Sometimes you just need a sweet project to break up all the major projects. Or maybe you just need something to do with all the dried flowers you pressed with your daughter, with zero plan but lots of possibilities.
Over the last two summers, Kyrie and I started picking and pressing some of the flowers we’ve been growing. She kept asking me, “Mom, what are we going to do with all of these?” I have grand illusions of about a million projects, including creating a gardening journal complete with pressed flowers inspired by @missmustardseed (but that’s for another day). Instead, we picked and pressed to our hearts’ content without a real goal. We used parchment paper tucked into stacks of the biggest, heaviest books we have. It only takes a couple of weeks, and they are dried and ready to use.
I find the best ideas come from happenstance. I was at an outdoor antique fair this fall and found a few vintage frames for about $4 – $5 apiece. Again, with no true plan, I bought them because they were cool and you never know when inspiration might hit. When I got the frames home, it hit me, we should frame some of the pressed flowers! And no ego involved, I promise, but I had to start with heather.
Supplies: -vintage frame -pressed, dried flowers (DIY or you can find some on Etsy) -scrapbook paper -hot glue -velvet ribbon (via Amazon)
Directions: 1. I measured the scrapbook paper and cut it to match the size of the backing of the frame. I used black paper because I love the contrast.
2. I then played around with arrangement of the flowers until I found a pleasing look. Typically, you would arrange in odds, but this art piece was just begging for one more stem.
3. Once I was happy with the arrangement, I used hot glue to secure the ends of the flowers. The frames I bought did not have glass, so I had to do something to secure them. Hot glue, while treacherous, does the job well.
3. The ribbon comes next, and yes, it is 100% to hide the hot glue. Nothing but honesty on this blog. I also thought about creating a little tag or using some lace to hide the glue, but the velvet ribbon won this time!
4. I assembled the paper and frame, and voila, done! I even found a spot to hang it that already had a nail, win/win/win.
This project took all of 4 steps (5 if you add pressing the flowers), and maybe 15 minutes!
Did you know that there was a time when I had zero interest in gardening? Zero interest. When Kyrie was 3 or 4 years old Ryan decided to plant some strawberries in the backyard thinking it would be fun for the kids. I remember telling him I really didn’t want to start a garden. So he could do what he wanted but I had plenty on my plate and would not be contributing to the gardening thing. I was a bit grumpy about it if I’m being completely honest. Ryan will corroborate this story.
Then the strawberries started growing. And we got our very first one. It was completely delightful to see these beautiful sweet fruits growing. We were hooked, kids and parents alike. Yes, plural on parents. Uh-oh.
Then we added tomatoes.
Then raspberries.
Some cucumbers.
Then we moved to the Lost Wood.
Like so many other things, this is all entirely Ryan’s fault (in the best way), because now we had so much more space for a garden. So much more space! And suddenly, I am all in on gardening. All in!
We started by picking a location to put the garden, we needed some sort of flat-ish space (our lot is very sloped and full of trees), we needed to be able to fence it (the deer), and we needed optimal light (again, so many trees). After much consideration, we found a perfect spot basically in the front yard. Don’t worry, when you live in the country you can put your garden in the front yard and no one blinks. Promise. So much better than 5 abandoned vehicles.
Thus begins the start of a project that I thought would be pretty simple, but as always, this is the start of a giant snowball of a project. We called Ryan’s dad, Greg, to give us some advice on how to best prep the area for the garden. We were thinking we’d flatten out an area a bit and build 5 or 6 simple Wilco raised bed kits. Ryan’s dad evaluated the area and quickly determined we needed to take out some old cedar trees that were dead and dying.
As much as we hated to admit it, the trees were looking rough (and they were partially burned, which is a whole different story). The last thing we wanted to do was build a whole garden and have a tree fall on it. So I called a couple of tree companies for quotes. The “simple” project just got a bigger price tag.
We had about three large cedars removed and a couple smaller ones. At this point, we had unwittingly made a mess of the front yard and as a bonus, a ninja obstacle course for the kids. In great news, our neighbor offered to pay us for the logs. We were excited, it would offset the cost of having the trees cut down and get them out of the yard.
And the snowball begins.
