Creating Your Own Cottage Garden

How to create your cottage garden:

But first, why should you build a personal garden? We are all striving to save money on a day-to-day basis and keep our sanity in this stressful world. These are my two favorite reasons to build a garden of your own.

1. Grow your food (it’s more healthy and costs much less than the supermarket), herbal tea, and seasonings/herbs.
2. Sanity: gardening is meditation and exercise. It’s personal, exploratory, creative and good physical work at your own pace.

There are oodles of things that you can do yourself (without spending any money) to build your own cottage garden. I’ll share my favorites with you as we go along. My focus for is free/low cost methods. I’ve had enough cash to buy every plant I want, so I generally look for sustainable (so I won’t have to tend to it later or over and over again), green (good for the immediate and global environments), and easy (to find, use, build, etc) methods of gardening. Let’s start from the ground up.

Soil
What is the soil in your gardening space like? You may have tough soil like I do… Instead of fighting with the ground I’ve got, I opted for raising my beds a bit. I mixed rich compost and organics with some of the already existing soil and brought in a few bags from the store. If your soil is fantastic as it is, you are a lucky duck and can dig right in where you are! If you are using pots or need to use a raised bed because you don’t have ground space or great soil, the next section is for you.

Raised beds
This is the easiest method I’ve ever used! I could have fought with the very clay-rich soil in my garden space for years before working in enough organic matter to plant straight into the ground! But I wanted to start right away… So, I outlined the space I wanted my bed to take, broke up the surface of the soil a bit, and raked all the dropped leaves, grass clippings and such I could find into a low mound that was the shape of my raised bed. I evened it out, and added compost (good rich compost) and some store purchased soil. If I had access to more compost (I didn’t have my own composter and worm bins then), I could have skipped the store purchased soil. I pushed the edges around a bit until the bed was the shape I wanted and about 4 inches smaller at the edges. Then I scavenged bricks wherever I could find them (freecycle and craigslist postings, in the creek, asking at construction sites and house remodels in the neighborhood). The first layer of bricks fit edge to edge around the base of the mound, following the curves with broken bricks, and pushing into the mound a smidge. The second layer of bricks lay on the first but back a bit. The edges over lapped so that the top brick sat on both the first row of bricks and some of the mound. It’s important to note that you need to pack that bit of mound so the second layer of bricks is stable and doesn’t fall into the mound. You can do several more layers like this or just keep it at two (like I did).

Seed Saving & Propagating
The most economic, by far, way to start your garden is with seeds, divisions and cuttings from friends! Most people don’t use a whole packet of seeds and leave the rest of the packet sitting around to die slowly in a dark corner, drawer or tin. Talk with your friends and neighbors about sharing seed packets…
Also, check out the plants in their gardens. Ask if they save the seeds from the plants you like and if you can come back and collect the seeds at the end of the season. I’ve had neighbors ask me the same question, and I always have more than I need. Sometimes, I even have seeds I’ve already collected to pass on right then and there. You never know until you ask.
Cuttings from the plants you like are a great way to jump-start your plans as well. Make sure to ask before you snip at someone else’s hydrangea or rose though… It’s not worth starting a neighborhood feud! If you visit local parks and public gardens, you may also ask the maintenance staff when they plan to prune specific plants. They may allow you to come back and take a few of their off cuts! I’ve happened along just as a neighbor was trimming her lovely hydrangea one day and she was thrilled for someone to take away a bit of her yard waste. And a worker-bee at a public garden gave me permission to pocket a few seed heads another day. I was saving him a wee bit of work in the process.
And if you’ve ever divided clumps of iris’ or lilies, you know what a great deal it is to have help in exchange for part of the division. Older folks in your neighborhood may be especially grateful for the company and physical help… Knock on the door and ask!

Well, this is just an overview of the process. You can look forward to posts about collecting specific types of seed, varieties of raised beds and how to build them and so on… Thanks for reading!

Building Slug-Proof Planting Barrels

Living under redwood trees is fantastic, with a few minor exceptions, for die-hard gardeners. My greatest curse-provoker is slug eaten plants. My seedlings hardly have a chance to get started before our slimy natives mow them down… So this project is great for folks needing to protect their food and flower crops from chomping AND folks that need to use containers for any reason. For my purposes, this location sits in more sun than any other spot on our property, but we eventually hope to do some work on the house. So, I don’t want to make a permanent bed to tear out in a year or two. I can also move these barrels when that time arrives, or if flooding is in the forecast.

