SHIFTING ROOTS

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Easy to Make Rustic Minimal DIY Christmas Wreath

November 25, 2020

Every year I want to make a Christmas wreath–think modern, rustic, and full of natural greens.  I love looking at all the options in the stores, but the prices make me pause.  So I set out to make my own.

This version is super easy to make and the supplies are minimal and cheap. Even if you suck at crafts, you can make this wreath. Better yet, You can make it for under $10.  I’ll show you how.

Want money saving Christmas decorations at dollar store prices? This DIY Christmas wreath is sure to suit your wallet and your home decor. You'll love the rustic and minimal style. #christmasdecor #christmaswreath #holiday #rusticchristmas #rustic #minimalism #minimalchristmas #ppholiday
[Read more…]
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.

www.shiftingroots.com

26 Comments
Filed Under: Christmas, DIY, Simple & Easy Tagged: Christmas, DIY, easy, floral hoop wreath, Holiday, minimal, minimalist, rustic, simple, wreath

Beginners Guide to Peonies: Growing Tips and Beautiful DIYs.

August 21, 2020

Peony season is finally here!  For two weeks in June peony lovers everywhere rejoice and furiously arrange and photograph their precious flowers. . . or maybe that’s just me.  There’s nothing like those delicate shades of pink and that glorious scent wafting from every bloom.

But peonies aren’t always as easy to grow as they might seem. In this post, I go over how to grow peonies (especially if you’re in Canada like I am), how long before your peony will grow, and some tips for transplanting peonies.

Did you know that peonies make excellent cut flowers? Once they have established, peonies will provide you with many cut flowers to use in the five DIY flower arrangements I’ve listed at the end of the post.

If you live in hardiness zones 2-8, you really need to pick up a peony root from your nearest garden centre or friend with too many on her hands.  Here’s everything you need to know to grow and play with herbaceous peonies.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you purchase something.  You can read more about it in my privacy policy.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

[Read more…]
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.

www.shiftingroots.com

37 Comments
Filed Under: Backyard Florist, DIY, Flowers, Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: backyard florist, bridal bouquet, bridal flowers, Bride, Bridesmaid, DIY, easy, floral arrangements, floral arranging, floral hoop wreath, Gardening, peonies, peony, projects, rustic wedding, Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, simple, urban gardening, wedding

DIY Plastic Flower Pot Makeover

May 20, 2020

Are your plastic flowerpots looking a little tired this year?  Give them a quick and easy makeover with two cans of spray paint and a little bit of creativity.  I’ll show you how you can transform your pots from blah to wow with this easy DIY.

Are your terra cotta or plastic pots looking tired?  Give them an easy and creative makeover with a little bit of spray paint.  Your flower pots (and plants!) will look amazing with this simple DIY idea. #diy #gardendiy #plasticpots #flowerpots #upcyle #containergardening #backyard
[Read more…]
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.

www.shiftingroots.com

11 Comments
Filed Under: DIY, Gardening, Projects, Saving Money Tagged: container gardening, containers, DIY, flower pots, Makeover, outdoor living

How to Build Beautiful Raised Beds for Square Foot Gardening

April 6, 2020

If you only have a small gardening space to work with, like an urban backyard, creating a raised bed garden is the best and easiest way to get started growing a garden. Raised beds have many benefits–there’s less bending, weeds are easier to manage, and they can look really pretty!

While there are many ways to create a raised bed for your square foot garden, I love the flexibility that creating your own DIY version with wood offers you. You can stain yours a natural colour, or go with something fun like the turquoise blue I went with.

What is the best Wood to Use for Raised Beds?

If you decide to use treated wood, make sure to use wood treated later than 2003. Anything earlier uses harmful chemicals that will leach into your soil, adding toxins to your vegetables.

The most natural and long-lasting option is Cedar, but where I live, cedar is extremely expensive.

We chose to go with regular, untreated 2×6’s to create our boxes to cut down on costs.

In the pictures for this post, we made 6 raised beds all at the same time. The supplies listed are for making one raised bed in a with 3′ by 5′ dimensions. If you’d like to make different sizes, adjust the amount of materials you need accordingly.

Supplies

  • 4 — 8 foot 2x6s
  • 2 inch screws or nails
  • 1 8 foot Fence post
  • 4 caps (optional)
  • Wood Stain (optional)
  • Landscape fabric or cardboard
  • Mulch
  • Soil
  • Saw (or cut all boards at the hardware store if there is a cutting station).

