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Backyard Progress 2017 and the Beginnings of Urban Gardening

June 1, 2017

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Last weekend was the unofficial gardening weekend in Canada (otherwise known as May Long Weekend) and our household was no exception to the trend.  However, there was one little problem. . . the wilderness we call our backyard and garden space.

I’m going to spare you the agonizing details of roto-tilling twice and removing as much weeds and grass as possible.  Let’s just say that it was overwhelming to start, but deeply satisfying to finish.

9 hours of work and a truck full of weeds hauled to the compost depot later. . .

I still can’t believe that this is our yard when I look out the window.

Now that we had a garden space, we had another problem. . . not nearly enough garden space.  We have plans to expand, but for this year, we’re making do with planting among the flower beds, extra pots, and garden beds.


Related: 53 Best Perennials to Grow in Zone 3

Gardeners Worst Nightmares: 28 Perennials You’ll Regret Planting

Cold-Climate Gardening When You Literally Have No Clue


This is when it’s really awesome to have a husband who is a carpenter.  With just a few boards from Home Depot he was able to make quite a few projects.

I’m always happy to do the painting if the Hermit does the making.

I’m in love with this garden trellis he fashioned from 1/2 a board and leftover construction materials.

 

This year we’re adding 3 raised gardening beds.  I don’t know why I thought they would be so overwhelming to make, but the Hermit was able to make them in under an hour with two boards and 4 stakes.

I am a little bit nervous about having a garden bed in my alley space, but it gets good sun. I’m willing to risk people stealing the vegetables and flowers in the fall.

I love this little trellis that the hermit made me.  We’re growing pickling cucumbers on one side and slicing cucumbers on the other.  Our garden space is a combination of square foot and regular gardening.  I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a jungle in the fall.  I’m also sure that we haven’t seen the last of the grass/invasive perennials.

Related: Follow my Outdoor Living and Zone 3a Gardening Boards on Pinterest!

The Hermit also made a fire pit with discarded stuff from a construction site (don’t worry, he asked permission to take these) and rocks and gravel we already had in the yard.  Dominic immediately took to it and claimed it as his own.  Hopefully he’ll understand that he can’t go in there once we have a grate and actually start having fires there.

I can’t wait to finally enjoy our backyard!!

How are your backyard and gardening projects going so far?  What do you have planned?  Tell me about it in the comments!

P.S.- I share behind the scenes photos, inspiration, and bits of my life on Facebook and Instagram.  Both accounts are different, I’d love to see you there!

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

10 Comments
Filed Under: 1929 house, DIY, Gardening, Makeover, Outdoor Life, Projects, Renovation Tagged: Backyard, DIY, firepit, Garden, garden bed, garden box, Gardening, Makeover, rototilling, urban gardening, weeding, Weeds

About Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

Comments

  1. Jessica Devlin Design says

    June 1, 2017 at 12:52 pm

    i'm so excited to follow along your journey! We are installing a big garden next year and storing up all the info we can
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      June 1, 2017 at 4:10 pm

      Ooo! So exciting!!
      Reply
  2. Corey | The Nostalgia Diaries says

    June 1, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    I've always wanted to have my own garden. Yours is going to be so amazing!
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      June 1, 2017 at 4:10 pm

      Thanks!
      Reply
  3. Rita says

    June 1, 2017 at 4:59 pm

    Awesome progress. Happy gardening
    Reply
  4. Davi says

    June 1, 2017 at 9:18 pm

    Wow, you've done a lot of work! It's going to be great just walking outside and picking your dinner!
    Reply
  5. Cheyenne says

    June 1, 2017 at 9:24 pm

    Looking good!
    Reply
  6. Kristine says

    June 2, 2017 at 6:47 am

    How cool! Man it's such a pain to rip out a full bed of weeds, but so rewarding afterwards. Can't wait to see the progress of your garden!
    Reply
  7. Trish says

    June 2, 2017 at 6:52 am

    I sometimes miss having a garden, but on the days that its 90 degrees I'm sorta glad that I don't have to be pulling weeds.. I have been doing my garden in flower pots for the past couple years... Its so much easier and not as many weeds. lol Yours is going to look awesome! :)
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      June 2, 2017 at 7:01 am

      What do you plant in your containers? We don't have enough garden space so we have to do some container gardening as well.
      Reply

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

P.S. First time gardener? You'll want to download the quick start gardening guide below!

