Fall Gardening Part 2 - Ornamentals

 

If HGTV has proven anything, it's that people like to live in beautiful places. Whether it's your front yard curb appeal or a backyard you like to hang out in, we all like to enjoy beauty. Gardening offers you the ability to spruce up your outdoor spaces, even after Labor Day. With some smart planning, you don't have to spend a fortune either. 

First, how you approach fall gardening has everything to do with where you live and when your frost date is. (For more info on that, click here.) Most of your plants are going to be toast when the weather hits 32 degrees for the first time. After that, your left with scare crows, straw bales, and pumpkins for decoration. Where I live, we get a frost sometime in mid-October so I plan on enjoying as much color as I can till that happens. 

Next, if you're looking for seasonal annuals to rejuvenate your flower beds, you're going to be in for as much disappointment as I experienced. After driving to four different garden centers, the selection of annual flowers was almost nil and what there was cost far more than I was willing to pay. Unfortunately, that means a lot of what I'm going to tell you will be for next years. 

Some great annuals to buy from seed, plant in the Spring and be patient with for fall color include (but are not limited to), late season sunflowers (some sunflowers are done already), China asters, celosia, marigolds and annual ornamental grasses. Some coleus comes in great fall colors too but be aware that the slightest nip of frost will destroy them forever. You can buy theses seeds for cheap and plant them in the spring. Then you'll have some great flowers in late Summer - mid Autumn. 

Sedum

Another great way to save money is to plan for the long run with perennials. Perennials are plants that will continue to come back year after year so you only have to buy them once. I like to sprinkle some fall blooming Perennials around so my borders have something blooming all the time. I'm not going to talk about Mums here because I'm giving them their own post later. Some of my favorite fall blooming flowers include sedum, trycirtus, and gaillardia. You can also have a beautiful wildflower meadow of goldenrod and asters. 

You can also think about the Autumn beauty of deciduous trees that turn color in fall or the appeal of ornamental bushes like beauty berry or burning bush. 

So, you can have a beautiful yard in fall, it just takes a bit of planning ahead instead of making impulse purchases in the store. What are your tricks to a great garden in fall? Please post below!

5 Recent Lessons in Gardening

One of the best things about gardening is that there is always more to learn. I'm always making mistakes but I learn from them and get better. Here are some lessons I've learned so far this year.

1. Don't freak out about a few bugs. My green beans had something eating them early on and I thought about spraying them but they did well despite the bugs and I've been impressed with how many beans I've gotten off them. Vegetable plants are rarely perfect, don't sweat the small stuff.

2. Don't mulch your basil. I tend to mulch everything. Mostly because I don't enjoy weeding or watering and mulching reduces the need to do both. However, basil plants prefer dry soil and will turn yellow if they're too wet. Fortunately, I figured that out before my plants were killed.

3. Don't underestimate cute little furry things. Jeeze, those darn rabbits. My daughter thinks they're so cute but they need to stay the heck away from my garden. I figured on the lettuce, but can't they leave my little apple tree alone? Darn things.

4. Speaking of rabbits, don't try using moth balls to get rid of them. I'm cheap and lazy so putting moth balls under my shed to get the rabbits out sounded like a great idea. Yeah, now the shed stinks so bad you can't stay in there for more than a minute or so and the smell waifs out into the yard at times too. Sigh.

5. On the plus side, I've learned that wild currants are delicious. Seriously, everyone should be growing them. Even my two year old couldn't get enough.

So, what have you learned this year in your garden? Feel free to share your thoughts - and your ideas for getting rid of rabbits, in the comments below.

An Update on Projects from Around the Homstead

Spring has brought on a lot of little projects here and has certainly spiffed up what were some real eye sores around the yard. Everyone loves some before and after pictures so here are a few for you. Keep in mind, with me projects are never completely done, they just improve slowly over time.

Our mailbox was such a problem. A rotted, hollow post falling into the street. We gave it a much better replacement.

Before

After

The front flower beds where an erroding mess of weeds when we first moved in. That spot has taken some serious work but it's getting better all the time. You can find more info on how to build the retaining wall here. 

Before

After

Finally, this past weekend I FINALLY got my perennial herb garden installed. Mostly. Still looking for a few plants but I got a lot of good ones including English thyme, rosemary, sage, and oregano. In the after picture you'll notice it looks a bit empty but these perennial plants will grow to fill in the space. It's important to not crowd your plants. Decorative rocks can visually fill the space till the plants do so. You can learn more about growing herbs here.

Before

After

 So there's an update from our yard. What projects have you been up to? Feel free to post in the comments below.

Three Principles For Frugal Homesteading

Simple, country living holds a lot of appeal. Who doesn't want peace and quiet, open space, and simplicity? However, if you're watching HGTV, it might seem that buying a home in the country and getting established is going to cost a pretty penny. Don't be discouraged! In many ways, living in the country is cheaper than the city: no HOA's, lower cost of living, fewer taxes, etc. If you're already enjoying the good life (in the country) or just thinking about it, here are three principles you need to embrace to afford the life style you want.

Patience: When it comes to gardening, I always say you can be patient or you can be rich. For instance, when I bought a few bushes recently, I could get the small size for $9 each or the next size up which were $45 each. Guess what? We're going to have to be patient while waiting for the bushes to grow. Seeds are cheaper than plants. Fruit trees take time to grow and bear fruit. We're not rich, so we have to be patient. Frankly, my favorite gardens are the ones built and developed over time anyways, not the squeaky clean ones that got installed professionally in a weeks time. Embrace patience.

Community: I touched on this in a recent post. Wealthy people can afford to hire professionals to do their work. They can also buy anything new when they want it. Not so much with us. We needed help moving and painting. Friends and family and lent us tools, shared plants with us and gave us materials they had but didn't need. When needed, we're happy to help them out in return. In time, I look forward to dividing perennials with others and being able to share from our homestead. In order to afford a rural lifestyle, you really need to be part of a community.

DIY: We can't always just afford to go buy what we want or need so we've embraced a spirit of Do It Yourself. If we can build it, paint it or create it ourselves, then we do. It is so much cheaper. Aside from the savings, it also gives our home more meaning and uniqueness. If you don't have a particular skill, then maybe you can get someone to help you in exchange for helping them out. My mother in law has made beautiful curtains for our home which is great since sewing isn't my thing (yet). In return, I've helped her out in the garden. Learning how to do things yourself is a huge part of homesteading.

What are some philosophies or principles you embrace to enjoy living in the country? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section below.