Making Lemonade out of Lemons in the Garden

A couple years ago, when I was working on my last book, I had a big oooooopsy with a small pot of paint -- spilling a big stripe down the outside of the shed. You might remember it. I tried to correct the color and because the shed was painted with a stain many years ago, I couldn't quite get the stripe right. I guess I could have but I had other things to do and knew that for the photo in the book, there was always Photoshop! 

This year, as I was planning my garden, I thought about how I could cover up that unsightly stripe. I decided to grow morning glories as they make a nice vertical carpet of flowers and leaves. I planted a piece of woven wire next to the shed and then stuck in some multi colored morning glories. And then I waited. 

Here is what the shed looks like now with the morning glories. I love it. I planned to put a string up to the top of the roof so they went totally crazy but never got to it. Maybe next year. 

Here is an overall shot of the veggie/flower garden in its wild, end of season state. I love all the haphazardness of the plants and blooms falling every which way.

Here are some of the flowers I grew - for bouquets and just for color and their beauty. 

I follow the Floret Flower Blog and watched some videos early in the year that suggested pinching back various plants. She suggested pinching celosia, zinnias, amaranth, snapdragons and cosmos. I decided to take her advice. I can't say I will do it again though. The zinnias did okay and branched out beautifully after an application of Azomite. I have 12 cosmos plants that are huge but only 2 have flowers. Lots of greenery but no flowers. The celosia were set back big time by the pinching and now are just taking off. The snapdragons are a mess - I think that is because of all the moisture and rain. I don't know if I will grow them again. So next year I think I will only pinch the zinnias and just let the others go. 

On a good note - I grew butternut squash and have a bumper crop. Our summer squash and zucchini plants fed us nightly for at least a month and a half. 

I guess the failure of each garden is part of the fun and what keeps gardening interesting. What do you think? I know the weather and the soil has so much to do with it but then there's what you do to the plants. I always start my garden so late but that's what I like to do. I am never too anxious to put stuff in the ground because of frost and because of things I have going on. 

If you are a gardener and have the time, share what were your successes or failures this year in the comments. Pretty soon it will be all over and we will be waiting to begin again. 

Pottery Shed Exterior Decoration

When Kevin fixed up the old garden shed to become my new pottery throwing studio, I had him replace 3 rickety windows with my old kitchen window that he had just also replaced. The old kitchen window was single paned and just above my sink. It had begun to rot and I couldn't even close it tightly anymore. It still had a bit of use left in it though so in it went. 

Because the window took up less room than the 3 windows, he filled the space with some plywood. I had to think of something to do with the two areas of un-aged raw plywood. I took inspiration from Maud Lewis' folk art inspired exterior paintings of her home in Nova Scotia. You can watch a short film about her here. 

I had never painted decoratively on plywood before this summer. It has a rough crinkly texture so it is hard to work like I usually do on flat smooth surfaces like pottery or paper. I decided to just go for it and see what happened. 

First I primed the plywood with basic white. I decided to paint flowers in pottery jugs because I'll be making vases inside the little building. Someday - when all this other work gets done. 

Here's a progression of the first vase with flowers. 

Then I had an accident with some green paint by getting off the ladder without closing the lid on the paint. Big oops. I will have to try to match the color of the shed - which won't be easy. It is stained and it is aged. I'll give it a try though. For the final photos, I can always stick a giant sunflower in front of the oops. 

This is what it looked like after Day One. I like how the blue background color worked - I left some of the white primer showing through - going with the texture of the plywood. 

On Day Two, I had more confidence in what I was doing - standing on the third step of the ladder flinging paint on. I had to hurry because it was late in the day so I didn't take any process photos. Here's the second painting. My sister Laurie thought they were shutters so maybe that is what I will call them. 

I had to hurry to finish before the sun went down. Here are 4 process photos of decorating the vases and then lining the flowers to make them pop. 

Here's the finished look with the giant oops that I will have to do something about. 

I am happy the way it is shaping up. Now to plant a little sunflower garden below the windows now that I don't need to have the ladder in there anymore. 

