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The Not-So-Great Outdoors

May 10, 2016

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This is our house.  Out of all the homes we’ve owned, this one probably has the best curb appeal.  We could tell that things were overgrown, but the arrival of spring has shown us exactly how much.

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You can tell that at one time this was a really beautiful yard.  Now there’s all sorts of weed and sucker trees like in the picture above.  The biggest surprise was that the space around the entire fence of the back yard is intended to be flower beds. . . not grass.

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Fun fact!!  Note that our fence is being held up by two poles of mystery!  Also, does anyone want some ferns?  There are a million ferns.

I’ve started digging through the overgrowth, and after about 90 minutes of work I end up with a small section like this:

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There are also many bushes of mystery.  I am letting them live this year so I can decide if I like them them or not.  I’d love to chop down the evergreen in the backyard this year, but the Hermit doesn’t want to make rash decisions.

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Also, does anyone want some lily-of-the-valley or purple flower that I don’t know the name of?  As you can see, we have scads.

For the first time ever, we have a home with a garden space!!  It was very overgrown, so I called someone to come rototill it.  This is what it looks like after the rototilling:

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I don’t think I’ll be planting anything here this year.  I’ll be spending the whole summer clearing out grass, killing weeds, and throwing kitchen scraps into the soil.  In the fall, the plan is to try lasagna gardening and hopefully end up with a beautiful space to plant things next spring.

Check out the progress in 2017

Are you a gardening whiz?  If so, I’d love to hear your suggestions or any tips and tricks you have that you think I might find useful.


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.

5 Comments
Filed Under: Gardening, Outdoor Life Tagged: Flower Beds, Gardening, Outdoors, Overgrowth, Shrubs, Trees, 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. Cheryl says

    May 10, 2016 at 2:48 pm

    A challenge for sure! Lasagna gardening sounds like a great idea. Would you be able to kill the grass and 10 days later do your lasagna garden this year? Those purple flowers if they are like the ones I have spread by seed and root so are hard to get rid of and lily of the valley spread wild, the one I got from Penners is contained in a pot...the only way I will grow them even though I love them. Looks like you have a mountain ash sprouting at the base of a tree...I just cut mine off. All the best in your challenge!!!
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      May 10, 2016 at 2:52 pm

      Thanks for the advice!!
      Reply
  2. Janice says

    May 20, 2016 at 10:25 pm

    I didn't think there was such a thing as too many ferns. However, I have enough. The Lily of the Valley were tempting, mine are not that prolific. Have fun. Happy gardening.
    Reply
  3. Donna Wojdacz says

    December 28, 2018 at 5:55 am

    I read your post and had to smile. I love most of the plants you are trying to warn others about and have tried to grow them at every house we’ve lived in...unsuccessfully in general. Is BECAUSE I actually want a large spread of these troublemakers or because we just didn’t live in the house long enough to reap what we have sown? I apologize to every gardener in lower Ohio (east and west) if these plants suddenly became blights upon your landscape.
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      December 28, 2018 at 9:18 pm

      Lol, you live pretty far away from me, so these plants might actually not be a nuisance in your area. I hope for your sake that the next time you try and plant them that you have more success. Best of luck!
      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.

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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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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. ⁠
⁠
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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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?⁠
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.⁠
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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.⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
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