Recent Posts

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth deg Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth degree, do you just wing it, or are you somewhere in-between?⁠
⁠
I tend to plan it all out, and then when I actually get out in the field, so to speak, the plan changes a little bit. ⁠
⁠
If you need a garden planner that's both pretty & practical, my garden planner is available in the ebooks section.  It's only $9 and has lots of upgrades from the previous planner.  Use code CANADA if you're Canadian to account for the exchange.⁠
⁠
P.S. You can see exactly what you're getting in the video--no surprises. ⁠
P.P.S  I get my planner bound and printed at a printing place.  Lots of people just print their own and put the sheets in a binder.
Are you gardening in containers this year? When y Are you gardening in containers this year?  When you're shopping for vegetable seeds, look for varieties that have names with words like patio, tiny, small, etc.  While lots of vegetable varieties will do fine in a container, you'll have an easier time with ones that are specifically bred for that situation.⁠
⁠
📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I'm living the pepper dream in this photo. While I'm living the pepper dream in this photo.  While these ones are a bit on the small side, who doesn't want ripe peppers in July in zone 3?!?! ⁠
⁠
Over the years I've gotten better at growing peppers, and I promise I'll spill my secrets in February when it's actually time to start them.  Until then, get yourself all or one of my four favourite varieties: ⁠
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
⁠
Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
⁠
Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately? It Have you flipped open a seed catalogue lately?  It's so easy to get completely overwhelmed, especially if you're new to gardening.  Why are there so many varieties of everything and which ones do I choose?⁠
⁠
Here's how I try to narrow it down.⁠
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🌤️ Short growing season like me?  Try and prioritize varieties that have short dates to maturity.⁠
🥗 What do you or your family actually eat?  While I think you should always try a couple of new things, there's no sense in planting a giant garden filled with vegetables that you're not going to cook with. ⁠
🥒 Do you care whether your vegetables are heirlooms or hybrids?  Heirlooms are the kind that have been around for 50+ years and you can save seeds from.  Believe it or not, this year we're prioritizing hybrids for some of our garden.  The Hermit @mgsraney is obsessed with production this year, so anything that's going in "his" greenhouse better be able to produce a lot.  I'm using more heirlooms in my "glamour garden" as we call it, because I want things that are pretty and I can save seeds from.⁠
⁠
What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
Last week we started thinking about our plans for Last week we started thinking about our plans for cut flower gardening, now this week we start thinking about plans for our vegetable gardens.  Unlike cut flowers, there's not as many vegetables that need to be started ridiculously early.  However, it's still fun to plan and dream and get your thoughts sorted.⁠
⁠
I'm curious--what size of garden do you have to work with?  Are you on an acreage or farm, city backyard, or do you have a couple of pots on an apartment patio?⁠
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As for me, I have quite a mix.  I have my container garden on my backyard deck, the small cut flower garden in my yard, then vegetables in raised beds.  We also garden at my Mother-in-law's acreage, so there's a giant garden over there where we're figuring out how to grow food on a larger scale.  Then finally, sometimes my Mom grows things for me in her garden if I'm nervous that I'll ruin them in my own garden--call it a backup garden if you will.⁠
⁠
📸 by @blushbrandphotography
I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about I hope you've enjoyed this week of chatting about the best flowers to plant in a cut flower garden.  There's so many options, these 5 that I talked about all week don't even come close.  If you need more help creating a small cut flower garden, I created this plan intended for a raised bed (but you can plant it in-ground too.⁠
⁠
Head over to my insta links page on my profile, and you'll see the button to click on that will take you directly to it.⁠
⁠
#cutflowergarden #cutflowers #raisedbedgarden #raisedbedgardening  #growyourown #greenthumb #raisedbeds #urbangarden #urbanfarm #squarefootgardening #slowflowers
Hey friends! There's a lot of new faces in this l Hey friends!  There's a lot of new faces in this little corner of IG, so I wanted to introduce myself.  My name is Kristen and I'm the gardener & content creator behind Shifting Roots.  I'm wife to @mgsraney and mom to 3 kids, ages 8, 23 months and 7 months.  Needless to say, our house is BUSY.  I garden in zone 3 in Saskatoon, SK, so if I can grow it in my short growing season and cold temperatures, you probably can too.⁠
⁠
Here's a few fun facts, can you relate to any of these?⁠
🍅I don't like raw tomatoes, but I grow a ton of them because I like tomato sauce.⁠
💐I probably sound like every flower is my favourite flower, but my two favourites are peonies and zinnias.⁠
🌈I can't pick a favourite colour--I love so many of them in different circumstances.  If you force me to choose, I think I've got it narrowed down to coral and turquoise, but even then I still want to throw in yellow, emerald green, fuchsia. . . ⁠
🖤Even though I love colour to the moon and back, you'll often find me wearing black and white in real life, because it's just easier and I don't have to think about it going together.
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