The Garden Shed Project - Exterior

This week, I've continued working on the the new version of the Garden/Tool Shed. I scraped the entire exterior. What a job - I hate scraping peeling paint but someone had to do it! I washed it all down - with a bleach solution trying not to get it on the plants. Then I primed and painted the entire thing in an exterior basic white paint. What a job. 

Next I had to tackle the front porch section. This is what the floor looked like before. Notice the brambles growing up through the floor. It was a nightmare.

The little railing looked almost as bad. More bleach-y water and I was ready to go. 

I painted the floor a pretty mossy green - two coats did it. I painted the railing too. Two more coats of white exterior paint. I have been a painting maniac.

Then for the fun part - decide on a new door color. I had some leftover exterior oil based floor paint in a super fun color called Peony from Benjamin Moore. Two coats and the paint can is empty now. That is a good feeling. I think I used it on the stairs in my studio in 2010. 

I love how the moss green looks with the peony pink. 

Nice contrast of complementary colors although this photo is a little brighter than it really looks. 

I cleaned out the little garden that I had planted a few years ago and planted some pink annuals and the Heavenly Blue Morning Glories that will be all over the archway by September. It is so much fun to plan these projects in my head and then visualize what they will look like in a couple months. Oh the possibilities. Now we really need some rain!

This Week on the Farm - Progress

It's been a busy week here on the farm. Julia is finished with school for the year. Next year she will be a senior. I can't believe it. 

I finally finished the floor in the shed. Here's how the floor looked on about Monday. 

But before that, I forgot to show you the ceiling after 6 cans of white spray paint. I like how it looks. It almost has a blue cast to it which I think is from the reflection of the blue walls. I'm really happy I decided to paint it because the colors of the raw wood and the metal roof were really bothering my aesthetic sensibilities. 

I played with the idea of leaving the flowers on the faux rug just as they were but then decided to keep going with my style of outlining. (Thanks for all your input on that!) Here is a photo of half way done outlining. The flowers really do pop once outlined. Although it takes a steady hand, I like to make the lines thick and thin to give it more of an artistic touch. Interesting how the blue walls are changing the look of the colors on the floor. 

I applied 3 coats of a polyacrylic over a period of days. It will protect the floor. Although this little shed won't be walked in a lot, I thought it good to protect. There are only screens in the shed and because of the dirt that happens on a farm - along with the dirt from the dirt road, it will get dusty. 

Now I am thinking about doing something about window shades just so I can keep the dirt at bay during the off season when I won't be going in and out so much. Decoratively of course. Another opportunity to decorate with pattern! 

I'm also working on painting a little bookcase. I had some leftover yellow paint from the studio door and thought it would really brighten up the space and provide some contrast. My experience with yellows and oranges is that they don't cover well so it will be at least 2 coats of paint. Man my studio is a real disaster. That is how I roll - chaos all over the place. Serious chaos - everywhere I look. It's a good thing inside my head there is some order. Have to get this place cleaned up for the Creative Retreat that will be here in just about 3 weeks. 

While we are talking yellow, check out this gorgeous kitchen in the color of yellow egg yolks. Glorious. See more over on Ben Pentreath's blog. It is one of my very favorites ones to read. He usually posts every Sunday and his photos of England and the UK are fabulous. He also has a new book coming out.  It is called English Houses: Inspirational Interiors from City Apartments to Country Manor Houses. (affiliate link) Can't wait to see it because his last one was so gorgeous and inspirational. 

Bright yellow is really having a moment in the interior world. 

I also have been in the garden pretty much all this week when not at the Tuesday Farmers Market - planting annuals, cleaning up the little gardens around the house and sweeping up debris. Today is going to be hot along with this weekend. We do desperately need rain. 

My friend Kay sent me this video. Pretty awesome. Tom Riccardi is a local guy and he is frequently featured in photos by Paul Franz in the local Greenfield Recorder. Fun to see a video though.  

Hope you all have a great weekend. Get outside and enjoy the warm weather and long days. 

Turquoise + Pink Garden/Tool She Shed Progress

This past Saturday was gorgeous. Even better was Julia and Mark went to a Reunion for Mark's 40th Class Reunion from NMH and I was left alone with hours alone. I went full tilt into working on the second She Shed for my upcoming book. 

