Garden Snapshot: Gopher Control Accomplished!

An overall shot! After 2 full days of work I finally have the "little garden" gopher-resitstant!!

I added in another raised bed...this time with aviary wire underneath so that the gophers can't invade. There is a smattering of herbs, along with strawberries and cucumbers in the middle!

I also added the same aviary wire on top of the entire middle section. In lieu of planting in the ground, I added these terra cotta planter and cocoa shell mulch over the wire.

I still haven't finished this back corner...so the gophers can still attack. Some have gotten in the back raised bed. Yikes! I decided to leave it for now and cross my finger that they don't get to my tomatoes and peas!!

New Alpine strawberries. I harvested this little guy and he was delicious!

 I can't help but love my nasturtiums. I no longer have any left in the ground...they are obviously a gophers favorite treat. They are now relinquished to pots.

They have been off to a bit of a rocky start...but the green beans have started climbing!

My new blackberry plant came with fruit! Now I just have to wait patiently to harvest the juicy berries.

Is this an orchid?

No...it is a geranium! 

I am head over heels with geraniums/pelargoniums and can't get enough. This one smell like mint (acutally kind of like Vicks Vapor Rub).

I'm exhausted and a bit sore from the garden overhaul this weekend...but I'm glad that it's done. My parents are in town and helped out tons in helping me get it all finished. I'm so glad that they are here to share the results with me. It's so lovely and peaceful in the garden now.

xo

Bailey

Before the Storm

 This evening after a lovely & sunny day, the thunder started rolling in over the mountains. The lighting outside was unreal and I decided to pop out and take some shots of the flowers (that are still left) in the garden.

Garden Muse

When asked to write about my garden mentor or muse...I was a bit stumped at first. Of course, I have some advisors that I can turn to in a pinch but I didn't really grow up learning about how to care for plants or a garden.

This lady changed it all.

Her name is Alys Fowler and her brilliant show "The Edible Garden" had me captivated. Have you seen it??

This is one of 6 episodes. I devoured them all. Back to back. It really made me excited to get out and put my hands in the dirt.

Since then (Jan. or Feb. of this past year), I have been striving to create a garden space of my own. 

Alys sparked the fire but Pinterest has helped fill my imagination. In the past few months, I've trolled and trolled for lovely images of other folks gardens, courtyards and patios. 

It's funny, when you don't really have any gardening experience or any specific person to turn to...it's really hard to know where to start. For this, I turned to the awesome BBC series, "How to be a Gardener" with Alan Titchmarsh.

Now that I am having to re-invision my space (because of those pesky gophers), I'm leaning on Pinterest for ideas of how to create a beautiful space that will work for me, without being destined for ruin.

First of all, instead of mainly dirt, I will need to switch to mainly gravel and/or a bark mulch. Before I was planning much more of an English Garden feel.

I love how this is lush and mainly in raised beds. There is gravel covering all of the exposed areas. I also love the large decorative urns.

I am still determined to grow vines...so I will need to plant them in gopher baskets or pots.

On Pinterest? Follow me or my gardening board for more inspiration.

I also heavily rely on the blog-o-sphere for tutorials and advice. In the beginning of my research, I devoured back articles on You Grow Girl, Mr. Brown Thumb and Gardenista.

Apparently, it takes an online village to mentor & inspire a gardener. Without knowing any of them, they have meant more to me than they'll ever know.

This post was written in response to the prompt "Write about your garden mentor or muse", part of the Grow Write Guild on You Grow Girl.  It is the fourth prompt in the series.

The Carnage & Starting Over

These past few weeks have been trying. Very trying.

The gophers (it has been confirmed) are attacking with a vengeance. They've pulled down into their holes almost every single gorgeous, blooming nasturtium that I planted. My beloved nasturtiums.

This area used to house my blooming nasturtiums. After taking these pictures...even more of the plants are gone.

In an effort to deter the gophers, I dug a trench and laid hardware cloth against the fence where they were entering. Did it work?

Nope.

I am now re-drawing and re-planning the garden. I basically have to pull everything out...replant what isn't damaged in gopher baskets. I may add some additional raised beds as well, so long as they have hardware cloth underneath them. 

In better news, my near dying passionfruit vine has blooms! I've realized that the vine was probably munched by gophers. It's wasn't my fault!

I still will probably need to sacrifice her, but for now, I will enjoy the gorgeous blooms.

My gardening ideas have drastically changed over the past few weeks as my dreams of my "little garden" have crashed. I have been knocked down but am getting up and learning from this experience. I am re-focusing my attention and re-invisioning my dreams of this space.

I will report back soon!

xoxo

Bailey