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The Garden that Mr Chiots Built

June 16th, 2012

Mr Chiots isn’t much of a gardener, at least not in the same way I am. He helps with garden tasks, generally those that involve power tools, spud bars or difficult heavy work. He asks lots of questions, loves to look at all the plants and enjoys the garden.
A few years ago he decided that we needed something around the mailbox. I didn’t want to dedicate any of my time towards it, so he decided it would be his garden. He chose the plants, transplanted them, surrounded them with rocks and keeps it weeded.



This year it’s looking very nice and he’s very proud of his little garden.

How many gardeners live in your household?

Chiot’s Run Garden Tour
The Middle Garden
The Side Garden
The Front Hillside Garden
Mr Chiot’s Mailbox Garden
Garden Tour: The Front Garden

23 Comments to “The Garden that Mr Chiots Built”
  1. Sue from Ky. on June 16, 2012 at 5:36 am

    Wow! A husband who shares your interests. That is a blessing to behold.Nice garden!

    Reply to Sue from Ky.'s comment

  2. jennifer fisk on June 16, 2012 at 6:46 am

    You can tell Mr. Chiots that his plantings around the mailbox have inspired me. So simple yet so pretty.

    Reply to jennifer fisk's comment

  3. Canned Quilter on June 16, 2012 at 6:55 am

    When I married my husband he was not a gardener either but after years of living with me he is now a convert! Give Mr. Chiot time and I bet as the years pass he will garden more and more.

    Reply to Canned Quilter's comment

  4. Joan on June 16, 2012 at 6:59 am

    Nice! This has inspired me to at least think about planting something around our mail box!

    Reply to Joan's comment

  5. Kathi Cook on June 16, 2012 at 7:08 am

    Nice! Does he know that it is addicting though? My husband doesn’t garden but is always will to help if I ask him to build something ie raised beds,stone walls etc.

    Reply to Kathi Cook's comment

    • Susy on June 16, 2012 at 7:45 am

      I think he’s figuring this out. He’s been out helping me with the new garden area more this spring, asking what all the amendments are, what they do, why I add them, etc.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  6. kristin @ going country on June 16, 2012 at 7:10 am

    Two whole gardeners and two half gardeners. I do the vegetable garden for the most part; the MiL does the flowers (sort of . . .) and certain things in the vegetable garden–that is, for whatever reason she always takes care of the leeks and onions and this year planted all the squash too.

    My husband and son are the halves. My husband is a reluctant helper in the vegetable garden, doing the tilling and grunt work with mulch and other things I can’t do by myself. He doesn’t really like vegetables, though, so he thinks it’s too much work for the results. My son is enthusiastic, but being only two, is more destructive than helpful at the moment. I have big plans to raise both of my boys into competent and hopefully enthusiastic gardeners who can hill potatoes for mommy in the near future. We’ll see.

    Reply to kristin @ going country's comment

  7. Rebecca on June 16, 2012 at 7:53 am

    Your Mr. and my Mr. sound very similar. I am the gardener of the family, but my children who check daily on the progress of each plant and give long dissertations each evening on each one. :-)

    Just stopping by to say Hullo, after stumbling across your blog for a brown sugar recipe. :-)

    Have a great day!

    Reply to Rebecca's comment

  8. angie h. on June 16, 2012 at 9:25 am

    My hubby actually has the greener thumb in this house! We both enjoy the flowers but he is better at keeping them alive!

    Reply to angie h.'s comment

  9. Rhonda on June 16, 2012 at 10:20 am

    My Mr. Has been banished from the back yard. He was trying to “help” with the weeding and pulled/weed whacked every flower seedling I had sprouting along the fence line this spring. Ohhhhhhh what a bad day that was.

    Reply to Rhonda's comment

    • Maybelline on June 16, 2012 at 2:17 pm

      Oh mercy. Farmer MacGregor did the same thing to my sweet peas one spring. He has since been banished from weeding unless supervised!

      Reply to Maybelline's comment

  10. John on June 16, 2012 at 10:24 am

    My wife has had more time in, I’m usually asking her questions. However, I’m slowly getting my thumb greener. I’m in charge of the garden this year, a learning curve for sure. I am slowly turning our property into a more permaculture homestead, sustainable living for many years to come.

