IDEA: Designer Pool?

Yeah, we finally found the coolest idea for the pool we want to buid!!!!

Tel me what you think of this. . .

IDEA: Green Garden Furniture

What do you think of this - an awesome green, eco-friendly, reuse idea. And what perky pretty this will add!!!

GARDEN: Portager Phase 2 - Let the games begin

Phase 2 has been tiring and is not even nearly finished, but here's what we did get done in one day!

Below: Went of to the Nursery on Sunday and got some square steppings tones and plants for the portager.

Below: The plants packed out in the shade.

Below: Start of the resting area / portager patio!

Below: Just some details on the stones. 4 squares making one big square in the same patterns. Example below. Surrounded by 6 square other with various designs, not one of the 6 are the same.

Below: Deciding what goes where opened up a can of worms!!! Clearly this garden is muuuuccchhh bigger than what I thought, look, not even half the beds will be filled. From this photo you can also see the stones we started laying in the pathways leading in and down to the resting area.

Below: Revealing the secrets. We got these take away beer mugs at an expo on Saturday and we collected them. No, we did not drink that much beer!!!! They will work great in our eco-circles, which is the eco friendly garden style we decided on for this portager. More on this eco-circles to be revealed in good time.

Below: Planting decorative grass and ground coverings in between the square stones.

Below: The concept of the eco-circle is to have one large plastic plant container in the centre, planted in the circular bed. Or 2L coke bottle with the top cut off. Drill holes and plant it. I have planted 3 of the beer cups after we drilled little holes in them. Just to see as a test how this will work. I may make some of the other beds slightly different. When you water, you only fill the container(s) in the middle as appose to spraying water all over the plants.

 

Below: you can clearly see the 3 circles where I added compost to the soil. I counted about 15 circles in my garden. HEEEELLLPPPP!!!!! What was I thinking.

Below: Finally - one bed done!!! Butter lettuce and parsley mixed in my first eco-circle! And my only eco-circle for now. I think it will take a while to have the entire garden planted, but THIS is part of the journey, seeing it grow, and appreciating every step for what it is and for what it teaches us about ourselves and life in this world as we know it.



GARDEN: Portager Phase 1 - Humble Beginnings

Humble Beginnings Indeed. . .

Just a few shots to give you an idea what I mission it has been just to complete PHASE 1 - PREPARING THE SPACE.

Below: 3 photos from original state to final state of the portager before planting and layout can start.

Below: The area directly next to the portager will be converted into 2 parking spaces. So what we did here was to transplant the lavendar bushes further back behind and next to the small tree. We then transplanted some of the grass to the empty spot where the lavender bushes were before. Opening up more space for the parking area.

GARDEN: Plan, plan, plan, plan AND plan . . .

As I grow, not only in age, but also in my life experience, my marraige and in trusting in others - I realise more and more that I need to listen more and more to my husband.

He reminded me how important it is to plan a portager and to not just jump in and randomly expect to get Rome built in a day!

So I went out and got some tools that I have found very useful in my planning phase.

1. A lever arch file - This I am using to organise all the ideas I have seen in magazines and interesting articles I have found on gardening, growing veggetables, use of herbs, etc. I will share some of the content on this blog as time goes on!

2. A garden notebook - And I just fell inlove with this note book with the vintage feel, the gorgeous butterflies - DON'T DREAM YOUR LIFE, but instead LIVE YOUR DREAM! Which just reminds me that everything and anything you can imagine is possible if you just set your mind to it!!!

I will use this note book to make notes on the plants I plant, their growth progress, layout of the portager scetches, etc, etc, etc!!!!! If I am lucky and some inspiration flows through my veins, I may just write a poem or two.