Even though the weather is rainy, foggy and cold today, I decided to post a Frugal Friday garden tip anyway!
I have been looking through some gardening blogs this past week for some inspiration. Wow, there a lot of fabulous gardeners across our country. There are more blogs than I could ever read and they are extremely inspirational. And even though I can't even see my garden right now due to the 3 feet of snow that is covering it, it is still fun to plan ahead. Next week promises spring like temperatures so perhaps we will be able to get out and start gardening sometime next week.
It never fails to amaze me at the amazing ways people find to re-purpose items. Yes, we have all seen people plant flowers in old boots or old sinks and things along those lines, but when I was over at Garden Fresh Living yesterday, I took the time to watch some of the videos that Theresa Loe, the owner of the blog and the Associate Producer of the PBS show Growing a Greener World, has posted. You can actually watch the shows from her blog and so I decided to watch the one that featured her garden on less than 1/5th of an acre in Los Angeles. Since I too live on about 1/5th of an acre, I am always very interested in seeing how other people create sustainable gardens in such a small space.
Her garden is a lovely cottage style garden and has a mix of flowers and vegetables and she even has a chicken coop with several backyard chickens. A girl after my own heart! While she has a lot of re-purposed items throughout her entire garden, the one thing that really caught my eye, was the old glass doorknobs that she had attached to the top of metal pipes and put into the ground to use as a hose guards. I thought that was very clever and I am definitely going to use that tip in my garden this summer. How many times have you smashed down a plant when the hose got drug over it? I have done it plenty! Her re-purposed hose guards kept the hose out of the flower beds and they looked adorable as well. I am going to write to her and see if she will tell me how she attached the door knobs to the metal pipes. Perhaps you can find a piece of pipe that fits right into them. I am not sure. But I will be sure to let you all know.
I hope you will return often to our blog because as summer approaches because I will be posting lots of pictures of the projects I undertake here at the office, as well as at my home garden in hopes of helping and inspiring others here in Pine Cove to garden more. Ideas will include re-purposing items, water saving ideas, composting, mulch, plants that do well up here, natives and many other things along the way.
Showing posts with label cottage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cottage. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, November 20, 2009
Increasing living space without increasing energy costs
As the owner of a small 900 sq. ft. cottage, I know first hand how it is when living space is at a premium. But is bigger really better? I don't think so. Living in a small space saves energy, however, it can be a challenge trying make the most of a small space. So I got to thinking, how can a person increase their living space without going to the expense of major construction, which would in turn increase their energy use?
After a little research, I came up with some great ideas. For instance, if you have a high vaulted ceiling, you can add a loft which would increase the square footage of your home and give you more living space, but wouldn't increase your heating and cooling costs. It would also be a lot more economical than adding on a traditional room. You can also consider closing in an existing deck or patio, either with screening or windows, depending on what you will be using it for.
There are many other "mini spaces" you can add on to make your home seem bigger without the major construction involved in adding on a room. How about taking out a sliding glass door and adding a small nook or niche? Bay windows that extend down to the floor can also expand a room without actually adding on. A garden room put on over an existing deck or patio can also be utilized to increase your living space while keep costs reasonable.
During the warmer months, why not think about adding an outdoor room. A deck, porch, or patio can do double duty as an outdoor kitchen, dining room, living room or entertainment space. They can be as elaborate or simple as you want, depending on your budget. They can be attached to your house or you can make a space in an attractive area of your yard. A ground level deck is easy to construct and there is a wide variety of materials available for making patios. We all know food tastes better outdoors, so why sit in a hot house and eat dinner when the great outdoors is beckoning? And really, what could be better than sipping your morning tea or coffee outside with the birds and squirrels watching the sun rise? The winter months provide a great time to sit and dream and plan where you could add an outdoor room, so get out your pad and pencil!
Have you ever thought about installing an outdoor shower? A simple garden hose can be turned into a solar water heater. Or you can go all out and have a plumber run hot and cold water lines to your outside shower. How much fun would it be to shower outside under a canopy of pines and cedars? As a bonus, the water you use to shower can be put to use in the garden.
So if you are feeling like you need more space, stop and think about the impact of new construction, not only on your wallet, but on the environment as well. Perhaps one of the above suggestions would help improve your living space and keep you energy use from going up!
After a little research, I came up with some great ideas. For instance, if you have a high vaulted ceiling, you can add a loft which would increase the square footage of your home and give you more living space, but wouldn't increase your heating and cooling costs. It would also be a lot more economical than adding on a traditional room. You can also consider closing in an existing deck or patio, either with screening or windows, depending on what you will be using it for.