    Reply to John's comment

  11. Maybelline on June 16, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    Like the Chiots, I garden while Farmer MacGregor enjoys the hardscape portion of outdoor work. Seems to work out nicely.

    Reply to Maybelline's comment

  12. amy on June 16, 2012 at 4:22 pm

    Moi…..Although he does wrangle the rototiller and that is really saying something….It is a monster and beyond my abilities:)

    Reply to amy's comment

  13. tj on June 16, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    …You go Mr. Chiots! Nice, very nice. :o)

    …I’m the gardener, my husband is the harvester altho’ he has been taking more of an interest in it as the years go by. Just the other week I was talking about you and your post on Green Manure and he asked, “WHAT is green manure?”. I guess he had a vision of actual, real green animal manure. lol :o)

    …Enjoy your weekend!

    …Blessings

    Reply to tj's comment

  14. KimH on June 17, 2012 at 2:19 pm

    Me mostly.. though m’honey will help when I ask & has been known to water & pick tomatoes when he hasnt been asked. That works for me since I really dislike standing around with a water hose.. He enjoys it. ugh.

    I’ve been watering my veggie garden at the community garden using 2-2gal buckets and I’ll have to get a hose out soon since we added a second plot to the family garden.

    He also does most of the heavy work & tilling if its to be done.. He never complains about it though.. cuz if it doesnt get done, then I complain & he hates that worse than anything. ;)

    Reply to KimH's comment

  15. KimH on June 17, 2012 at 2:20 pm

    BTW… thats a very nice little mailbox garden there.. Thumbs up to ya Mr Chiots!

    Reply to KimH's comment

  16. Deb on June 17, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    What is the name of the tiny plant in the bottom photo? I have some but no idea what it is. Thanks so much for the posting. The garden looks very nice.

    Reply to Deb's comment

    • Susy on June 18, 2012 at 8:09 am

      It’s a small creeping sedum that was growing here when we moved in. We’ve since propagated it and it grows all over the gardens, a very useful low-growing, drought-tolerant plant to cover the soil.

      Reply to Susy's comment

  17. Donna B. on June 18, 2012 at 9:09 am

    I’m in process of slowly teaching my boyfriend about how to locate ‘weeds’ vs. desired plants. [me: “This is creeping charlie – PULL IT OUT and BURN IT in the firepit!!!”]
    He came from a gardening heavy family, so in a way I think he hates the fact that I’m gung-ho about it, but he tolerates my bouts of insanity.
    Maybe I’ll give him the mailbox to garden in, let him plan what to plant there… What advice can Mr. Chiots give to the guys in our households?!?! Hehehe!

    Reply to Donna B.'s comment

  18. Beth K on June 18, 2012 at 12:50 pm

    That looks so nice! It’s funny because this morning I was seriously thinking about moving some lilies to grow beside our mailbox!

    I am the main gardener, but my hubby enjoys being involved. He didn’t grow up gardening, but he has learned a lot in the 6 years we’ve been together. He is great about doing the heavy lifting and tilling – not so much because I’m unable, but because he likes to help (and it’s easier to convince him to help with those tasks than weeding!). He enjoys the flowers, as well, and is sure to mention if he notices something starting to bloom (love that he has that slightly softer side to him). Although, I have learned finally to mark any flowers that grow outside of structured flower beds – if they’re not marked, he will demolish them with the weedeater! We also have a 16 month old son who loves to “help” me in the garden. He is hard on the plants sometimes, but I love that he wants to try to help. :-)

    Reply to Beth K's comment

  19. Jennelle on June 18, 2012 at 2:02 pm

    How sweet! The Hubs has never showed much an interest in planting anything at our house besides his butt in a recliner! But he does like to come with me sometimes when I water the vegetable garden to see how its doing. And, he enjoys eating the fruits of MY labor.

    Reply to Jennelle's comment

  20. louisa @ TheReallyGoodLife on June 19, 2012 at 8:54 am

    If you count cats, chickens and the dog – all of whom like to “help” in their own special ways – then there are 10 of us. If you don’t count those, then it’s just me.

    John has some apple trees which he tends, including weed management around them, but that’s it. He doesn’t even help me with building projects these days after we had a couple of “too many cooks…” disagreements how to do things. I don’t really mind – I’m happy enough pottering away on my own – but I am rather jealous of friends where both of the couple garden together.

    Reply to louisa @ TheReallyGoodLife's comment

About

This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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