So far, I haven’t caught a single slug (banana or otherwise) in this set of barrels. With a drip system installed, plants remain healthy even through hot spells. This is the ultimate low maintenance system for a veggie garden! I’ll talk about putting in drip systems in a future post, but I recommend doing it as soon as possible after planting or at the same time.

I could have set up all my barrels in one day, but I paced myself physically and financially by doing this project in stages. And, of course, sometimes you just run out of materials or daylight… You can split the project up many ways. Do what works for you!

Materials:

Containers - Mine are giant nursery pots purchased at a local garden center. Here’s a tip though, if you get them used, you might be able to score them for free or super-duper cheap… Check Freecycle or Craig’s List.

Carpet tape - You need indoor/outdoor rated stuff. It is double-sided and has a strip of paper on one side that peels off after getting it positioned. It also comes in white or black, but the color doesn’t matter.

Copper tape - This can be quite pricey! In fact, you’ll see it a version available that is sticky backed, but it costs more. Use it if you want to cut out a step though. My roll is very, very thin copper with no sticky backing and cost $5 at a garage sale… A steal!

Knife/scissors/pruners – I found a knife to be much more efficient. This is for cutting the carpet tape, copper tape and opening bags of soil. The carpet tape is killer on pruners and leaves them sticky, icky.

Gloves – Always! Protect your fingers from sharp edges, critters, and future sore hands.

Soil – Mix your own or purchase. You’re going to need a bunch of it.

Rocks/brick/pavers – My barrels sit on river rock to encourage good drainage and level the area under my containers.

Amendments/fertilizer/compost/worm castings – I use mostly worm castings and home grown compost to make my plants happy, but you may have a favorite plant food. You can also use plant food that is specific to what you are planting (veggies, acid-loving plants, bulb food, etc).

Mulch – You’ll see that I top all my beds with rice hulls. It’s easy, very cheap, super sustainable, long lasting and appears to keep the cats out of my beds (doesn’t feel good in their paws).

And, of course, plants and seeds – My beds are primarily for edibles since I don’t have enough sun anywhere else, but I’ve mixed in all kinds of pollinator friendly plants and some with great foliage that will last beyond my food growing season. I also started all of my veggies from seed this year: some in starter pots on the deck and some right in the barrels. Both are doing well.

Here’s the process, step by step and with photos:

1. Gather your materials at the spot you are going to have the containers live. You don’t want to create and fill the containers and then move them… At least, my back won’t let me do that! I look for easy ways to avoid Aleve at the end of the day.
2. Put on your gloves and clean the containers if needed. You want a dirt free and dry surface for the carpet tape to adhere well. I use a dry rag and wipe off only the area I will be taping.
3. Pull out the carpet tape. I chose to do my copper section five or six inches from the rim of the container. The copper section is well above any plants and other materials near the containers for slugs to climb up and over the copper strips. If they can find a way in, they will. Your containers will probably sit in and around different materials than mine, so consider where on the container is best to place your copper. Also, I’m fighting banana slugs, so I have made my copper section much larger than you may need. It’s 4 to 6 inches wide. The carpet tape location determines the copper tape location. Since the containers are tapered, you’ll notice that it will have some wrinkles and folds as you adhere the tape… You want to keep the tape going around the container in a relatively straight line so you don’t waste any copper tape.
4. Depending on how wide your copper strip needs to be, make 2 to 4 passes with the carpet tape. It does not need to touch at each edge of the tape or at each end of the strip. See the photo. The copper tape can bridge ¼ to ½ inch gaps (depending on the width of the copper tape).
5. Now you have carpet tape wrapped around the container and the paper on the back of the tape is still in place. Using a gloved hand, rub the carpet tape with firm pressure. You are ensuring good contact between the carpet tape and the container – this is important!
6. And now you can peel off the carpet tape’s paper backing! It may tear at the wrinkles and folds but comes off pretty well… I do this part without gloves so I can use a finder nail to peel at the tape edge. This is a great part of the project for kids to help… Just remind them to avoid touching the now exposed sticky surface of the tape.
7. Pull out the copper tape. You are going to cover the carpet tape with strips of the copper tape in the same manner. The only difference is that you are going to start at the top edge, just a hair above the carpet tape (so no carpet tape is exposed to the elements… It becomes brittle and may ruin the whole project if it peels later), and overlap all your edges. There will be overlap horizontally for each strip and vertically and the end of each strip. Again, take a look at the photo for guidance.
8. Do as many rows as necessary to cover all the carpet tape. If you have gaps, cut a piece of carpet tape to fit and cover with copper.
9. Just like you did earlier, before removing the carpet tape backing, use gloved hands and apply firm pressure while smoothing the copper into place. This ensures good contact between the carpet tape and the copper. It also keeps critters, soil and water from getting into wrinkles and crevices.
10. Pat your self on the back! Take a break and make sure you are staying hydrated and not getting a sunburn!!!

