels of free mulch

Progress! The ground is cleared and flat!

Now time to measure and map out where the raised beds will be placed