There are many other "mini spaces" you can add on to make your home seem bigger without the major construction involved in adding on a room. How about taking out a sliding glass door and adding a small nook or niche? Bay windows that extend down to the floor can also expand a room without actually adding on. A garden room put on over an existing deck or patio can also be utilized to increase your living space while keep costs reasonable.
During the warmer months, why not think about adding an outdoor room. A deck, porch, or patio can do double duty as an outdoor kitchen, dining room, living room or entertainment space. They can be as elaborate or simple as you want, depending on your budget. They can be attached to your house or you can make a space in an attractive area of your yard. A ground level deck is easy to construct and there is a wide variety of materials available for making patios. We all know food tastes better outdoors, so why sit in a hot house and eat dinner when the great outdoors is beckoning? And really, what could be better than sipping your morning tea or coffee outside with the birds and squirrels watching the sun rise? The winter months provide a great time to sit and dream and plan where you could add an outdoor room, so get out your pad and pencil!
Have you ever thought about installing an outdoor shower? A simple garden hose can be turned into a solar water heater. Or you can go all out and have a plumber run hot and cold water lines to your outside shower. How much fun would it be to shower outside under a canopy of pines and cedars? As a bonus, the water you use to shower can be put to use in the garden.
So if you are feeling like you need more space, stop and think about the impact of new construction, not only on your wallet, but on the environment as well. Perhaps one of the above suggestions would help improve your living space and keep you energy use from going up!
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Potager vs Cottage
If you have decided to put in some edible landscaping, you may be wondering where to start. There are a couple of types of gardens that blend edibles with ornamentals. One is an English cottage garden and the other one is a French potager garden. Both can be beautiful and as simple or as grand as you would like. I will try to explain the difference.
The confusion between the two gardening styles are more practical vs esthetic, but borrowing on one another. The French and English had ties through the monarchies and borrowed from one anothers cultures and customs, including gardening and animal husbandry. Modern-day "organic gardening" and "intensive gardening" have their origins in old French gardening practices using companion planting of flowers and herbs with veggies and fruits, composting and keeping small barnyard animals, as well as many other simple and practical gardening-homesteading methods.
Potager is French, basically a kitchen garden, and traditionally was fairly structured in layout, often with potted plants and ornamental structures as well as herbs and flowers. It was separate from purely ornamental gardens, and close to the kitchen (potage itself meant soup). The potager had no association with poverty, as large estates kept them for the household. In France, approximately 23% of the fruits and vegetables consumed are home grown.
The Potager Garden was a designated plot; a special garden wherein was grown veggies & herbs for 'potage' (meaning, any plant you can eat), with flowers that were good companion plants for insect control or to improve the growth and production of the vegetables and herbs, and for attracting bees to pollinate. Many of the flowers were to be eaten, as well, i.e. Calendulas (Pot Marigolds), Nasturtiums, chives, chamomile, peas, and others, even roses. Orchards were often planted nearby for convenience as well as beauty and pollination, as both attract bees.
Potager Gardens could be quite formal (for the wealthy), or not (for the more humble classes). Paths could be paved and plots geometrically layed out and fenced with shrubberies or permanent structures (lovely, formal French manor-style gardens), or as in the provential kitchen "yardens" or small acreages, potage gardens more often had paths of dirt that merely wound casually through informal, asymmetrical plots of this and that. They were more often found right out the kitchen door of the humble French home for easy access and for safety and security.
Potager gardens were designed to be more practical, but not to ever be at the expense of 'esthetic appeal'. Even the practical could be beautiful. Beautiful and fragrant gardens promoted good mental health. It was a chance for some fresh air and sunshine out of dreary, dark, often ill-lit and sometimes dank houses. If your mind was happy & well, your body often was too.
Cottage gardening is English in origin and originally focused on edibles out of necessity. The "cottages" were just that: small houses occupied by people of very modest means, perhaps originally serfs who were allowed to grow for personal use or even market on the small plots allocated to them. Space was at a premium, so things were crammed together to get the most out of the growing space available-- also why cottage gardens include so many trellises, arbors, etc. Most would have had animals as well. Chickens for eggs, a pig for meat, a cow or goats for milk.
Cottage Gardens were designed to utilize a limited space around the home, often the front yard. They were neither formal nor geometrical in design. They seldom utilized perfect symmetry in lay-outs. Dirt or gravel paths that would lead you from one garden area to another, often totally obscured from the view by hedgerows of privet, evergreen, ivy clad rock walls or fences with tall flowers, like hollyhocks, foxgloves, or rambling, climbing roses. Arches and trellising extended the gardens farther into the air, so more could be planted on less ground and they could completely block out their neighbors for more privacy.
