Bohemian Garden in Monroe, MI

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Sculpture from the Krohn Conservatory that has inspired me
  1 of 5 Magnify

Ideas for My Bohemian Garden

By: Liz
Mar 01, 2012

1) Add my version of a sculpture that I saw at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati.

 

2) Make a new garden out of cement blocks and paint them aqua.....I'm thinking of planting potatoes in it.

 

3) Main colors I'll be using: either aqua, purple, and lime green or aqua, blue, and lime green.

 

4) Make colorful plant tags that will withstand the weather.....using the pretty seed packets.

 

5) My husband will make a new arbor which I will paint aqua to grow birdhouse gourds and long beans.

 

6) Make bloom boxes to grow several different kinds of lettuces.

 

7) Make mosaics out of 3 recycled mirrors my husband is framing for me.

 

8) Make a trellis (possibly 2) out of an old boxspring.

 

9) Set up the rain barrel I bought last year.

Queen_of_Green replied about 1 year ago
I can't wait to see what you do with this! It sounds really fun...
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Queen_of_Green: It's all in my head.....I can actually visualize it.....But it will take time to get it all finished.
Queen_of_Green replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: It will be SO worth it though, no matter how long it takes! I know it will be beautiful when you are done. :)
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Queen_of_Green: Thanks!
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
...let the games begin ! I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with all the photos on your gardens !   ☺
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: Not to worry.....site is still running SO slow for me only when I'm logged in my name.....it will take forever to add photos and make comments.  I looked at the new gardens this morning not logged in just because I can go through the photos faster.  I'm getting frustrated!!
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: You probably have too many things running in the background on your computer that don't need to be running or could be you have too many cookies being stored on your computer too. That will slow things down a lot !  ☺
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: I'll show your comment to my husband later because remember I am basically computer illiterate and the only cookies I know are the ones that you eat!!  Thanks, though, and I hope it works!!
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: I suppose he has his own computer and it's running beautifully...while the love of his life is struggling to look at a photo ! Computers need a little love and affection and some maintenace done to keep them looking and running great !  ♥
Queen_of_Green replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: You had better eat your Wheaties! :)
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: I'm up and running again.  You know what it was?  I have not been removing my email notifications.....never!!!  I read them from my email not from this site.  As soon as they were removed, I'm up and running fast again!!  I told you that I'm computer illiterate!! 
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: Great news !  ☺
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: Great news that I'm computer illiterate?  LOL
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: Hahaha !  ☺
Clenram replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: Great problem solving!
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Clenram: Thanks to my gardening buddy, dreamwanderon!! 
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: Aww shucks !  ☺
Clenram replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: Good job you saved the day!
Kristen replied about 1 year ago
Looks like you have quite a to-do list...inspirational!  I like your idea of the cement block structure for potatoes....I just might try it.  Looking forward to seeing your list come to fruition - keep the photos coming!
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Kristen: I've been thinking about this for a while, but after seeing that sculpture at the Krohn Conservatory last weekend things started to click.  I've seen several people on YGS use those cement blocks, plus I've also seen the idea in magazines.  Last year someone on YGS grew potatoes mostly in layers of straw and I might try that.  I just wish I remembered who the gardener was so I could go back and reread it.  I definitely will keep posting photos. 
Clenram replied about 1 year ago
@Liz:  I can't wait to see what you are doing over there!
Kristen replied about 1 year ago
@Liz:great - looking forward to it!
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
You're inspiring. I'm looking forward to seeing everything.
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Groundskeeper: Thanks!  Passionate, crazy, obsessed......People that know me have called me all of those and more!
milliesgarden replied about 1 year ago
I'm curious about the arbor for your gourds and beans.  Do you have an idea of the style you want yet?  Photos?  I want to build one myself this year, but just want it to be very simple and cheap :) 
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
@milliesgarden: I love to use re-bar for trellises. A ten-foot length of three-eights inch cost about two dollars. I push each piece two feet into the ground (two hands and just my own weight) so there's eight feet of air space for vines. One of my trellises is four pieces each at a corner of a square two feet on a side. I curved the top foot or so of each piece so they meet, and I wired them together. This arrangement is big enough for a mature clematis but maybe not a gourd vine. However the solution is to keep adding re-bar. You can see what I'm describing if you click here.  There's a wintry photo that's closer here. Click to the next photo too, it shows the trellis with clematis climbing to the top and flowering.
