Ever take a walk through your neighborhood and notice how each house lines the street, evenly spaced and usually centered neatly on its own lot? Each with its own personality, some featuring simple landscaping with just a tree or two, while others show off a lush front garden meant to be admired, or even a cozy seating area.

But have you noticed the one thing almost all of these homes share? Those darn narrow side yards, often bare and boring with nothing to show for them. Because why would you pay attention to this part of your yard, when all it has been so far is a way to access the other side of your house?

Many homeowners use these side yards as a place to tuck things away, whether that be stacked firewood, yard waste bins, or perhaps a small utility shed hidden from view. Rarely do these spaces get the same attention as the backyard, or even the front yard for that matter. And yet, it raises an interesting question: why do we seem to neglect this space instead of turning it into something more enjoyable? 

I came into this realization shortly after moving into our home, that our side yard was just like many others, a neglected wasteland. There is absolutely nothing, no landscaping, no personality – just bare. 

This was our first place with a yard too, and I was so excited for some reason (don’t ask) to mow the lawn.  I haven’t had to mow a lawn since I was a teenager! Soon after venturing over to this side of the house to begin mowing, it quickly turned into frustration. I hated having to get so close to the side of the house and around the utilities. Why were there no rocks? Why just allow the grass to grow freely wherever it would allow? 

Okay, I’m being dramatic – but truthfully it was a neglected space that wasn’t well kept. So much so that… and I will never forget this, where I had been mowing some taller grass along the foundation, where the earth dipped in deeper (because this side of the house had no gutter so when it would rain it would pour off the roof onto the side of the house creating a divot) and there was a snake!  I never considered myself someone to be startled by a snake necessarily, but it happened to be in this grassy divot and it hadn’t responded the way I would have thought – it was coming at me and fast, slithering its way toward my lawn mower, which seems like a stupid idea to me now but it worked because I quickly let go and ran the other way, haha. 

Anyway, I had to make a change and I knew I wanted to create a plan to landscape the side of our house just enough so that I could easily mow without all of these obstacles – and if there happened to be any snakes, they would likely remain near the house within my future garden, leaving me to my lawn maintenance and them freely napping under a shrub, or whatever they like to do. 

Step 1: Assessing the Challenges

Every new project should begin with a clear understanding of the space you’re working with and the goals you hope to achieve. Taking a little extra time to think through the challenges you’re facing—often the very reason the project began in the first place—and envisioning the desired end result can make the entire process move along much more smoothly. 

Below I will walk you through my own personal experience when beginning my DIY project, adding a simple garden to our side yard.

Current Conditions & Pain Points

Until you live in a place for more than a year, you really never know the amount of sun you are working with. 

Gardener’s Tip: The location of the sun shifts from winter to summer, so it is always a good idea to clock the sun during the growing season and at least 3x throughout the day from morning, midday, and late afternoon – for maximum sun exposure you could consider doing this activity during summer solstice, to gain the best assessment of your light conditions – however any time during the summer season should give you a fairly good idea what you are working with. 

Shade:

This side yard faces the east, so it receives morning sun for a few hours before it reaches higher into the sky and dips behind the tall trees in our backyard – and eventually our house. 

For the rest of the day the area remains shaded for the most part, so I knew my focus had to be shade tolerant plants if I wanted anything to thrive along the foundation of our house.

Hardiness Zone:

Not only do the plants I choose need to handle low light conditions, but they also need to withstand our cold Minnesota winters. We live in the USDA hardiness zone 4b, which means our coldest typical temperature could dip between -25 to -20 degrees Fahrenheit, so our plants must be cold-hardy to survive the season.

Soil Condition:

It is always a good idea to understand the type of soil you will be working with so you can gauge how well plants will grow in the spot you place them. It could be as simple as digging up some dirt and adding it to a jar of water like I did. Once the dirt has time to settle it will show you the layers found in your soil such as, sand, silt and clay. I had a fairly equal mix of silt with sand and surprisingly not as much clay as I expected. 

Gardener’s Tip: When you have the perfect balance of all three, you end up with what’s known as loam. This ideal soil condition supports healthy plant growth by offering excellent drainage and aeration, creating the perfect environment for roots to develop.

