Garden Fails

Garden Fails

Welcome to the start of a new gardening/yard year!  Every year I try new ideas.  Some I don't like, some don't work out, and some fail miserably.  These  fails are caused by different reasons.  Didn't do my research, pests in the yard, didn't like, whatever. So here is a list of some of my fails as well as why they didn't work. I hope by sharing these you can avoid my mistakes.

FAIL #1

Cute right?  I'm not a big fan of some of the hanging baskets and thought I could make do with some of the stuff I had around the house.  So here's where I went wrong:
1. Basil gets big. I saw these cute photos of herb pots growing inside and just had no idea.  My basil this year was over 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide.
2. Bad location/not enough sun.  I thought because it said that basil could grow in partial sun that this spot would work. Nope. Turns out it only got sun a couple hours a day for the summer and not enough to bring on the growth
3. Wet feet.  I didn't make my little container with enough drainage and so the soil remained wet leading to mold and a host of other issues including wet soil is HEAVY and it warped the container.

FAIL #2, 3

There are actually 2 fails in this photo. Bad support for the peas and bad support for the tomatoes. I liked the idea of the multicolored posts for the peas but they all should have been taller and there should have been more. using long lengths of PVC wasn't horrible but the length was too long (notice the bowing) and it really needed to have additional center support and possibly square shaped.  I was trying out the idea of running the tomatoes up a center line.Now I use the tomato towers from Garden Supply Company and have used them for the last 4 years. 

Fail #5 & 6

I thought I had such a great idea!  Put walk-able thyme between the stones around the firepit and grass around the large outside circle because, you know, fun photos on the internet.
1. The grass died.  First the lawn got a lovely infestation of larvae and cutworms.
2. Hello water bill. Because the sod went in in the fall, I hadn't been through a full Oregon gardening season yet and simply didn't realize how much water would be needed to keep the lawn and the thyme from becoming a massive fire hazard.  Talk about a lot of frustrating, hard work to put it in then take it back out. But then....
3. Settling.  The firepit was put in where the old pond used to be.  Half of the firepit is essentially on fill.  It settled.  In late 2017 I has to pull out all the step stones, thyme and re-level the whole darn think. Hint, Hint: Don't stint on support when putting in block, brick or firepit.

While I had already started replacing the grass with a rock pattern as seen below, this is before I had to re-level the pit. No doubt you can imagine my frustration at having to move many sections of that rock, brick, stone, and weed barrier to add more soil.

 Which leads me to another settling fail:

 1. No base. I didn't use sand.  I thought I could just use plain soil and tamp it down nicely. This led to settling and lots and lots of weeds.
2. The mole.  I learned to hate moles about 6 months after this went in. The mole dug it's tunnels under sections of the brick leading them to settle and collapse as our winter and rain season came through.
3. No spacing. I thought I could just put them really close together and everything would be lovely. Nope. With the freeze/thaw/rain I ended up with a lumpy, weedy mess.

 Yet another cute fail. 

1. Rain.  These teacup bird feeders were super easy to make and were great until the first rains of fall hit.  These are a disaster at my house in Oregon because we get upwards of 45 inches of rain a year.  Everything became a soggy, moldy, sprouting mess.  There wasn't any point in trying to use them for dry food because I simply couldn't keep the seed dry for any length of time.

2. The glue failed.  Why did the glue fail? Because I thought I could leave these out through winter. Nope. After the first couple of freezing nights, the plate went falling down.

Lessons learned:

1. Know your plants.  It's all about the research and understanding what each plant needs to grow and where they need to grow.

2. Don't ignore the experts when it comes to foundation work.  It can save you massive headaches, backaches and money.

3. Consider how weather and temperature will affect the product. Too often I have bought something only to have it fall apart over the winter.  Will the glue fail? Will the wood mold or fall apart?  Will it even last in the elements beyond a summer?

All that being said, I look forward to trying out more creative ideas on the road to creating my little plot of happiness.  Happy gardening in 2018!

Bird Garden - in progress

Creating a Bird Garden

INTERNET IMAGE Example ONLY

One of the many items I have noticed on the internet are painted poles and I happen to love bird houses and feeders. I decided to put the ideas together based on images I found online.


(If only mine were this fancy!  I imagine they had to paint the designs before putting the poles into the ground. I'm a bit impatient.)

 Earlier this summer I started the bird garden near the Filbert tree that hangs over the back fence line (aka Hazelnuts) While I have not finished painting the poles due to the arrival of wet, cold weather, this is a very easy project.

1. Picked a location
2. Purchased round poles ( $7 each) and quickcrete from the local hardware store
3. Placed poles and painted with primer so they would last longer (same day)
4. attached metal flashing to keep cats and squirrels from the feeders
5. started painting and attaching feeders and houses (with more to come!)

Suggestions - be sure to have various levels of plants, shrugs and trees nearby to encourage the birds. Mine like to fly from the apple tree in the center of the yard where I've attached suet to the "bird garden" to the neighbors lilac tree over-hanging the north fence to a new feeder I put in by my Japanese Maple.

To attract more birds and bees and create shade, I intend to plant another low tree or high bush in addition to the Eastern Redbud we planted this year. 

A Successful bird feeder in action! 

(As of Thanksgiving, I am filling this feeder every 3-4 days.)

DIY Teacup Bird Feeders

DIY Teacup bird feeders or bird bath

I originally got this idea elsewhere on the internet - if I find the instructions I'll be sure to add the link.  But basically you take glue, teacup, saucer, an old spoon if you want, a copper cap, a stick or post, glue them together. Stick it in the ground!

tea with the feathered friends!