Directions

Step One: Select the wood you need, picking as straight of pieces as possible, with little to no blemishes.

Step Two: Cut the 4 2x6s into the lengths you need for your bed. We chose 3×5 beds because there is no waste when you cut, it’s easier to reach around, and just made more sense in our landscape. You could easily make 4×4 beds with no waste as well. For 3×5 beds, you would cut a 3 foot piece off of each 2×6 and instantly have your 3 foot pieces and 5 foot pieces.

Then cut 4 two foot pieces from your fence posts.

Step Three: These pieces can sometimes be purchased, or you can make your own by cutting 3/4 inches into the wood multiple times and chiselling out the pieces.

Step Four: Slide the pieces into corner pieces. Nail or screw to secure if desired.

Step Five (Optional): Secure the fancy caps to the 4 corners.

Step Six: Stain the outside and tops of the wood if you are using regular wood. You can skip this step if you use cedar or pressure treated wood. Remember to only use pressure treated wood made after 2003.

Step Seven: Place the beds where you want them, and lay down cardboard or landscape fabric to help prevent future weeds. Make sure any weed barrier you use for the outside also comes underneath the bed too. This will prevent annoying weeds along the sides of your bed.

Step Eight: Add soil in the beds and mulch over the weed barriers.

Step Nine: Enjoy the results of your hard work!

How to Grow Vegetables in Raised Beds

Before you click away from this page, here’s a few resources for growing vegetables in your new raised beds. While you can grow anything in a raised bed that you would in a traditional garden, its best if you use the square foot gardening method to make the most of the space you have.

Brand new to square foot gardening? Read this post on how to get started.

Need some ideas on what to plant? Here’s 4 free templates:

Get 4 Free Square Foot Gardening Templates

Start your square foot garden the easy way!

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  • Salad Garden
  • Beginner's Garden
  • Salsa Garden
  • Kid's Garden

Plus a short 3 day email course of how to get started with square foot gardening.

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Want to see some real-life examples? Here’s how I created my front yard raised beds, other creative small space solutions around my neighbourhood, and how one couple changed an unused side yard into a raised bed garden.

And finally, if you really want to up your small space gardening game, you’ll want to grab a copy of Small Garden, Big Harvest. It’s everything you need to maximize every available inch of growing space you have available. Grow enough produce to have something fresh from the garden every week, and feel more at peace knowing you’re contributing to your food security in some small way.

Click here to find out more

Pin me for later. . .

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.

www.shiftingroots.com

3 Comments
Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged: DIY, raised beds, square foot gardening, wooden

Two Easy Tricks to Prevent Mold in Home Grown Sprouts

January 29, 2020

Growing sprouts at home is an easy way to provide nutritious greens for your family without fancy equipment, and a fun winter indoor gardening project. But many beginner sprout growers encounter one big problem that discourages them from trying sprouting again–mold.

Nobody wants to find mold in their home grown sprouts. Who wants to throw out precious food that you spent all that time growing?

Thankfully, there’s two really simple growing tricks that will stop mold in sprouts–with barely any extra work required on your part.

But first, let’s get to the root of the problem. . .

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can read more about it on my privacy policy.

Why are my sprouts molding?

Simply put, your sprouts are sitting in too much water. If the sprouts are too wet between rinses and there’s no air flow, this creates the perfect conditions for mold to grow.

No on to the two tweaks that will prevent fuzzy sprouts. . .

1. When it’s time to rinse, do it twice

Sprouts need to be rinsed twice a day, but once just isn’t enough. Put water in the jar, swirl the sprouts, and dump the water out. Do it again, but this time, very carefully let the water drain at a 45 degree angle, trying to keep the sprouts as spread out in the jar as possible. Then. . .

2. Rest the Jar in a bowl at a 45 degree angle to drain the remaining water

You know how when you set the jar back upright, there’s always that tiny little pool of water at the bottom? By setting the jar in a bowl, you prevent water from collecting at the bottom, thus preventing mold.

Finally, when it’s time to store the sprouts in the fridge, there’s one bonus trick to keeping them longer. . .

