Life at Cloverhill

Garden

My Little City Garden

Remember how earlier this month I cleaned up those hideous front gardens at my apartment? I knew I had to fill them with something, so I sent a few pictures over to my friend Amy and she took them over to her friend, Marlee, at Homestead Garden Growers.

I thought Amy was just going to show up with a few plants, but when she arrived last week she had flats and baskets full of new flowers and fresh herbs. AND a complete layout on how to plant them to make it all look pretty. To say I was pumped is an understatement!

On the left side of the porch, I followed Marlee’s directions and added Zinnias in the back, Celosia Red in the middle and then Dahlias in the front.

Look at how much they’ve already grown in a week!
I can’t wait to see them all start to come out.
The dahlias are already blooming and they look fantastic.

On the right side, I planted two Butterfly Marguerite Daises, which are those two tall yellow flowers that will hopefully hide that obnoxious meter a little bit. Up front are two Lavender Impatients that have already turned a beautiful colour.

It’s hard to see in this photo, but they are already growing so much bigger.
Happy yellow flowers. Daisies have always been one of my favorites 🙂

 

I also planted a few herbs in some containers that I could leave in the kitchen window of my apartment upstairs. I’m really looking forward to cooking with them.

This planter has oregano, thyme and chives.
There is also some mint for mojitos.
A little pot of basil – my favorite herb.
And some cilantro – the boyfriend’s favorite herb.

And this little guy. I bit into him the other day and it was the best strawberry I’ve had in ages. So red. So ripe. So juicy. The best part is that he came from the front porch.

Yep, thats right. Marlee was amazing and gave me this huge strawberry hanging basket that I nestled into a big pot I had lying around.

It is just covered in little blossoms right now.
Look whats hiding under the leaves!

I cannot wait for these to get nice and plump like the first one I tried. I think I am officially hooked on growing fresh strawberries.

I also got this massive hanging basket, but unfortunately I don’t have any hooks on my porch roof.

So, I took off the hook and placed it up on a big ledge by the pillars.
Now I get to admire it every time I leave the house and every time I come home.
So beautiful. Does anyone know what these are called?
These little guys are in there too. I love the bright colours!
I had tons of Celosias left, so I made to little corner gardens in the front yard.

 

I can’t wait for them to add some more colour to the yucky front yard and chain link fence. Please remember that this is a rental and I have no control over this. If it was me, this whole place would be redone. But I digress…

…look at how big they are getting already. If they keep this up, I’ll have a lush garden in no time.

This is what the garden looked like a couple of weeks ago when I tug out all the weeds and added in some new soil.

and here is a (fuzzy) picture of how it looks now with some plants. Once everything starts to bloom, its going to be a welcome sight for (very) sore eyes!