This lead to the romantic, flower filled gardens, complete with a rose covered cottage, that we envision today when we hear the term cottage garden. Clearly, the meaning of both has evolved over the years, particularly in the last century, as fewer people in western society depended on what they could produce to eat. Now we often think of the cottage garden as strictly ornamental, a style rather than a necessity; and of the potager as a charming way to grow vegetables in an ornamental setting.
No matter which style of garden you decide will work best for you, remember to amend your soil with lots of organic compost, water deeply and less frequently using drip irrigation or other water wise irrigation, and mulch to retain as much moisture as possible. If you are going to plant a lot of ornamentals, look for native plants that will thrive in our mountain landscape and have low water requirements. If you are going to do a mix of edibles and ornamentals, make sure you plant plants with similiar water and light requirements together, such as roses and tomatoes.
By doing your homework on a plant's light and water needs, you can create a beautiful garden that thrives here on our mountain and provides you with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and is beautiful to look at as well.
The confusion between the two gardening styles are more practical vs esthetic, but borrowing on one another. The French and English had ties through the monarchies and borrowed from one anothers cultures and customs, including gardening and animal husbandry. Modern-day "organic gardening" and "intensive gardening" have their origins in old French gardening practices using companion planting of flowers and herbs with veggies and fruits, composting and keeping small barnyard animals, as well as many other simple and practical gardening-homesteading methods.
Potager is French, basically a kitchen garden, and traditionally was fairly structured in layout, often with potted plants and ornamental structures as well as herbs and flowers. It was separate from purely ornamental gardens, and close to the kitchen (potage itself meant soup). The potager had no association with poverty, as large estates kept them for the household. In France, approximately 23% of the fruits and vegetables consumed are home grown.
The Potager Garden was a designated plot; a special garden wherein was grown veggies & herbs for 'potage' (meaning, any plant you can eat), with flowers that were good companion plants for insect control or to improve the growth and production of the vegetables and herbs, and for attracting bees to pollinate. Many of the flowers were to be eaten, as well, i.e. Calendulas (Pot Marigolds), Nasturtiums, chives, chamomile, peas, and others, even roses. Orchards were often planted nearby for convenience as well as beauty and pollination, as both attract bees.
Potager Gardens could be quite formal (for the wealthy), or not (for the more humble classes). Paths could be paved and plots geometrically layed out and fenced with shrubberies or permanent structures (lovely, formal French manor-style gardens), or as in the provential kitchen "yardens" or small acreages, potage gardens more often had paths of dirt that merely wound casually through informal, asymmetrical plots of this and that. They were more often found right out the kitchen door of the humble French home for easy access and for safety and security.
Potager gardens were designed to be more practical, but not to ever be at the expense of 'esthetic appeal'. Even the practical could be beautiful. Beautiful and fragrant gardens promoted good mental health. It was a chance for some fresh air and sunshine out of dreary, dark, often ill-lit and sometimes dank houses. If your mind was happy & well, your body often was too.
Cottage gardening is English in origin and originally focused on edibles out of necessity. The "cottages" were just that: small houses occupied by people of very modest means, perhaps originally serfs who were allowed to grow for personal use or even market on the small plots allocated to them. Space was at a premium, so things were crammed together to get the most out of the growing space available-- also why cottage gardens include so many trellises, arbors, etc. Most would have had animals as well. Chickens for eggs, a pig for meat, a cow or goats for milk.
Cottage Gardens were designed to utilize a limited space around the home, often the front yard. They were neither formal nor geometrical in design. They seldom utilized perfect symmetry in lay-outs. Dirt or gravel paths that would lead you from one garden area to another, often totally obscured from the view by hedgerows of privet, evergreen, ivy clad rock walls or fences with tall flowers, like hollyhocks, foxgloves, or rambling, climbing roses. Arches and trellising extended the gardens farther into the air, so more could be planted on less ground and they could completely block out their neighbors for more privacy.
This lead to the romantic, flower filled gardens, complete with a rose covered cottage, that we envision today when we hear the term cottage garden. Clearly, the meaning of both has evolved over the years, particularly in the last century, as fewer people in western society depended on what they could produce to eat. Now we often think of the cottage garden as strictly ornamental, a style rather than a necessity; and of the potager as a charming way to grow vegetables in an ornamental setting.
No matter which style of garden you decide will work best for you, remember to amend your soil with lots of organic compost, water deeply and less frequently using drip irrigation or other water wise irrigation, and mulch to retain as much moisture as possible. If you are going to plant a lot of ornamentals, look for native plants that will thrive in our mountain landscape and have low water requirements. If you are going to do a mix of edibles and ornamentals, make sure you plant plants with similiar water and light requirements together, such as roses and tomatoes.
By doing your homework on a plant's light and water needs, you can create a beautiful garden that thrives here on our mountain and provides you with fresh, organic fruits and vegetables and is beautiful to look at as well.
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