Vertical Gardening

 One of our #1 requirements when we were house-hunting was to have some kind of a backyard, or whatever kind of a backyard we could get in the city. We knew it was a long-shot in finding a place with enough green space to warrant a real lawnmower, but Chris really just wanted a back "yard" to plant some herbs, relax on our adirondack chairs, and grill. That's really it. We eventually ended up putting a contract down on a short sale house that had absolutely no backyard. Imagine that. But, thankthegoodness we got tired of waiting on that short sale and fell in love with our current house, because it has a nice little backyard patio! No grass, but areas to plant some things, to sit in our chairs, and grill!

Last year, we worked on converting some of the greenery on the patio from bushes and flowers into a little herb garden of rosemary, chives, sage, parsley, dill, and oregano. It was our first time "gardening" and we definitely learned a lot. For example, did you know that dill grows out of control? Oops.

So, this year we decided to be a little more methodical in approaching our little herb garden, aka, not planting everything in the ground and giving them free reign to grow! I had been inspired by others' garden projects that I found on blogs and Pinterest and thought that something similar would be perfect for our little "yard"!

I figured that making some kind of vertical garden to hang on the brick wall at the back of our patio would not only hide the ugly, and boring, brick, but it would also make our herb plants inaccessible to the little herd of alley cats we got going on in our neighborhood. As you can guess, it wasn't hard to convince Chris to do a projects that required measurements and using tools either!

First, let me say that you can obviously literally do a vertical garden however you want, just look at those ideas that I found. They can be hung, stood, or leaned on a wall. It can be made of clay pots, mason jars, and even gutters. It'd be perfect for people who want a little planter garden in their huge yard, and even better for those of you with tiny apartment balconies. It's really what works best for you.

What we decided to do was hang ours on the brick wall at the back of our patio. We used clay pots we bought last year, some pine boards we picked up from Home Depot, "L" brackets to hold it all together, a little paint to make it pretty, and some thick rope to hang over the ledge of the brick wall, and voila!





 As you can guess, this project was really pretty simple, especially since it was completely customizable. Chris, being the "builder" of our relationship, drew out the plans, gathered the materials, and put it all together based on what we thought would work best for our yard (aka, cover up the brick wall). All he had to do was cut the pine board into the right lengths and screw it all together. He used the "L" brackets to reinforce the shelves to the back so that it could support the clay pots and plants. The shelves may not be that pretty from the inside, because of all of the brackets and whatnot, but the paint and plants cover them up just fine and at least it won't fall apart!

Chris also used some thick rope to hang it over the top of the brick wall. We figured this way it'd be easier to take down to store next fall.

If you want to build a vertical garden just like ours, Chris gave me some pretty detailed notes to share: Vertical Garden Assembly Instructions. The notes might even be too detailed, but that's Chris for ya!  ; )

 Oh, and if you are curious about what I did to contribute to this project, besides being inspired by Pinterest, I painted the darn thing! Behr's California Poppy to be exact. It's not the best paint job in the world, but I only used half the quart I bought for it so at least I can touch it up year to year.

And, you might think that I created the cute little plant labels on the shelves, but I didn't, Chris totally did. It was his "idea," so I gave him the supplies (white spray paint and a blue acrylic paint pen) and he went to town with some scrap wood. He even made little label stakes for our herbs in the ground.

Our back "yard" patio definitely looks complete now that we have something fun hanging up on that brick wall. And, in case you are in awe of our awesome Adirondack chairs, Chris definitely built those, from scratch, for us when we first moved out here to DC! (Oh, and those cute yellow and white pillows were from KMart. I'm super proud I found them!)

So, that's our vertical garden. Super simple, but perfect for a second try at our herb garden, even if we don't have a "yard" to plant anything in!

Oh, oh! And, look at these bad boys . . .

Do you see them in that little cluster in the center of the photo? Baby strawberries!! Cross your fingers that our alley cat friends (I'm talking to you Clipper/Homie Half Ear/Socks) don't snack on them before we can!

Mid-Week Mumblings

Why do I keep thinking today is Friday? Seriously, I keep thinking it's Friday and have to remind myself that, no, it's only Thursday. One more day in my work week, not one more hour. Ergh.

Chris and I have had a fairly boring last couple of weeks since the Half Marathon and I'm in between house projects (for the first time in a while!) so I figured I'd share what's been on my mind lately instead of boring you with a description of me falling asleep while watching television or Chris doing homework, because that's literally what we've been doing. We lead an exciting life, no?

