The Garden that Mr Chiots Built
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
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Friday Favorite: The NEW Bathroom
The bathroom is officially finished, checked off the list and it’s a GREAT feeling. So much better than the old one, it certainly looks like it fits in with the rest of the house now, it was one of the last remnants of the original house we purchased 10 years ago.
The old torn yellowed vinyl flooring *gone* replaced by 1″ marble hex tiles with light gray grout. New moulding inspired by bathrooms of old, made by Mr Chiots.
The old sad cabinet & stained sink *gone* replaced with a black cabinet that ties in with the black cabinets in the kitchen and a nice big sink that we LOVE (we have the same one in our other bathroom and really like it).
The bright green walls *a distant memory* now painted a light blue, very peaceful and much brighter. A few cherry blossom towels, a much needed new bath mat and an old road sign for the finishing touches.
I found this great little handmade salt pig at Local Roots Market that now houses our clay facial scrub from Mt Rose Herbs. Yes, Mr Chiots used an old-fashioned Classic Safety Razor and LOVES it (highly recommended as a gift idea for that special guy in your life). We love our new bathroom and are so happy with the outcome, we’ve been wanting to do this project since we moved in.
If you could redo one room in your house which one would it be?
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C’est la vie
I’m not one to let things languish in the garden waiting to see if they’ll perk up. I never have enough space for everything I want to grow, if something isn’t doing well, it gets ripped out and replaced with something else.
The ‘Dakota’ peas produced a flush of peas and quit blooming, yesterday they were all ripped out to be replaced with cucumbers. The hot spring was hard on peas, which flourish in much cooler temps. Amazingly, the ‘Golden’ peas on the front porch are still thriving, I’ll have to remember that they’re much more heat tolerant than other kinds of peas I’ve grown.
I have a row of beets that isn’t doing so well either, the area needs a good dose of chicken manure. They’ll be culled today and the bed will be heavily manured for a late crop of potatoes.
On a positive note, my onions are doing really well this year. The garden area in which they are growing was manured heavily and inoculated with mushroom spawn last fall. The difference between this bed and others is like night and day!
How do you deal with things that don’t do well in the garden, do you give them time to perk up or replace them?
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Black Beauties
This lovely plant was started from seed in 2010. Hollyhocks are one of those delayed gratification plants since they take two years to bloom. They can also be difficult to start from seed at times, they germinate better if you use the floating method described in this post.
‘The Watchman’ hollyhocks were described on the seed packet as “towers of black satin” and that’s not far from the truth. The deep purple color really adds a sense of elegance to the garden.
Not only do hollyhocks add some much needed height to the garden, the black color is unusual and eye catching. It blends well with every other color, but is especially set off against white and light pink. Beside my ‘Annabelle’ hydrangea it’s stunning, a perfect combination!
This variety of hollyhock is an heirloom, Thomas Jefferson grew these in his gardens at Monticello. I will most likely always have some blooming in my garden for the rest of my life. They’re one of my favorite plants!
Do you have any dark blooming plants in the garden?
If you’d like to purchase seeds for ‘The Watchman’ they are available from:
Renee’s Garden
Botanical Interests
Baker Creek
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Bolting Brassicas
This spring has been HOT, HOT, HOT here in NE Ohio. We’ve already had days in the 90’s and next week looks to be just as hot. We never really have a spring as most people think of it, we go from winter directly into summer here. It makes growing brassicas a bit of a challenge. These little napa cabbages never had a chance. I planted in a raised bed in the back where they get some shade, but that wasn’t quite enough.
I suppose I could still harvest some of the leaves, but I decided to pull them all out and use them as mulch instead. They were replaced with celery, which will come in handy when making quarts of my homemade tomato soup.
In the Midwest, growing brassicas can be challenging. This year a few of my broccoli plants produced nice heads and the ones that started producing after the heat stroke hit are producing little button heads instead.
Of course that’s what we get when we try to grow things outside of their comfort zones, so we take a risk and roll the dice on what kind of summer we’ll have. Tomatoes and peppers don’t like the cold, brassicas and peas don’t like the heat. Different varieties also fare differently in weather extremes, thus it’s worthwhile to try a few different kinds. I have one type of broccoli that’s definitely weathering the heat better than the other. I bet the other one does better as a fall crop.
The beautiful thing is, I can simply pull out the bolting brassicas and replace them with something that’s going to LOVE the hot dry summer ahead – like peppers, tomatoes and squash. Sometimes it’s best to go with the flow and take advantage rather than trying to fight it! Looks like my pantry will be stuffed with lots of fire roasted peppers for the winter!
Are there any plants that you would love to grow but can’t because of the zone/climate you live in?