Liz replied about 1 year ago
The trouble with re-bar is I have concrete under all that mulch in the garden area.  As it is I'll (really my husband) will have to jack-hammer the concrete where the posts will go and probably cement them in.  @milliesgarden  Right now I'm just thinking of a simple wooden arbor made of 4X4 wood with 4 posts and wooden slats(?) across the top, maybe put some wood on the sides like a ladder or attach wire for the gourds and foot long beans.  I would paint the wood aqua and when the plants started growing you wouldn't see a lot of the arbor.  Nothing elaborate.  Because of the concrete, it will also have to have 2 small raised gardens built on each side so I have enough soil to grow my plants.  But I'm not the builder so I might get something totally different than I am planning.  that happens all the time!!  When the kids were little, my husband built them a swing set with a tower, slide, bridge, a pole to slide down, etc. and I just laughed because he made it so big, I asked him if he thought we had jolly green giant kids!!
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: You're gardening on concrete, and more power to you. Alas, you're right, re-bar won't drill through concrete.
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Groundskeeper: That entire area where the raised beds are is concrete.  My husband said it would have been too much work to take it all out, so he built raised beds instead.....otherwise that area was pretty much useless.  The first year, we didn't put down mulch so the plants didn't do very well because the concrete absorbed all the heat...way too hot there.  So the next year we got a huge truckload of mulch and my garden has done well since.  You learn as you go!!
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: Remarkable! It's as if someone decided to garden on a piece of highway and succeeded. I would not have anticipated the heat any more than you did. So, did you mulch the concrete along with the raised beds?
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Groundskeeper: You do what you have to do with what you have.....that's what's interesting about looking at different people's gardens.....seeing what they do with what they have.  I usually use straw for mulch in the garden beds.....when we first got the mulch it was still freshly chopped so would have not made good mulch.....we needed so much and it was cheaper this way.
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: I so agree. Looking at the gardens of other people bounces me out of my garden ruts and stocks my imagination with new projects, so the future starts to sparkle.
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Groundskeeper: So true!
zumollc replied about 1 year ago
I love love love your ideas and that picture.  I think also think a to do list is a great idea, I think I will post mine! 
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@zumollc: Thank you!  I loved that sculpture the minute I saw it and it doesn't look that complicated.  I'm going to make my version of it.  I'll check out your list!
Jessaboo replied about 1 year ago
Box spring trellis - FAB idea. Can't wait to see it.
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Jessaboo: My husband had it by the back door and I asked him what he was going to do with it.  Can you imagine, he was going to throw it in the garbage.  He just rolled his eyes when I told him to put it in the barn.  He's used to it, though!!  It just looked so interesting.....it shouted "trellis" to me!!
dreamwanderon replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: The gears just keep on turning in that head of yours !  ☺
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@dreamwanderon: They never stop!!  I'm going to have to buy the farmer's field.....nope, can't do that.....probably GMOs in the soil.  Darn!!
KR replied about 1 year ago
Quite ambitious! I like the idea of a list. Can't wait to see it!
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@KR: I make a list for myself every day otherwise I flit from one thing to another and really never accomplish anything.  I can totally visualize this project in my head.  I need my husband to build a few things and I try to explain what I want.  I draw it and show him pictures and he tells me I should do it this way.  I'm open to suggestions, but I want it a certain way.  I have a fear of power tools or I would try to do it myself.
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: Growing scatter-brained with age I have a similar method. I try to do whatever I'm doing until it's done and not get distracted along the way. But I end up in the basement starting seeds and wondering how I got there when I'm supposed to cutting back the ornamental grasses. I make lists but I still end up in the basement.
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Groundskeeper: I totally understand.  I walk to the barn to get something and am distracted along the way.  By the time I get to the barn, I'm not sure why I went back there.  Maybe I need to carry the list in my pocket!!  In the summer I sit by the pond with my cup of coffee and usually don't sit very long before I start deadheading this and picking up that, etc., etc., etc. Maybe I should add to my list.....sit by the pond, enjoy the scenery and the cup of coffee!!
Groundskeeper replied about 1 year ago
@Liz: my list would improve with a reminder to enjoy the moment. Thanks.
Noviflowerchild replied about 1 year ago
Can't wait to see it!
Liz replied about 1 year ago
@Noviflowerchild...: When I saw this at the Krohn Conservatory, I just fell in love with it.....mine will be a take off of it.

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