Anyway, here are my mid-week mumblings, since it's still kinda mid-week (darn you, Thursday!):

• I lied, Chris and I haven't been completely boring lately. Last weekend we actually had a "date night" where I was able to persuade Chris to go see The Hunger Games with me (eeks!!) and take me to P.F. Chang's, which for some reason I've been craving. First, The Hunger Games was AWESOME! Loved every minute of it.I'm also kinda loving on The Hunger Games inspired pins on Pinterest . . . here are two of my favorites: 

 

• Oh, and in between the movie and dinner I caved on one of my 2012 goals - I bought some clothes. BUT, it was the first time I bought clothes since 2011, so that my friends, is awesome! Chris and I walked into a Banana Republic and I couldn't resist snagging a Mad Men collection skirt and two tops, especially since they were already on sale AND had an additional 20% off. Score!

 

• I'm experiencing a curtain-crisis. See, I want (we need) curtains in our living room and master bedroom, but I just can't seem to figure out what I want to do. I recently bought some plain white Ikea curtains but I want to do something to spice them up a bit. I'm thinking of stenciling them, or adding some kind of colored fabric to the sides and/or bottom of them, or adding some fringe. Who knows, I just know I need to do something because right now they are a boring, and wrinkly, mess.  To Pinterest for some inspiration, I guess . . . .

• I love breakfast food. I mean, LOVE breakfast food. I think that Brunch is an awesome thing, but Chris could careless. I also think that Brinner (breakfast for dinner) is perfectly acceptable, but Chris thinks that it, along with the word Brinner, is "stupid." So, last Sunday I met a new friend at Acadiana for a New Orleans-style brunch, and boy was it yummmy. Acadiana has a pre fixe 3-course brunch with $1 mimosas. That's right, $1 mimosas. (If anything pairs perfectly with breakfast, it's a mimosa!) I had a banana fosters and pecan french toast, eggs benedict (mmmmm), and beignets. I have to go back asap, who wants to go?!

 

• When we first moved into our house we wanted to decorate our master bedroom first, so that we had one "finished" room. Well, now, it's probably one of the most disheveled rooms (besides our office, which is literally just piles of stuff with two bookcases and a desk and computer), and I really want to make it nice for real this time. I want to paint the walls darker, finally decorate some shelves we have, and do something with the boring, white curtains. And, of course, Pinterest has been giving me some inspiration, I just need to decide if I'm leaning towards bold and dramatic, or serene and quiet . . . 

 

• Like I mentioned last week, Chris and I "gardened" last weekend too, if that's what you call it. It was more like me yelling at the ivy and weed barrier fabric and Chris trying to avoid me. But, we got new mulch down and grass seed, flowers, and herbs planted. Now, we just have to wait and see how they all work out . . . (I'll post some pictures once there is more to look at!) 

•  Lastly, this weekend Chris' family is coming in town (yay!!), so if this post is too rambling for you, next week I should have something more exciting to write about. I'm hoping we finally check out a DC site that's on my "to do" list out here! (Can you guess which one it is?!) 

Have a great weekend ya'll, even if it is only Thursday!

No green thumbs in this house.

Well, Chris and I have realized that neither of us are green thumbs, and that "urban gardening," as I like to call it, is hard. Or, at least hard for us.

We* started off well. Back in March we cleared out our jungle of a front yard, digging up all of the ivy, replanting the monkey grass, and laying grass seed. See how nice it looked back then, full of potential, *sigh*...

Front Yard - March 2011

And, in our back "yard" we planted a lot of herbs, marigolds (because I read they ward off mosquitoes, who looooove me), lettuce, tomatoes, and even strawberries for fun. We were pretty excited for what this summer would yield...

Buuuuut, then the first big heat wave wiped out half of the grass in our front yard and probably about half of our herbs in our backyard. I guess we should have asked our neighbors to water all of it since we were out of town. Oops...We salvaged what we had, and trudged on.

Front Yard - July 2011
See, the left side and my hydrangeas are pretty pitiful... boo.

(As a side note, in the meantime I manged to kill two sets of flowers in the hanging baskets in our front yard and an umbrella tree, orchid, and another plant inside. Ironically, while I let the flowers outside fry from the heat and sun, I pretty much drowned our indoor plants, including the orchid. Maybe I am not the green thumb.... hm.)

