Home Gardens

Home Gardens

I've been gardening since I was about 6 years old. We lived in an 1865 Craftsman house with an exceptionally large garden and my mom and dad were both avid gardeners. We grew everything! Of course as soon as we were big enough, my brother and I gardened right along with them and consequently we learned a lot about making things grow. We had fruit trees too! I planted and watered and harvested and when we had too much produce after the canning and freezing was done, my best friend and I would put the fruit and vegetables in my red radio flyer wagon and down the street we would go selling my produce door to door for nickels and dimes. Of course we went straight to the candy store or the local diner for a milkshake after emptying the wagon. Ah, those were the days!

So you might see that gardening for me is like therapy. I can get lost in it and forget the worries and pressures of the day as I focus on nurturing my plants. Usually they reward me just as they did back in the day. Although I think I'll just be canning or freezing instead of running to the candy store.

I just love this antique sprinkler we keep in what we call the circle garden! Our house was built in 1903 and it came with the house. It's hard to say when it started watering the gardens here. When these spring flowers have finished up this garden will be home to my halloween pumpkins.

Veggies and flowers are everywhere in the markets now and that makes me so happy! Every year at this time I can't wait to buy and plant so many new things with the anticipation of harvesting my own vegetables and watching the flowers bloom. One thing I love about gardening is the ability to change things up from year to year and season to season. I needed several new pots this year because they had broken up in the weather over the last few years and this gave me the opportunity to refresh potting soil and change up my plantings so I was really excited to get going with my gardening!

I took these pictures a few weeks ago and feel terrible I didn't get to this post earlier. Everything is changing quickly here, growing and blooming and now there are even baby pears on our pear tree. So I will post these pictures and promise to follow up in more detail.

These are some pictures that I took in early April when the garden was just beginning to emerge from its winter hibernation. The last of the snow had barely melted and only the cold loving spring plants were showing but there was this wonderful excitement that summer warmth was on the horizon!

We have very distinct seasons in North Central Oregon and although technically we are in planting zone 6b, I like to plan as if we are in zone 5. We have a lot of very harsh cold wind that can bring a scalding freeze to many plants that should be safe in zone 6b. I waited patiently this year and didn't get my tomato plants until after Mother's day because we had an exceptionally long and cool winter. It really did freeze the night before Mother's day.

Now I have several volunteer plants growing up out of the ground and I'm so happy to see some of my reseeders coming to life. Even the pumpkin seeds I saved from last years halloween pumpkins and planted recently have sprouted strongly. Now if I just new which ones I planted in which group! I was carefully keeping the two varieties separated as I dried and stored them but I didn't mark them when I planted them, oops! One variety is a ghost white pumpkin and the other is a warty pumpkin. They aren't great for eating but they are so much fun! I can't wait to see how this garden grows.

Antique Garden Sprinkler

A few of my favorite new and old containers.

These are new succulents in a wall hanging planter my husband Superman made for me. It's painted with chalkboard paint so I can write things on it! A few years ago I had it planted with herbs and the names of the herbs written next to them on the frame. It was so cute! It had a farmhouse flair that was enchanting. This year I went with a more structurally elegant planting of succulents framed in black.

A lot has changed since these spring pictures were taken and as we are getting ready to turn the corner into summer, I'll have to get an update going pretty soon. I hope you've enjoyed this trip through my spring garden!

How has spring sprung in your garden?

I would love to know what's growing for you!

~Melisa