Green thumb?

I think not!  

However, I have had some success.  I got this one beautiful rose from my rose bushes.  I planted 4 bushes.  One got eaten by something.  I don't know.

Then, my vegetable garden looks beautiful, but it hasn't produced as much as I had hoped.  Soil Ph must be off?  We have tons of lettuce and peas.  And one pepper with lots of buds for more!  I have some starts to cucumbers and zucchinis as well!  We will see, crossing my fingers.

The Hanging Gardens of Konradland

So, as you all know, we have been working on gardens galore!  It has been such a delight to get outside and work with our hands and sweat!  And, watch the birds in our yard.  Some of them are truly beautiful.  The other day I heard something very noisy adn when I looked over to see what it was, there were three Steller Jays hopping around our feeder.  We've even been naming some of our birds (although, I can say with certainty that the birds assigned said names are interchangable as there is really no way to tell them apart).
Due to space issues, I wanted to put my herbs on the side of the house.  I found this idea on Pinterest!  I thought it would work with a little tweaking, but I ended up making several tweaks! 


Here's what you need:
-Wood pieces (mine were scraps left over from our table project)
-Hose clamps
-Screws
-Pots/ jars
-plants of your choice

First, I like the look of things that are labeled, so I stamped the herb name on the boards.

Second, we didn't really want to screw things into the siding.  I decided to hang them with chain from hooH\ks at the top, but anytime the wind blew, it was so loud it sounded like Bo Jangle was trying to break into our house!  I am home alone a lot at night so that didn't sit well with me.  Untimately, we decided to screw them into the siding!

Third, I started with the mason jars, but I quickly realized that I needed something that could drain. We live in Western Washington, which is equivalent to mold and mildew.  I want fresh herbs not mottled ones!  So, I went with the terra cotta pots so that they can drain.

When all was said and done it wasn't a hard project, I just had to change it up so it took a bit more time than I had anticipated. 

I am obsessed with Cilantro and Basil.  I cannot wait to pick it fresh and throw it in some delectables!

Gardening with the Konrads...

I have many fond memories of gardening with my mom when I was a little girl.  She had a pretty big vegetable garden and planted flowers in every nook and cranny.  We would eat tomatoes like apples, carrots with dirt on them, and more peas raw than I can remember.  We initiated kids to the neighborhood by showing them our "red celery" AKA rhubarb and some of them even tasted it!  We played baseball in our back yard with ghost runners, and got paid to pick slugs of the potato plants (If I remember it was only a couple cents per slug)!

I've been attempting to garden the past few summers with very little luck.  Container gardening in apartment patios probably works if you are determined.  I wasn't.  The summer I met Matt, I had an awesome tomato plant that grew like crazy, but it frosted before any of the tomatoes turned into actual edible tomatoes.

Well, now that we have our own place, this is something I have wanted to do.  We have a pretty big back yard, although the back 2/3 of it is wilderness (we made a fire pit up there so it feels like we're camping whenever we want!).  Anyway, we put some raised bed garden boxes around the patio today.  Hopefully on a warm summer night, we will get fresh smells of growing plants wafting around our patio as we share a BBQ dinner with friends or family!

Here's what we needed:

• several untreated pieces of wood (no chemicals in this garden)
• screws
• we needed a saw to cut some of the wood, but if you know what you want and don't have one Lowe's will cut wood for you.  Home Depot will not.
• a power drill will come in handy!

Here's what we did:
--We planned to build 3 boxes.  The first at 12 ft x 4 ft.  Another at 16 ft. x 4 ft.  These two will be 12 inches high, so we'll need to double up the sides.  The last at 3 ft. x 3 ft.  This one will be just one layer.
1. Cut wood pieces to desired length.

2. We started by assembling the ends of the boxes.  We drilled the actual exterior panels to a block that works as a stabilizer in the corners of the boxes.  Then we added the sides on.  To make sure that the sides were aligned and stayed in place, we put another stabilizing piece about half way on each long side.  (Sorry there are not pictures of these stages. I was either 1. helping Matt, or 2. attacking the weed patch!)

In all, it took us about 2 hours to build them and set them in place.
 
Now for the DIRT! And a new patio table and chairs!

(Some friendlies!)