I scraped the peeling paint on entire exterior and then washed it with a bleach solution. Then I went inside and painted the walls and floor. (I had primed the inside on Friday.) I had a whole lot of extra Poolside Blue left from the first She Shed so that made my color decision easy for the walls. If I didn't like it I could always change it. On the floors, I went with a pink which is really not me but lately I have been loving the combo of turquoise and pink. And this is a shed and I want it to be fun and colorful. I've got further plans for the floor too. 

By the time that was done, I went back outside and primed all the bare wood on the exterior of the shed because it was dry. It was a big work day Saturday. We had massive amounts of rain on Sunday so I'm glad I got so much done on Saturday. 

Yesterday I began with the decoration. The theme for this She Shed is Gardening and it seemed appropriate to do something "gardeny" on the walls. I began by paint undulating stripes down the walls. The shed isn't big - just 8 x 8 so the painting goes quickly. I primed part of the upper walls but it was too much to paint all the woodwork. I'm thinking of using some cans of spray paint for that - or maybe tenting the ceiling with fabric. Not sure what yet. 

I cut out a leaf shape from heavy paper and used it as a template. Using a pencil, I drew the leaves onto the stems. Then it was a mad dash to paint them all before dinner.

I had just enough time to slap another coat of pink on the floor. When I went outside, I looked up and the sky was so pretty.

And there was Beau waiting patiently for in some weeds next to the chicken coop. 

Tuesday Farmer's Market in Northampton today. Maybe I will see some of you there. I'll be there from 1:30 to 6:30. Enjoy the day and the week everyone!

Beautiful Green + Progress This Week on Shed

The colors have been astoundingly gorgeous this week. Green has always been my favorite color so I love this time of year when the greens are so lush and new. Here is a photo of our dirt road.

I've been working hard on my new pottery shed. This week, I finished the interior including scraping the paint off the windows and washing the windows. It is looking good. Although these photos do not do the space justice, here are the wall treatments. I'm not showing the floor because there are still stacks of things all over - including all the paint buckets and tools I used. 

This is the east wall, looking towards my yet un-tilled garden. Next week that is happening. Do you see the Ball Jar on the table? I found these great lids at the Farmers Exchange that turn a Ball Jar into a drinking cup with a straw. They come in packs of 4 and are really handy if you are on the go. Order via Amazon here (affiliate link). 

Here is the same wall with the windows closed. The color is so off - sorry - cellphone camera. One of the cats submerged my good camera's battery charger and extra battery in a pot of water in the sink so I am without my good camera until the replacements come in. At least it wasn't my camera!

This is the same wall showing the door.

Here is the west side which looks out to the sheep pasture. Another awful photo. The windows are a pretty electric blue and the walls are turquoise. 

While I was painting, the sheep started their evening grazing. 

This is the south facing wall. 

I still have more to do in here - like outfitting it with my pottery wheel and getting some shelves. But I have no time to throw pots right now so that will wait. I'm probably going to get these shelves. They are reasonably priced, hold a lot of weight, are easy to put together and pottery sits nicely on them. Now that there are spray paints that you can paint plastic with, I will probably change the gray color to something more fun. 

Yesterday I started the second shed which is going to be a garden and tool shed. It was originally Julia's playhouse but she never used it once because she hates to go outside. What a country girl she isn't. Just ask her. Not only do I have to paint the inside and decorate it, the outside is peeling so badly that I'm going to have to paint it too. Back to the paint store. I'm hoping for a good stretch of dry weather so I can rock and roll on it. 

Thanks to everyone who have been signing up for the Creative Retreats here at the farm this summer and fall. It is looking to be a fun time for all - including me! Have a great weekend everyone! 

p.s. I just got an email from Spoonflower - the digital printing fabric company. They are having a 25% off sale on their Linen/Cotton Canvas through Monday. I've ordered this weight fabric for tablecloths and upholstery and it is really nice. Regular price is $27/yard. On sale $20.25/yard. If you are tempted, this is a good savings. Here is a link to my fabric designs on Spoonflower.