Once you understand the quality of your soil, you can test its pH using the water from your jar with an at-home kit, which is widely available online. For a more detailed analysis, you can also send a soil sample to be tested through your local extension office, university soil labs, or private labs found online. I started with an at-home kit from Rapitest, but later chose to mail in a sample for a more thorough evaluation. This process revealed that our soil is slightly alkaline, helping me better understand how to amend it based on the plants I choose.

Maintenance: 

Besides the environmental conditions of our side yard, as I had expressed above, I highly disliked the difficulty in lawn maintenance. Mowing on this side of our house was a challenge due to heaps of gravel against the foundation. I think the purpose of this might have been to keep the grass from growing too close, however the result was a mix of grass and rocks instead.

This was a pain not only because I didn’t want to shoot rocks out while mowing over this section, it was difficult getting close to the house to cut the overgrown grass. I knew this needed to be taken care of, so choosing to landscape the side of our house was a must.

Defining My Goals:

Once I was aware of the challenges I was facing with my side yard, I thought about what I could do to solve these so this space would become something I could enjoy instead of dread. 

Easy Lawn Maintenance:

I knew the first thing was to remove all the gravel against the foundation. By getting rid of all the rocks, I would improve my lawn maintenance drastically as there would be no more rocks shooting out from beneath my lawn mower. 

However, I needed to add a garden to the side of my house so that I no longer had to cut the grass so close to the foundation. 

Visual Interest:

Not only would a garden help with ease of lawn maintenance, it will add visual interest to our home’s landscape. 

Care Free Plants:

Keeping in mind that we won’t be spending much time in this side yard and the choice to landscape is purely for aesthetic reasons, I want to be sure to choose low-maintenance plants. 

The Design Concept 

When I began thinking about how to landscape our home, I first had to understand what I was working with and what I wanted to achieve, which I shared earlier. Once these pieces of the process were clear to me, I was able to narrow down my plant choices that should work for my garden. 

Gardener’s Tip: Understanding your site conditions and goals are the first steps you should take when making your landscape design plan.

Selecting the Right Plant:

I was new to landscaping when I designed this garden bed and at the time I had limited plant knowledge, and my options seemed vast. Of course I was able to narrow them down for the space that only received part shade, however part of our side yard did include afternoon sun as well. 

When I realized that I could include a plant that would receive more sun I instantly looked into lilacs. I always love the fragrance these plants give so it has been a goal of mine to have one in my yard one day, this was the perfect time. 

The Focal Point: 

I still didn’t have a ton of space, and I read that lilacs can get rather big so I started researching dwarf varieties, which is when I discovered the ‘Dwarf Korean Lilac Tree’ (Syringa meyeri ‘Palibin’). 

This is a smaller tree that I thought would make a perfect focal point to our side garden. It should get no more than 6 feet wide at maturity, and roughly the same height, if not a little taller – I knew it would fit this space well and provide us with an amazing smell in the spring with beautiful light purple flowers. 

Gardener’s Tip: You can always choose a plant that may grow slightly larger than you would like, by continuing to prune it down to maintain the ideal size. Keeping in mind, this increases your level of maintenance required. 

Seasonal Interest: 

Knowing that lilacs unfortunately do not last the entire season, and this variety would begin to fade as summer approaches, I wanted to continue showing seasonal interest in my garden, so I had my next plant choice had to be something that would bloom after my lilac blooms faded.

This is when I discovered ornamental alliums while watching garden videos on YouTube. These flowers are so cool with their upright shape and bursts of purple flowers, which remind me of dandelions before they complete their lifecycle. 

The alliums I ended up planting are known as ‘Serendipity’. I liked this variety because they would not grow too large beneath the lilac tree, and they have a compact growth habit. Besides, the bees are obsessed with these flowers, which always makes me happy to provide nourishment to our pollinators. 

Texture: 

Now that I’ve covered the focal point and added some seasonal interest to my garden, my next plant choice must tolerate plenty of shade as this space only receives a few hours of morning sun. However, I also want this plant to have some texture to provide plenty of interest for aesthetics. 

