My Deck Garden’s New Pergola and Early Planting Adventures

It’s been a transformative year for my deck garden, and I’m so excited to finally share the changes with you. In years past, I’ve always updated you on my gardening plans, successes, and failures, but this year, I got a bit sidetracked. I added a small pergola to the garden, and while I knew I’d like it, I didn’t expect to fall completely in love with it. The moment I step out of the conservatory onto the deck, it feels like I’m entering a whole new room—a little fantasy land surrounded by my plants. The pergola has truly enhanced the space in ways I can’t quite describe.One of the best additions the pergola brought is the ability to hang baskets for the first time since I moved here 13 years ago, which has been an absolute thrill. I also upgraded the dim solar light caps with new, pricier ones that illuminate the garden beautifully from dusk until dawn. On top of that, I found charming solar lanterns and placed one in each of the window boxes, creating a whimsical glow that I adore. 

I moved my mosaic-top table from the conservatory to the garden so I can enjoy my morning coffee while listening to birdsong. This table used to be my go-to for tablescapes indoors, so I’m still figuring out how to adapt. I might try creating tablescapes outside, or I may need to adjust to using the larger table inside for a more intimate table-for-two setup. We’ll see how it all unfolds! 

As for the garden itself, I’m off to an exciting start. I grew various colors of bell peppers from seeds I harvested from organic peppers, and they’re already thriving. I’m equally thrilled about the Charentais melon seeds I saved from last year. After a late planting last season that yielded just three (albeit juicy and delicious) melons, I planted earlier this year, and the seeds sprouted in just a couple of days. I’m hopeful for a bigger harvest this time around. 

I’m also giving zucchini another shot, despite my past struggles with it. While it seems like everyone else can grow zucchini with ease, I’ve yet to succeed, so I’m trying a new variety this year and keeping my fingers crossed for better results. I’ll share an update in a month to let you know how everything’s growing and how the pergola continues to shape this magical space. 

 

What about you? What’s growing in your garden this season? I’d love to hear about your planting adventures—drop a comment below and share your story!

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Springtime Brunch Tablescape

 

 I don’t know about the rest of you gardeners out there, but I get very eager for seed planting long before I’m able to do so. As tempting as it is to plant seeds on the warm days that we have in April, I know there are going to be some cold, plant-killing frosts before we reach the second week in May, after which it is safe to plant for those of us who live in Zone 6B.

As a consequence, I feel compelled to do tables with a gardening theme, so this is my offering for the month of April. The seed packets scattered about on the tablecloth are part of a set. I am so excited about these because it will allow me to grow things that I haven’t grown before -- at least from seed -- scallions, for example. Fingers crossed that they grow.  

The Sonemone dinner plates that I used in this table are a recent acquisition. They struck me as being Scandinavian, and because I’m such a big fan of Scandi noir, I had to have them. Plus, they’re so different from everything else that I have.

  I paired them with round woven placemats atop of which I placed Bordallo Pinheiro geranium leaf chargers. 

 

 Picking up the salmon pink in the plates, I decided to use my salmon water and juice glasses (pattern unknown) that I bought straight out of college. I fell in love with these because they were the perfect match for a set of Fitz and Floyd “Coquilles” dishes that I spent years buying piecemeal as I could afford them. Funnily enough, I seem to have lost track of those.

 

The wine glass that I chose featured blue hydrangeas that echo the blue hydrangeas the bunnies are holding in the centerpiece. This glass is by Portmeirion.

 

Also from Portmerion is the cup and saucer. The glass and the cup and saucer are a part of their vast “Botanic Garden” and “Garden Harmony” collections. I find this entire set irresistible, but my wallet says no.

 

The “Urban Villa” green napkins are from Amazon, the silverware, also included in last month’s table setting was a gift from a friend and is by International in the “Contessa” pattern.

 

The pair of bunnies at center is reused from my Easter table. They work well in a garden theme, although most gardeners do not want bunnies in their gardens. The little stand holding the brunch menu I got from Michael’s years ago. I don’t use it nearly as often as I should. I have decided that I am going to find one of my mother’s handwritten recipes and use this stand to display it in my kitchen.

 Hopefully, enjoying meals at this table will satisfy me until I can get out and plant those seeds.

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Grow Your Own Mushrooms

 

Those of us who love growing flowers and vegetables during the summer, often struggle during the winter. The wait between growing seasons can seem in interminable.