3. Place a paper towel at the bottom of a fridge smart container for the longest possible life

The towel at the bottom of the container will collect any remaining moisture, and help avoid surprises. You don’t have to use a Tupperware fridge smart container, a regular plastic container or knock off will work too.

Just in case you’re a beginner and sprouting for the first time or two, here’s how you do the whole process step by step. . .

How Do I Start Sprouting At Home?

To start your sprouting journey, you’ll need the following ingredients. . .

  • Seeds for sprouting
  • Mason Jar
  • Sprouting lid
  • Small bowl for tipping your sprouts
  1. Loosely fill the bottom of the jar with sprout seeds.
  2. Fill jar with water and soak for 4-8 hours, or overnight.
  3. You are now starting day one. Rinse the sprouts morning and night, 2 times each time. On the last rinse of each time, carefully follow the tricks above so you prevent mould.
  4. Set the jar in a bowl between rinse times. Your sprouts do not need a lot of light, keep them in a darker room.
  5. Repeat the process until your seeds are ready, anywhere from 2-7 days depending on the variety of seeds you purchased.
  6. When the seeds are ready, follow the bonus trick to store them so they keep longer.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy your sprout growing journey!

You might also like. . .

  • Seed Starting from your Window
  • 5 Tricks to growing the best peppers
  • How to start seeds when you don’t have decent light or space
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.

www.shiftingroots.com

11 Comments
Filed Under: Indoor Gardening Tagged: DIY, indoor gardening, sprouting

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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

  • How to Grow Eucalyptus for Cut Flowers (Even in a Short Growing Season!)
  • 26 Best Flowers to Grow for Dried Flower Arrangements
  • 17 Perennial Flowers That Love Shade
  • How to Design a Cut Flower Garden in Raised Beds
  • How to Start a Cut Flower Garden

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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Privacy Policy

Got the seed starting itch? There's some things y Got the seed starting itch?  There's some things you can actually seed start now and you won't end up with crazy leggy seedlings and endless problems.  In fact, these plants require that you start now, and need to be started in zone 3 by the end of February at the absolute latest.⁠
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I've already started some lisianthus and eucalyptus, and am waiting on my seed orders to start some more.⁠
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If you're starting a luffa sponge, make sure you have some sort of eventual plan for the vine.  last year mine went over my fall windows before I was able to take them outdoors.⁠
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P.S. I've actually never started onions from seed, so if anyone wants to chin in about their experience, feel free!
Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year? Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year?  A new post is on the blog to walk you through it.  While in theory eucalyptus is easy to grow, it's challenging in my zone 3 garden for three reasons: ⁠
⁠
➡️It needs a long time to mature⁠
➡️I have a short growing season⁠
➡️I live in a cool climate, and eucalyptus grows better when its warm.⁠
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That said, you can see by this picture that it can be done!!⁠
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Are you growing eucalyptus this year?
Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums up how this last week went, I think it's this one.  Babies crying, trying to stay calm, outwardly looking like it's all under control, but feeling very overwhelmed.⁠
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This post isn't gardening related, so feel free to scroll by if you're here only for the gardening content.⁠
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Thankfully it's January, and I keep reminding myself that the Internet will not break if I don't keep to my self-imposed posting schedule.  But it doesn't make a week full of teething-and-not-sleeping baby any easier. ⁠
⁠
Felicity slept through the night for the first time ever last Monday, then proceeded to punish us with frequent wakings and terrible sleep until Saturday.  And as tough as this is in regular times, in Covid times its extra frustrating because I don't have my village.⁠
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I can't just call up another Mama friend and go for coffee at her house.  I can't take my son out for a Mommy-and-Dominic date because everything he'd want to do isn't really much of an option.  There's no playgroup or play place to just drop in on.  And forget just taking everybody out to get groceries just for a change of scenery.⁠
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I know people have way more serious problems than this, and I hope I don't sound whiny and entitled, it's not my intention.  Please know that I'm very grateful for my family and job and that so far we've been healthy. ⁠
⁠
A lot of you who follow me do so in part because you are also juggling life with very little people through this strange time.  I hope that in occasionally sharing my struggles, it makes you feel better about your struggles. (You're struggling too sometimes. . . right?)
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?⁠
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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. ⁠
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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.⁠
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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.⁠
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📸 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?!?! ⁠
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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
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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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?⁠
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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.⁠
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What do you prioritize when you're picking out seeds?⁠
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