I may have been new to gardening, but one plant that I heard of often was the hydrangea. You can find these planted in the landscapes of people’s homes all over Minnesota, and they make excellent shade tolerant plants. This was a good indicator that these plants did well in our climate, and even better, they are beautiful with blooms that last a good portion of the season.

Gardener’s Tip: Hydrangeas offer several types, and some do enjoy more sun than others – such as Panicle Hydrangea (Hydrangea paniculata), whereas the shade tolerant types I would consider for my shade garden will be the Bigleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) or Smooth Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens). 

When visiting my local nursery, I came across a unique hydrangea I have not seen before. The foliage was such a deep green with incredibly healthy looking leaves with serrated edges that caught my attention. However it was the large blooms that sold me, and I knew I had to include this in my landscape. 

I chose the ‘Seaside Serenade Cape Lookout’ (Hydrangea macrophylla ‘HORTMABLO’) for my shade garden because it is an incredibly beautiful shrub that provides both structure and long-lasting visual interest. Its soft pink, almost champagne-colored blooms begin in the summer and continue into fall, allowing the shade garden to remain visually stunning throughout the entire season. 

Other Garden Elements:

After making my plant selections, I needed to decide what type of mulch to use in my garden. During my research I learned that spreading rocks around the base of a plant creates a lot of heat against the root zone. Because the majority of my plant choices have a shallow spreading growth habit, I knew I couldn’t use just this and would need to include something more plant friendly as well. 

The Value of Rocks:

I love the look of river rock and knew from the beginning that I wanted to incorporate it as a hardscape element in my landscape design, not only for its aesthetic appeal but also for its longevity. Unlike wood mulch, rock does not decompose over time, and while it may be more expensive upfront, it requires far less replacement, saving time and effort in the long run. 

The Use of Wood Mulch:

However, there are drawbacks to using only rock as mulch in your garden, as it can cause issues for your plants. While mulch is meant to suppress weed growth and protect plant roots, rock does little to regulate soil temperature or retain moisture. Wood mulch, on the other hand, helps shade plant roots, retain moisture, and prevent plants from drying out due to direct sunlight – in addition to improving the health of your soil as it decomposes.

Step 3: Design Layout & Installation

I was not settled on using either or when it came to rock or wood mulch, so I decided to find a way to incorporate both into my landscape design based on functionality.

Framing the Garden Beds

I chose to pull my beds out about 4 feet from the foundation of our house to allow enough space for my chosen shrubs to grow to maturity. The hydrangeas I selected for my shade garden should only grow to about 3-4 feet in width and height. This should allow plenty of space to fill in my beds without taking up too much grass space in our already narrow side yard. 

When I framed the garden around my lilac tree, I chose to curve the edging further out from the house to accommodate its slightly wider width of around 6 feet. 

Gardener’s Tip: It is a common horticultural practice to plant a tree far enough from a house to accommodate its mature size—allowing at least the distance of its mature canopy radius away from your house to help prevent future issues with foundations and structures. 

Adding Visual Interest:

Once I determined the proper distance from the house, I wanted to provide additional aesthetics by creating layers between the river rock and wood mulch in my garden beds. 

I outlined the beds with river rock, which helped keep the wood mulch from spilling onto the grass while also minimizing the amount of rock needed to fill the space. 

The wood mulch was placed specifically for plant health, leaving enough room around each plant so it could reach maturity without being covered by rock. 

Together, the combination of river rock and wood mulch creates a garden bed design that is both clean and functional. 

Adding Water Resources

When designing your garden, it’s common for beds to be located far from an outdoor spigot, which means you’ll need alternative methods of irrigation. Depending on the garden’s location, you may need to hand-water your plants frequently, especially if they receive a lot of sun and little rain.

Alternatively, you could consider installing an irrigation system. Depending on your budget, this could be a more complex and costly system or a simpler, more budget-friendly option. 