I grow a lot of plants indoors that I find very satisfying, but there’s something extra special about growing my own food. For Christmas, number two son gave me a mushroom growing kit. If you haven’t tried one of these, they are fascinating fun. Watching them sprout and grow (something that occurs quite rapidly) is magical. Growing my own gave me a new appreciation for mushrooms. I cannot wait to harvest and sauté them.

 

They are intricate and quite beautiful when you look at them. This is a wonderful and memorable gift. If you know someone who loves to cook, grow vegetables, or both, and is hard to buy for, give this some consideration. Edible, educational, and great fun.

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How to Window Box, Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out, a Review

While reading the adorable new book, How to Window Box, Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out by Clarkson Potter designed, certainly, with me in mind, I couldn’t help but think about my mother. No, she was not a gardener, but she did make Easter baskets for every attendee at her annual Easter brunch. She took a month or more to put these baskets together, each with a different theme based upon the interests of the recipient. As I held this book in my hand, I couldn’t help but think what a wonderful theme window box gardening would be for an Easter basket. This book, a bag of potting soil, some liquid fertilizer, a few plants, not to mention a fairy garden accessory or two, and you have a wonderful gift for your green-thumbed friend. But I digress.

If you, like me, no longer garden on a grand scale, this book is for you. Talk about inspirational! The pictures alone will have you champing at the bit to get outdoors and start gardening, but the information is the most valuable aspect of this book, and there is plenty, but I am getting ahead of myself. The book provides a nice introduction to window box gardening, and then guides you step-by-step through the process. Here you will learn about a wide variety of theme gardens, one or more of which will no doubt tickle your fancy. I’m not going to list them all, but some of them include: The Sandbox, The Herb Garden, The Detox Box, Edible Petals, The Jungle Box, The Salad Bar, and The Window Bog. Intriguing? I have to tell you, every one of the window boxes in this book intrigue me. Each one mentioned is not only thoroughly described, but there is a nice, easy-to-read chart on the page that will provide a quick guide to creating your own box. It will suggest a location, provide information on recommended light, window, soil, how much you need to water and fertilize, and even give you ideas for topping the box in order to make it look pretty.

 Resources are provided in the back to help you get started, and there is also adequate information to allow you to customize your window box to your own interests and needs. Should you have difficulties (Heaven forbid!), there is a nice section on troubleshooting.

If you like to garden like I do, or if you have a friend who does, pick up a copy of this book. It is small in size (and I like that), but BIG on information.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

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Container Gardening: How to Grow Peas

There is just nothing like chomping down on a vegetable that you have grown yourself. From the time I was able to separate seeds from melons I have been growing things, often much to my mother's dismay. I would use any plastic container that I could find, fill it with dirt dug up from the backyard, pop the seed in, place the container on the sill of my bedroom window, and wait. It was always with a great sense of wonder that I would watch the first bit of greenery spring from beneath the soil. As you can imagine, I yielded little or no harvest in my bedroom with my sherbet containers and spindly vines, but the mere act gave me endless joy.

My love for gardening never stopped. I've had big gardens, small gardens, raised gardens, ornate herb gardens, Oriental gardens, and now confine most of my gardening to containers on my back deck. Honestly, even though I only have about a dozen containers, sometimes I get a larger harvest from these colorful pots than I ever did from a much larger garden. On my deck I don't have to battle the rabbits, raccoons, or squirrels, that often ended up enjoying more of my bounty than I did.

This year, itching to plant something early, I opted for peas. I had always been told that peas needed to be in the ground and trained up a constructed trellis made of stakes and a crisscross of wires. I beg to differ. They will climb pretty much anything from an inverted tomato tower, to a teepee of bamboo stakes, to a couple of dead tree branches, to a cone-shaped trellis like I have. Peas do need cool weather, so it is best to plant early (the bonus being that a second crop can be planted at summer's end to enjoy until frost). They grow rather quickly, so are a most gratifying crop.  To grow them you will need a decent sized pot of 12”-18”, potting soil mixed with some sand or perlite (I use a combination of both) to prevent it from packing, a sunny spot, and the commitment to keep the soil uniformly moist. 

Because peas prefer cool conditions, plant them early in the season, spacing the seeds two inches apart, and covering them with 1/2”-3/4” of soil. Water well, and wait. This season has been rainy, humid, and rather warm, and the peas seem to love it. After a good rain it seems as if they have grown two inches. White blossoms will first appear, giving way to green pods. Watch them and don't harvest until the pods are plump with fat, juicy peas.

 

Like other cool weather vegetables they'll bolt in the heat. When production has stopped, pull up the plants, toss them into the compost, and plant a warm weather crop in its place.

I cannot wait to taste my first bite of my own freshly grown peas. Ahhhh, summer!

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