Now to set the container, give it some soil and plants!

1. If you didn’t before, settle your container on top of some river rocks, brick, pavers or whatever to promote good drainage and level the container.
2. Scoop in soil to about 8 inches deep. You can pour soil out of a bag if you are sturdy enough to hold it over the edge – I tipped my containers over when I tried to lean the bag of soil over…
3. Add your amendments. This is where I add compost or veggie/bulb/plant food in a thin layer and mix in with gloved hands.
4. Add more soil and compost until you have about 6 inches to the rim of the container. Here I mix in (by hand or small hand tool) a few cups of worm castings. Because I have my own worm bins this is pretty easy and inexpensive to do. If you are buying the worm castings, you can cut the amount back – or start a worm bin!
5. So, now you have all the good earthy stuff in the container and about 4 or 5 inches of space to the rim. Add your glorious plants and seeds!
6. Mulch! This keeps water and warmth in and the chance of airborne weeds down… I prefer to use rice hulls, so I scatter the hulls about until I have a nice even layer. And I have found that very insistent neighborhood kitties don’t like the feeling of the poke-y rice hulls in their paws. It does no damage, but it’s is merely annoying enough for them to go home and use a litter box. Feel free to use whatever mulch you prefer – if you have put in seeds, make sure the mulch isn’t too dense for seedlings to poke through!

You are done!!! Water everything well and consider installing a drip system… That’s a future post!

It's a first...

Well, here's my first post on my first personal blog!

It all started when I joined the local, non-commercial, community supported radio station in my town (Guerneville, CA). When the station started a blog, well, being the curious sort of person that I am, I wanted to try my own... Big surprise there, huh. Some might say stubbornly incorrigible even. So, here's a place to keep in touch with friends and family, share what's new with me, where I've been and what I'm playing with now... Since I'm usually playing with some new toy or craft.

So, I'm a radio personality now. I host the Monday Morning Show from 7 to 9 am on KGGV-LP "The Bridge" 95.1 in Guerneville, CA. The "LP" stands for Low Power (a specific designation from the FCC) and means that we have a broadcasting radius of about 3 miles, if there were no hills. Well, this is California and we have hills. Which means, it all depends on where you happen to be. My show is mostly music: jazz, blues, bluegrass, standards, folk, and a smattering of whatever I happen to feel like that moment. Then there's the news: I only read what I want to read, so I leave out the gruesome and generally unpleasant stuff in seach of humorous, intellectually stimulating and culturally profound (like the very exciting article about SPAM rebranding itself as a tasty and economically relevant meal), always including the weather and local conditions. Then there's poetry and green living tips. I think the week should start with a bit of poetry and everyone could use ideas for better living, so I share some from a variety of sources.

I'm also the Fundraising Coordinator for KGGV. We just held the 4th Annual Strawberry Festival on Saturday, June 20th... It was fantastic! The day was perfect: weather, music, food, cheer, and donations! What more could I ask for in a fundraising event?!?!

My permenant garden is happy and growing as usual... I need to water a bit more with the current heat, but everything is happy and lush. I've started a garden below the house, in the somewhat terraced area facing Hulbert Creek. It's mostly for veggies since it sees more sun than any other spot on the property! But, I have mixed in some lovely flowering and ornamental plants too. This year all my seeds came from a new local company in Monte Rio: The Sustainable Seed Company. I also lease a chicken from them!!! It's so cool! Every other week I pick up a dozen eggs, and they are so tasty! As usual, almost everything else in my garden comes from End of the Rainbow on River Road... I can walk there for light-weight trips or make a very short drive for heavier items.

Eric and I celebrate our 3rd wedding anniversary on June 24th, so you can bet we'll enjoy a bottle of our favorite wine (served at the wedding, if I could only remember the name - I know it by sight, a bubbling muscat). And I think there may be a round of mini golf in the planning... We'll see!

Well, that may be quite enough for a first post... But I have plenty to do as I build my blog! Photos are next, as I can't wait to share photos from our vacation in New Orleans (March 2009) and some from the wedding and everything in between! Come back soon to see what I've gotten done!