Install a DIY Drip Irrigation System:

I chose to try an above-ground landscape and garden drip watering kit from the brand Rain Bird. It was affordable and less intimidating for me to install myself in my garden beds, so I felt there was nothing to lose. It works well, but be sure to lay everything out as much as you can before cutting so you don’t end up needing too many connection pieces.

I positioned the ½” mainline tubing along the back of my beds, running from the back of the house and curving it around the dripline of my tree.

From there, you just need to connect the ¼” tubing to the mainline, making sure you leave enough length to adjust the tubing and emitters along the plant’s dripline as it matures.

Planning ahead and considering the future mature size of your plants will prevent you from needing extra tubing, which ensures a smoother flow and reduces the chance of leaks.

In Summary: What Has This Project Taught Me?

Transforming our neglected side yard taught me the importance of planning, observation, and thoughtful plant selection. I learned how crucial it is to assess site conditions—such as sun exposure, cold hardiness, and soil challenges—before choosing plants for my design.

I think incorporating both wood mulch and river rock creates a clean looking but functional, low-maintenance design that protects my plants roots as well as improves the soil they grow in. 

Installing a DIY drip irrigation system is not too difficult and during install it taught me the value of planning ahead. Considering mature plant sizes helps understand the length of tubing required to ensure the ability to adjust location placement as needed. 

Overall, this project showed me that even a small, overlooked space can be transformed into a visually appealing, practical, and enjoyable garden with careful design and attention to detail.

Happy Gardening!🌿

Yesterday I decided to go outside and clean up my garden beds because it is already nearing mid-October and honestly I’m tired and ready to wrap up the season.  As much as I would love to live in a state that has fewer winter months, I find myself looking forward to the excuse to throw in the towel at the end of the year and call it a day. 

My First “Real” Year Gardening

Even though I’ve grown a few plants before, I’m calling this my first real year gardening. In the past, I always relied on plant starters and kept things minimal. This year, I planted entirely from seed, and it’s been such a rewarding experience watching everything grow from scratch.

I grew up around gardens—I remember grabbing sweet peas and radishes straight from the dirt as a kid. But back then, I didn’t fully appreciate the effort that went into maintaining a garden. So when we moved into our current home, I knew I wanted to build raised beds and create that experience for myself.

Planning (and Failing to Plan)

The Importance of a Garden Plan

Because I did my homework beforehand, I knew the importance of creating a plan—what to plant, where to plant it, what grows well together. I started off strong with a notebook, jotting down companion planting ideas and grouping strategies. But soon enough, I was dumping disorganized thoughts into my phone, and my note-taking kind of fizzled out.

Something I’ll need to improve on next year.

Companion Planting Wins

Despite the chaos, it was well worth taking the time to understand companion planting, and the time spent learning about this paid off. I didn’t use any sprays or pesticides in my garden this year, and yet, pests were minimal. Although my kale did show a few holes it was still edible. I think the plant groupings helped, and the marigolds I filled my garden beds with likely played a role too.

Though… note to self: marigolds are beautiful and helpful, but I’m thinking about planting them in nearby pots next year. They completely took over sections of my garden beds and shaded out some of my veggies preventing them from growing to full maturity. 

Flower Power (and the Chaos That Comes With It)

Borage: Beautiful, Beneficial… and Huge

I tried growing borage for the first time this year after reading how great it is for pollinators. 

Spoiler: it really is beneficial, almost too much. Bees were absolutely obsessed with it.  However, there were a few lessons I’ve learned after growing it myself:

1. It gets massive – Way taller than I expected for my little 2’x5’ garden bed.
   
2. Strong root system – I had to pull mine out early in order to gain access to my cucumbers and other vegetables in the garden that I was unable to reach, and was amazed at how large the tap root was when attempting to pull it from the dirt.
   
3. Bee territory – Since I planted these flowers in front of my cucumbers, I was not brave enough to work around them in order to harvest my other plants. I’m working on this, but bees do terrify me a bit and I have yet to be stung.
   

On top of that, we had several windstorms that bent the tall borage plants right over. It wasn’t a pretty sight—especially since my beds are in the front yard and I try to keep a good aesthetic for my neighbors.

