Making the Most of our Little Porch

We finally got around to cleaning off our porch. It felt good to get everything clean!

Our apartment is on the second storey of a building, so we just have a little landing and then a porch leading to our front door. Not much room, but we knew we wanted to make the most of what we had.

We had bags of salt and soil by the door, all my gardening junk in the back corner behind the recyclnig bin, the BBQ in the corner and Garrett’s bike up against the railing.

We ended up getting two wooden BOLLÖ Chairs and a KALVÖ folding aluminum table from IKEA for $25 each. This is the perfect set up because we can fold them up and tuck them in against the house whenever we need more space on the porch. I took these pictures a week ago, but now there is a little pot of yellow roses on the tabble that my mom gave me that was the centrepiece from my birthday dinner.

By the door I am adding a planter filled with dragon wing begonias and purple wave petunias that will trail down the side, but I need to get more soil before I can plant them.

To store all the garden supplies and those big bags of salt for winter, we grabbed two big black plastic bins (IKEA $9-$11) to stack under the recycling bin. Our BBQ still tucks away in the corner, and we just wheel it out when we need it.

Whiskey is loving the new porch area, especially when we put up a little gate at the end and let him wander around out there, watching the sidewalk for enemies.

In the plastic whiskey barrel ($16 at Canadian Tire), I planted cana in the middle, with dragon wing begonias around the side and three trailing plants inbetween – silvery licorice, something yellow and and something blue (I forget what they are called). I can’t wait to see it become more lush! The glass orbs are solar lights I found at Walmart (3 for $10)

They really light up the stairs at night, which is nice for those late night walks with Whiskey.

The metal planter was turned into our herb garden this year. I’ve always had to keep my herb garden inside, so I’m excited to see how well it does out here!

Everytime I look down the landing I get a big smile on my face. I can’t wait to see how it looks when the colour comes out. All the plants were purchased at my favourite garden centre Homestead Garden Growers. They are the same people who designed my front garden at the old apartment last year.

I plan to head back and get another strawberry plant from them this year, as well as a couple of plants for a smaller planter I would like to make near the door.