SHIFTING ROOTS

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Garden 2018: Lessons Learned and What I’m Doing Next Year

September 6, 2018

There’s been two back to back overnight frosts and the 2018 gardening season is officially done as far as I’m concerned.  Someday I will try and extend my season by a month, but with some unexpected health complications this summer, this is not the year.  Here’s a little recap of what went well, what I learned, and what

First, let’s start with the successes. . .

Check out my small space backyard vegetable garden.  It's amazing how much you can grow using the square foot gardening method and a bit of vertical gardening. #smallspace #gardening #backyard #vegetable #garden

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something, I earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.  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

2 Comments
Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged: failures, garden vegetables, Gardening, growing vegetables, lessons, raised vinyl garden beds, seeding square, square foot gardening, success, urban garden, Vegetables

Week 6: Final Yard Transformation Reveal

May 29, 2018

Wow, what an incredibly busy 6 weeks this Yard Transformation Challenge has been.  Thanks again to Nat of Simple Family Crazy Life for hosting the challenge and giving me some extra motivation to whip my yard into shape.

Missed the other weeks?  Here’s Week 1 // Week 2 // Week 3 // Week 4 // Week 5

Let’s start with the backyard, and work our way to the front.  Come on in. . .

[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

4 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life, Projects, Yard Transformation Challenge Tagged: deck, Flowers, Garden, patio, pots, raised vinyl garden beds, seeding square, vegetable garden

An Honest Review of My Raised Garden Vinyl Beds

May 22, 2018

This post is sponsored by Raised Garden Vinyl Beds.  I received free and discounted product in exchange for my honest opinion of their product.  This post also contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase something using one of my links, I make a bit of extra coffee money at no extra cost to you.  Thanks for supporting Shifting Roots!

Last summer I made my first foray into the world of square foot gardening.  I didn’t know exactly what I was doing, but those raised garden beds I kept seeing everywhere on Pinterest intrigued me.

My husband and I knew we’d be making some changes to the yard, but we weren’t sure exactly how much we could do in one summer, so we decided to make our raised beds cheap and cheerful.  That way, if we decided to change things we weren’t committed.

We built ours out of thin wood and filled them up with soil.  They looked great and did the job beautifully.  However, I began having doubts when the nails were starting to come out of one of them in the fall.

We just built the things, and they were already falling apart?

A Raised Garden Bed that’s Built to Last

Once the snow melted it was clear that our sad little wooden beds weren’t going to last much more than one more year.  The wood was starting to warp and the nails looked weak in another bed.

To be fair, we could have built them a little better.  However, last year when I interviewed my friends Graham and Sarah about their yard, their built-with-better-wood ones were falling apart after 3 years.

That’s why when I saw an ad for Raised Vinyl Garden Beds on Facebook, I had to check it out.  The beds looked like they were built to last and the company was local–win-win!!

P.S.–Raised Vinyl Garden Beds ship to Canada and the U.S., so you can get yours even if you don’t live in Saskatoon and area.

Almost finished our front yard project. The two wooden raised beds in the front will be upgraded next year!

Get Your Vinyl Raised Garden Bed Set Up in 30 minutes–No Joke!

I chose two of the 4×4 premium beds.  I’ll be investing in a third and replacing the two sad wooden ones in my yard next year.

The beds are fairly easy to put together, and it took me less than 30 minutes.  It actually took me longer to look for a cordless drill, give up, and find the screwdriver.

I had a little trouble keeping everything square, but with the second one I screwed in one of the corners first, then assembled everything and it was no problem.

The directions say that you can use a screwdriver, but I highly recommend a cordless drill.  I couldn’t find ours and ended up using a battery operated screwdriver.  It worked well, but I had to push quite hard to get the screws to go in the vinyl.  I know a cordless drill would have required little effort.

I love my vinyl raised beds in my front yard.  They make square foot gardening so easy!  I'll show you how I make it work in my small space, plus give you some ideas and plans for what to plant in it. #raisedbeds #squarefootgardening #containergardening #beginnergardening #easygardening #gardening #vegetablegardening

Related: 8 Reasons You Should Start Square Foot Gardening

If you’re ordering soil for your beds, I recommend getting a mix of soil, compost, and peat moss.  Your landscaping centre will likely call it something like garden bed mix.  I found that one bed used up around 1/2 a yard of soil.