Borage’s Aftermath

Borage does produce cute little flower clusters, I soon learned that they can drop seeds like crazy.  Apparently, borage can self-seed and are tolerant of colder zones all the way down to zone 2!  So it’s safe to say that I’m a little anxious about what my garden will look like come next spring. Fingers crossed it’s not a jungle.

Garden Identification Issues

What’s a Weed, What’s a Plant?

One thing I really need to do better next year is to label my seeds. I grouped my seeds by companion planting but didn’t make any physical tags in the garden. I thought taking pictures of the seed packets in the general area I had planted them would be enough, but truthfully, it was not.

I referred to those photos constantly as things were starting to sprout, but I still ended up pulling out some of my flowers as well as some other lettuce plants, thinking they were weeds. Considering how large my flowers that I had not pulled grew, that may have been a blessing in disguise.

But next year, I will plan to tag everything so I can refer to my garden markers instead of trying to find the photos lost in my phone’s album that I took earlier that spring.

The Importance of Patience

I found myself too eager to keep my beds weed-free and pulled up some of the very plants I wanted. Lesson learned. Patience is key—I will try better next season.

Pest Problems and Protective Measures

Next spring when I begin planting in my gardens, I’m choosing to cover my beds with garden fabric right from the start. I used netting briefly this year in one of my beds, but a couple things I could benefit from if I cover them early would be:

• Keeping the fallen seeds from trees from taking root, as I would get so many helicopter seeds covering my beds every time when a gust of wind would blow.
• Repelling pests like deer, rabbits, and even the stray cat that I found walking through every single one of my beds as if they enjoyed leaving their little foot prints behind.
  

I can always remove the covers once the plants start to flower and need pollinators. By this time they will be actively growing and no longer competing as much with the weeds.  At least I’d be able to tell them a part more easily. 

Planting Strategy: Less Chaos, More Succession

This year, I wasn’t thinking of the big picture and I chose to plant all of my seeds in the garden at once and had not considered timing when the plants would be ready to harvest. 

When everything matured at the same time, I will admit I was overwhelmed with the amount of produce and had a difficult time keeping up.

What I’ll Do Differently:

• Succession plant to stagger my plants and seed even a week or two a part should allow me less produce all at once, giving me more time to enjoy it fresh from the garden.
  
• Track seed-to-sprout timelines would allow me to understand how long it takes my plants to emerge in my own garden beds based on the amount of sun the beds receive in their location.
  
• Only plant what I can realistically eat or store is incredibly important. I read about this all the time but never truly understood until I was facing the challenge myself at the realistic amount of produce a plant can provide you.

These lessons may sounds simple, but it can be so easy to get carried away when sowing seeds in the spring when you’ve been waiting all winter to get out and enjoy your hobby again. 

Too Much of a Good Thing

As the header states, there is such a thing as having too much of a good thing.  I had so much produce from my garden that it felt impossible to keep up.  Although I did give some of it away to my family and neighbors, which did feel good to share, I also had to toss more than I’d like to admit.

If you’re new to gardening, plan ahead for how you’ll preserve your harvest. Whether it’s:

• Canning (learn it before you need it!) I would love to learn the proper way of canning, but had not taken the time to learn this skill yet. By the time my gardens were filling up, I could only think of finding ways to make meals, or snack while it was still fresh.
  
• Freezing will help preserve the life of your produce longer, but not everyone has the room available. Make sure if you know you want to freeze your harvest that you aren’t filling your freezer with other groceries.
  
• Dehydrating or fermenting is another option if you think you would enjoy eating your foods this way.
  

Having an idea of how you plan to use your harvest ahead of time will hopefully help you face some of the obstacles that come with growing a garden. Such as, not waiting too long while zucchinis are piling up on your counter.

Zucchini Overload

I have a funny story for you which definitely pins me down as a beginner gardener… Even though I considered myself somewhat prepared, little did I know that zucchinis were one of those plants that experienced gardeners are fully aware of just how well they produce. 

When I seeded these plants, I chose to place 2-3 seeds in a small grouping with the plan to thin them out once they reached a healthy size for me to choose which to keep.  Well, I planted 3 groupings which resulted in 9 successful sprouted plants and I soon realized I didn’t have the heart to toss them and replanted them elsewhere.

