Working in the garden is one of my favorite summer activities. Watching greenery turn from little sprouts to flourishing plants is one of the most rewarding projects. Last year we made the decision to move the garden close to the house as we wanted everything to be centralized for Cope. The garden used to be our in the side pasture, and moving up just steps away from the house has made it so much more accessible. This year we have a lot of projects planned to get closer to creating the cottage garden of our dreams. While we still have a ways to go (and grow) I wanted to bring you up to speed to where we are with all of our garden updates. One of the main things I decided to do to the garden was change the entire layout & add many things to make it closer to the cottage garden of my dreams. But a lot of changes still need to be made, let’s check in on all of the progress…
Garden Trellis and Obelisks
The first project we did to start off our garden updates was to make DIY Garden Obelisks. I had a vision and like always, Jose was able to come through with bringing it to life. If you would like to see the step-by-step guide on what Jose used to build the obelisks, click here [HERE]. We also added some other trellis’ for our beans, which you can find here [HERE]. If you would like to see other garden trellis and obelisk options, click any of the images below:
Garden Boxes
Last year when we made the decision to move the garden closer to the house, we made simple garden boxes and laid them all out in rows. They were great to get our garden started for the season. You can check out how we made the garden boxes here [HERE]. While that layout worked great for us last year, I didn’t see working for us long term.
As we were planning our garden out for this year, I really wanted a layout that was more organic and felt like more of an enjoyable experience that we were able to have while working in the garden. So the garden boxes were moved as raised up from the ground a bit. Once the garden beds were moved, I really felt the vision of an English garden come to life. We still may end up staining them with a garden-friendly wood stain, but for now, I am loving the design that is coming to life.
The Michigan Fountain
I have always dreamt of having a water feature in our garden. The flowing sounds that a fountain creates are so relaxing and really adds another element. So when I saw this fountain, appropriately named The Michigan Fountain [HERE], I knew that it was meant to be. This fountain is really such a dream and instantly makes our garden more like the English cottage garden I have always dreamt of.
Cope’s “Tree House”
If you have been reading the blog for quite some time now, you may remember our small greenhouse that we purchase to store some garden items in and out from the weather. If you would like to read more about its original use, click here [HERE] to see its original post.
Now, we have Cope’s imagination to give us ideas for repurposing items around the farm. We were in the field playing over the weekend and Cope kept calling the Vegetable Greenhouse his “Tree House”. I love the idea of Cope having a place to play in and around the garden while we work.
What We are Planting
- Tomatoes
- Beans
- Peas
- Lettuce
- Onions
- Strawberries
- Pumpkins (going outside the garden fence)
- Roses by David Austin Roses
Our Garden Now
Other Sources
To grow the grass back in the spots where the old garden beds were, we are using this seed starter mat [HERE] to help speed up the process. While it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing to look at right now, grass will soon start to grow! I’ve heard from so many of you that it really works and to stay patient! If grass doesn’t start to grow soon, we may switch to pea gravel.
If you would like to read more about the fencing we chose, we actually wrote a review on it last year! Spoiler alert… we still love it. But I’ll let you check out the full review here [HERE].
Check out the Review for our Greenhouse here [HERE].
You can shop all of my cottage garden finds and more by clicking the images below:
What do you think of the cottage garden updates we have been doing? Let me know on Facebook or Instagram. Thank you all for coming to the blog today and every day!
xx Liz Marie
