garden – New England's Narrow Road

Re-purposing Window Grilles For the Garden

flower vine — Recycled window dividers used as a trellis.

When I bought my house the sliding door and another glass door had white dividers, or grilles, in them. I don’t like that look. I like my windows to be clear and open – free of dividers to block my view outside. I was happy to find that the dividers could be unsnapped and removed, so I took them all off and stored them in the garage. I thought they would make good trellises for the vegetables.

Well, they do, if you don’t try to put anything too heavy on them. They are a bit flimsy and won’t hold up without breaking but the one I used for my morning glory vine is doing a nice job. The vine isn’t very large yet, but they don’t get big and heavy. I have it next to the deck so the vines can grow up and wrap around the deck railings.

It’s just one way you can use junk in the garden. I hate to spend money on expensive trellises, and truthfully, I couldn’t find any I liked. All my new windows are grille free too – you can find my grilles in the garden.

The Tomatoes Are Planted

little tomato plants — Ready to plant tomatoes

I stopped at Tenney Farm the other day and picked up some tomato plants. I knew that planting time would be upon me soon and I didn’t want to be without anything to add to the garden.
I bought Early Girl, Big Boy and Cherry, Grape and some sort of Roma.
The trouble I am having this year is that everything has to be done at once. Digging the gardens is the most time consuming thing and I had to have loam / garden dirt delivered to add to the vegetable garden area. I’ve also been watching the sun to see where I get it the longest so the tomatoes could be planted there.
Last year I spent most of the end of summer removing the blackberry bushes that had taken over the back right where I wanted to plant my garden. That was a nasty job but at least that part was done. This spring I’ve spent digging, buying soil amendments and lugging dirt. I still don’t know if the dirt will be good enough to give me some tomatoes, but I am hoping.
It might be too early, but the weather for the week will be warm so I planted the tomatoes last Saturday and then finished up yesterday with basil and marigolds. I also built some mounds for my zucchini, summer squash and cukes. The peas were planted a while ago but haven’t grown much yet. I am out of room, but I might get to add some beans if I can find space – maybe along the side of the deck.
I’ve noticed that I have one big sunny spot out front. I might have to turn that area into my garden spot.

Yellow Tulip Photos From The Garden

Quick post of my yellow tulip photos. I meant to have them show up larger, but oh well.

Growing Hyacinths

Hyacinth flowers — Pink, purple and white hyacinths in the garden.

This is the first time that I’ve grown hyacinths in my yard.

Last fall I bought a bunch of bulbs to add to my new yard and planted tulips, a few daffodils and six hyacinth bulbs.

I put everything out front except the hyacinths and they have their own little garden area near the back deck. The package of bulbs said they were a “mix” of colors and then showed blue, pink, red, yellow, orange, purple and white flowers on the packaging, but as you can see I did not get any but pink, white and purple.

Still, they are pretty and a couple of the plants made two flower stems so I cut off one of the flowers to bring the fragrance inside.

I may get more to plant next Fall and add them out front.