Yeah… I made so many desserts with zucchini this year that I’m pretty sure I gained a few pounds.  And don’t get me started on the cucumbers—I would dread walking by my garden knowing I needed to pull more off the vine that I was not ready for. 

I’m not sure I can eat fridge pickles anymore as I’ve had my fair share. bNext year, I’ll have recipes ready before harvest day to keep things interesting.

Finding Small Joys

Even through the chaos, I found things I loved.  This year was the first time I made homemade pasta sauce, using the Roma tomatoes from my garden. I learned how easy it is to freeze it in batches, and it felt good to preserve something I knew I grew and the money saved compared to buying jars of sauce at the store.

Final Thoughts: A Season of Growth

All in all, I couldn’t be happier with my first year of gardening. It taught me:

• The value of planning and labeling
  
• The importance of patience
  
• How much joy (and frustration) a garden can bring
  

All in all, I could not be happier with my first year gardening.  I learned how important it is to have a plan for all phases of gardening, and even though I feel I learned quite a bit this year, there is so much more garden knowledge I have yet to gain. 

I hope that by sharing my first year gardening with you and the lessons I’ve learned will be valuable information that can better prepare you to begin your own vegetable garden.  We will all face our own obstacles for various reasons, and if you’d like to share any of those with me, I’d love to hear about the successes or garden flops you may have experienced. 

Happy Gardening!

New Growth Accompanied by Confusion

Every time I see a little green sprout pop through the soil, I get excited—it’s like a tiny victory. If you’ve labeled your rows or have a mental note of where you planted things, it’s usually possible to tell what’s intentional and what might be a weed. Usually. 

That said, I’ve already taken a ridiculous number of pictures myself to try and figure out what is popping up in my garden by using Google’s reverse image search, so I can figure out if I should keep something or pull it.

In the early weeks, I definitely pulled up a few too many things I meant to grow (mostly flowers—oops). I’m slowly learning to be a bit more patient and let things grow a little larger before making that call. And honestly, it’s made me better at recognizing the “culprits” versus the keepers.

Why Instant Gratification in The Garden Matters

While we are doing our darndest to be patient for our garden vegetables to mature—like tomatoes, peppers, or squashes to name a few—it’s so rewarding to have a few plants that can give us something usable early on. Plants like this will hopefully help keep your gardening motivation alive. 

I’m still very new at gardening so I’m sure there are more options out there that I haven’t discovered yet, but I wanted to share a few “quick-win” crops that I personally recommend you give a try in your own garden to bring you some of that early joy and usefulness. For me this year, the plants I enjoyed using early this spring have been:

• Radishes – These were super fast growers and perfect for snacking.
  • Days to Maturity/Harvest: Typically 4-6 weeks (dependent on seed packet)
    • I started to harvest around the 4-5 week mark.
      
      
• Spinach and other Salad Greens – Things like kale, arugula, and various lettuces are not only quick to sprout, but you can start harvesting baby leaves early on too.
  • Days to Maturity/Harvest: Typically 3-5 weeks (dependent on seed packet)
    • I started to harvest around the 4-5 week mark.
      
      
• Dill – This herb is almost too easy to grow as I planted some seeds years ago and they keep popping up all over.  Dill is perfect to use in sauces or salads, among other things.
  • Days to Maturity/Harvest: Typically 4-8 weeks (dependent on seed packet)
    • My seed was planted a couple seasons ago, but they started showing usable growth in late May.
      
      
• Chives – Truly a hardy herb to plant in your garden, and you should certainly try growing in Minnesota!
  • Days to Maturity/Harvest: Typically 8-12 weeks (dependent on seed packet)
    • I actually grabbed a chive plant on clearance last fall and was amazed when I saw the green sprouts popping out of the snow this year. It was pretty exciting to start harvesting before I even thought about starting to plant my garden.
      

Consider Succession Planting

I don’t have a ton of space in my garden, so I have to be strategic. One thing I’m learning is how to make the most of that space by practicing succession planting. For example, once I’ve harvested my radishes, I can go ahead and simply re-seed that same spot with something else. 