As first-time "urban farmers," it has been a learning experience for us. For example, we just recently realized that our oregano was not actually oregano. Yup, they were probably weeds, or something else. Bummer. Also, did you know that dill grows craaazzy fast? Too bad we didn't need much of it, because it was probably one of our most successful herbs. Also, for awhile we couldn't figure out why our strawberries were rotting before they were ripening. Yup, we needed to lay some hay or plastic (or something) down so that the baby strawberries weren't touching the ground to avoid "soil rot." Again, oops.

Despite all of our mishaps and mistakes, we've learned our lessons. Even if at the end of this summer the only things that have survived are my marigolds (which are CHAMPS) and some herbs, we definitely learned our fair share of gardening life lessons to take into next year:

First, water is essential. We do not have much shade on our yards, so we have to be diligent about watering. And I know what you're thinking, we should be have been smart enough people to figure that one out. Nope. Lesson learned.

Secondly, research is essential. Using the strawberries as an example, I've never grown strawberries or known someone who has (which is a common thing with both of us) so, I should have researched to know about "soil rot" when berries touch the ground. Lesson learned.

Thirdly, gardening is work. I've come to the realization that I'm lazy when it comes to yard work. Probably because I want to avoid getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Tearing out all of that ivy back in March should have been an indication of what was to come in our forays in gardening. Granted, it hasn't been back-breaking hard, but there is not room for laziness, that's for sure. Even watering the plants ever day is hard for my lazy butt to remember to do. Bummer.

Marigolds are supposed to ward off mosquitoes,
although I'm pretty sure I got bit just snapping this photo.

From front to back: cilantro, rosemary, lavender, Japanese maple,
lavender, and pineapple sage. All Successful so far.

 I'm still on the hunt for that magical garden that trims, weeds, and generally maintains itself. If you know of it, puh-leeeeaase let me know! Maybe it's a good thing that we only have 200 square feet of green space...

*Also, please note that sometimes (read: most of the time) when I use "we", I probably mean "I". But hey, it's a team effort, right?!

It's Not a Jungle Out There

For my St. Louis readers, do you remember that Six Flags "ride" Castaway Kids Jungle Adventure? (And yes, I looked up the "official" name) You sat in the little log boat thing and took the river through the "story" of some kids crashing into a jungle or something? And at the end there were little monkeys that popped out of the walls and people stuck gum on their mouths? (Danielle is probably the only one that knows what I am talking about . . . !)

Anywho . . . there was this song that played during your ride that just pretty much repeated the phrase "It's a jungle, it's a jungle, it's a jungle out there!" Well, when we were clearing up, "gardening," our front yard, that song kept popping into my head. It was a jungle. A jungle of ivy, awful awful ivy. (Hence, the title of this post. . . it's NOT a jungle out there any more!)

I'm talking about this ivy.

As you might be able to see, we had ivy growing around the edge of the stairs and even up the wall on the left. The ivy was strangling our monkey grass, which is already pretty resilient. And, at least in my opinion, it was ugly. And boring. (I want a fun yard!)

So, Chris and I decided early on that the ivy had to go, and the first warm weekend we had in DC we got to work. I trimmed the ivy away. Chris hacked the ivy away.

Check out those roots!

The "heart"

Based on my research googling, I knew that you had to get the roots of the ivy out. Little did we know that ivy apparently forms tree-like roots. Thick, twisted, endless roots.  When we got to what I refer to as the "heart" of the ivy operation in our front yard, I was astounded. It was even pinkish-red and vien-y like a real heart. And, as you can see, as big as Chris' head.  What we thought would be a couple hours of work turned into a whole afternoon of work. And a week of soreness. (Ivy-hacking is apparently a workout as well.)

But, then our front yard was free from ivy and looked like this. (Ivy-free, yipee!)

Look! You can see the actual ground! Ivy-free, yipee!

And, now, after another afternoon of yard work, we have an actual, and soon-to-be pretty, yard!

(our house is on a hill) or (one of us can't hold a camera straight)

Ta da!! Monkey grass trimmed, grass seed laid, new bushes in, brand-new mulch, AND, most importantly, no ivy! And, here's the "before" photo, just for your reference.

Ewgh!

 BTW, Chris wanted to have grass in our front yard so that he could use one of these . . .

from Sears

Just cross your fingers that there are no more reports of snow this spring. We want some grass (and not a jungle!)!!