Enter Ryan’s dad (again). When he heard we were going to sell the logs, he insisted we talk to his friend who has a portable mill. At this point, I was a tad frustrated. I just wanted to ditch the logs and make my simple kit garden. Priorities people! The friend came to evaluate the logs and told us we had some tremendous value on our hands — the trees were Western Red Cedar which was (is?) in high demand in the lumber world. And oh, by the way, were we planning to build our raised beds?
Side note: My friend Adrienne has a gorgeous raised bed garden. One I could only ever dream of having. She incidentally has taught me most of what I know about gardening! The amazingness of her dream garden started to enter my mind at this point.
After countless discussions and pricing and thinking and contemplating, we decided instead of making money and having someone take the logs, we would pay to have the wood milled for our purposes. Oh, and by the way, there isn’t just enough wood for the raised bed garden and corresponding fencing, but we can also get enough wood custom-milled to build an arbor for the entrance to the garden and a pergola for our back patio and still have some to spare. Believe it or not, we ended up with over 4 times the the cost of the project in custom-milled wood. Also, super green and sustainable because our wood would stay on our property and be repurposed to grow things!
The snowball is very real, but we are also super thankful for Greg’s insight on this one. We just had to get the giant logs transported about 30 miles south to the mill (cheaper than actually transporting the mill to our property). See how the project gets infinitely more complicated? Ryan, Greg, and his brother spent a couple of weekends making that happen.
Meanwhilst, as the wood was being milled, we hired an excavator to remove the remaining giant stumps, and level and prep the garden area. This ended up having a hefty price tag as well. Anyone who tells you gardening saves money is not being truthful. Ever heard of the $300 tomato? Well, we were in way deeper than $300 per tomato. But we went ahead and had the excavator put in the gravel pad and run irrigation lines as well. They did a beautiful job!
Because the area was so sloped and undulating to begin with (and covered in giant logs), we weren’t sure how much space we would end up with. But we ended up with a 33′ x 33′ area for the garden. And here’s a look at my plan (each square represents 3′ x 3′) and the gray areas represent the raised beds:
Once the milled wood was delivered, sorted, and stored, we started building the beds with two rows of 2′ x 12′ cedar boards. We added wire at the bottom of the beds to keep out pests like gophers. And lined them with black plastic to try to slow down future decay within the beds. We used stakes and string lines to get everything lined up just perfectly.
Soil and fencing came next. We partially filled the beds with wood chips from the logging process, then added good soil on top. The fence ended up being a LOT more difficult than we anticipated but so very necessary with the bold deer we have out here. We did end up staining the fencing the following summer.
Finally, I had the chance to start planting! I started with David Austin bare root roses in the center of the garden. I planted so many gorgeous varieties including Queen of Sweden, Olivia Rose Austin, Bascobel (my favorite), Lichfield Angel, Charlotte (obviously), Desdemona, and The Generous Gardener. I have since also added Princess Alexandra of Kent and The Alnwick Rose. I also planted dahlia tubers including Wizard of Oz, Cafe Au Lait, Breakout, Thomas Edison, Moor Place, Sweet Nathalie, and Linda’s Baby. All gorgeous! The outer beds were planted with various fruits and veggies.
I can’t even explain the sheer joy when the first rose started blooming. It was the culmination of a giant project and the magic of gardening. How does a dried-out stick turn into something as magical as a fragrant, delicate rose? Gardening has become a bit like parenthood in many ways for me. It’s a beautiful reminder of the miracle of life, God’s creativity on display, and they just delight me (kids and plants).
The garden came together beautifully. It was a huge project that we enjoyed and that the entire family will enjoy for years to come. The kids love picking strawberries and Kyrie is a verified plant lady already. Our dying trees gave back to new life, new miracles, new delights. Now I spend summers visiting and tending to my plants, marveling at each bloom, each harvest.
It hit me one evening as I was picking green beans for dinner, how novel it felt to be able to walk outside and gather part of our meal. Novel and so very satisfying. I started those green beans from tiny seeds! It also occurred to me that Ryan’s grandmother (an avid gardener) would have laughed at me for that thought. For so long gardening was an essential part of life, not a hobby. Amazing how quickly things change just within a couple of generations. I’ve enjoyed getting back to some of these basics out here in the Lost Wood Garden.
We put an antique screen door on the back entrance and plan to build an arbor entrance on the front. But that’s another project for another day!
XO,
—h
P.S. This all led to the building of our Not-Green Greenhouse, you can read about that here.
Rockin' the Dots 