Once my beds were set up it was time for the fun part–planting!

Planting is Easy and Fun with a Raised Bed

The beds are 3 1/2 feet by 3 1/2 feet on the inside.  I used the seeding square to measure out and plant my garden, so I was left with a six inch strip on two of the edges.  This was great, because I got in an extra row of marigolds and lettuce.

Here’s what I planted in one of mine.  Feel free to download the image and plant the same in your own!  You can also download 4 more planting templates here.

I love my vinyl raised beds in my front yard.  They make square foot gardening so easy!  I'll show you how I make it work in my small space, plus give you some ideas and plans for what to plant in it. #raisedbeds #squarefootgardening #containergardening #beginnergardening #easygardening #gardening #vegetablegardening

Related: The Best Vegetables for Beginners & How to Get Started Gardening Fast

I am loving gardening in my new vinyl raised beds.  I don’t have to bend as much, they look fantastic, and have serious curb appeal.  I’ve noticed quite a few people check them out as they’re walking by our front yard, and had a few ask me where I got mine.

They’re really sturdy and kid friendly, so I don’t have to worry about them falling apart if they get sat on, or my son getting splinters in his fingers if he tries to help me.

I love my vinyl raised beds in my front yard.  They make square foot gardening so easy!  I'll show you how I make it work in my small space, plus give you some ideas and plans for what to plant in it. #raisedbeds #squarefootgardening #containergardening #beginnergardening #easygardening #gardening #vegetablegardening

Low Maintenance?  How about NO Maintenance!

Best of all, I will never have to build them again.  Because let’s be honest–who really wants to spend a weekend rebuilding your raised bed every 3-5 years, plus staining them every year?  You might have the best of intentions now, but there’s something seriously demoralizing about rebuilding something you’ve previously built.  Cedar is so expensive these days, that depending on how you build the bed, the cost is very similar to vinyl.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be planting my garden or enjoying time in the sun instead of adding yet another project to my to-do list.

Raised Garden Vinyl Beds come with a lifetime warranty, so they will look good today and 25 years from today.  Even cedar can’t do that.

Want to get your own?  Let me make the deal a little sweeter.  When you send me a copy of your Raised Garden Vinyl Bed receipt, I will give you my beginner gardening course for free–a $50 value!

Pin me for later:

I love my vinyl raised beds in my front yard.  They make square foot gardening so easy!  I'll show you how I make it work in my small space, plus give you some ideas and plans for what to plant in it. #raisedbeds #squarefootgardening #containergardening #beginnergardening #easygardening #gardening #vegetablegardening

 

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

6 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Sponsored Tagged: Gardening, raised beds, raised vinyl beds, raised vinyl garden beds, square foot gardening

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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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Growing a luffa sponge was possibly the most chall Growing a luffa sponge was possibly the most challenging and finicky thing I've taken on so far as a gardener in zone 3.  And all I got to show for it was 3 baby loofah sponges, which are so precious to me that I can't bare to actually use them. (Kind of defeats the point, doesn't it?)⁠⠀
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I'll be starting mine soon, so I though I would share some of the improvements to the growing process from last year.⁠⠀
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1. Plant in larger containers!! I thought I used large enough ones, but I sorely underestimated how big these plants would get indoors.  Once of my readers suggested buckets, and I think this is an excellent idea.⁠⠀
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2. Plant only 1 plant per container.  I thought loofah's would be like a cucumber or pumpkin or other vining squash where you plant in a hill.  The containers with two plants in them did not do as well as the single seed containers.⁠⠀
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3. Have a string for the vine to climb.  Cutting the vine off of my window screen was not fun.⁠⠀
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Will you try luffas this year?⁠⠀
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#luffasponge #loofahsponge #luffachallenge2012 #seedstarting #wintergardening #indoorgardening⁠⠀
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: ⁠
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➡️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. ⁠
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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. ⁠
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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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