If you do choose to seed quick growing crops like mentioned above, pay attention to the time of year you will be planting. Depending on the weather, you may be able to harvest the same crop, however make note of the upcoming temps so you aren’t dealing with early bolting on plants that require colder temps to grow.  

Experiment with the Whole Plant (if edible)

One fun surprise this year was discovering that you can use radish greens in cooking. I made a batch of pesto with them last week, and it turned out surprisingly good (with enough garlic added, haha)! I love the feeling you get when you can use something from the garden in your meals, even in small ways.

I don’t have an exact recipe to share with you but I had found a 1:2:3:8 ratio online as a general rule to follow when I was making this myself–as well as simply tasting as you go. 

You will always want to start with your greens “8” and scale down from there, from oil “3”, cheese “2” and nuts “1”, later adding garlic, lemon with some salt and pepper based on your flavor preferences. You should give it a shot when you have the opportunity. Pesto is great in so many ways and an easy way to get some nutrition in your diet too. 

Final Thoughts

If you’re just starting out like me, consider mixing in a few quick-growing plants to get that early feeling of success. It makes the wait for the bigger harvests a lot more enjoyable—and helps you stay connected to your garden each day. I’m still learning, and there’s so much more to explore, but the plants I mentioned above will definitely be part of my garden every year going forward.

If you like what you see, or learned anything, please tell me about it by commenting down below!

Happy gardening! 🌿

Not only are they budget-friendly, but they also won’t harm your soil, which is great news if you’re planting edibles. In my case, I used them to give my hydrangeas a healthy lift, protecting them from the soggy lower section of my yard, which I wrote about under Planting Hydrangeas In Raised Beds. If you’re dealing with poor drainage or sloped ground like me, this might be the solution you need.

Below, I’ll walk you through my project — step by step — and share my tips so you can build your own concrete block raised bed too.

Why Concrete Blocks?

I chose concrete blocks for several reasons:

• Durability: They’ll last for years without breaking down.
  
• No tools needed for cutting or shaping.
  
• Safe for soil and plants.
  
• You can easily customize the shape and size.

Step 1: Choose the Right Location

Start by identifying a level area in your yard. If you’re working with a slope, you can still make it work — but expect a few more steps (you might need to build a small retaining wall).

Since my bed was going to be near the base of a hill, I made sure there was still room with enough level ground for a walking path to be built along the bed.

Step 2: Decide on Your Bed Size

Before buying anything, figure out how large you want your bed to be. I used slim concrete blocks (16″ x 8″ x 4″) to save space. For my hydrangeas, which grow about 3–4 feet wide, I aimed for a bed about 11 ft long and 3 ft wide based on the area I had to work with.

Here’s How I Did the Math:

• Length: 132 inches ÷ 16″ blocks = 8.25 blocks (I used 8 per side)
  
• Width: 36 inches ÷ 16″ blocks = a little over 2 blocks
  
• Height: Two layers of 8″ high blocks = 16″ total height
  

Total blocks needed: 40

Step 3: Gather Materials

Here’s what I used (prices based on what I paid at the time):

Essential Materials

Optional Add-Ons (for aesthetics + support)

Total Project Cost: Around $363.43

Note: This doesn’t include soil. More on that below.

Step 4: Prep the Ground

This is the most important step, and it takes a bit of effort is leveling the ground before adding your base.

What I Did:

1. Dug down about 6–7 inches where the blocks would sit.
   
2. Raked the area smooth to help level it out.
   
3. Laid my first row of blocks, then removed them one by one to:
   
   • Add a layer of pea gravel for drainage.
     
   • Use a torpedo level to make sure each block was even before stacking the next.
     

Tip: Use a flat piece of wood across blocks to help with leveling if your having a hard time gauging how level your bricks are using the torpedo. This should help you feel it out too if the wood starts to wobble.

Step 5: Build the Bed

Once your base is level:

1. Dry stack the second layer to test placement.
   
2. Stagger the blocks for better structure.
   
3. Use rebar in corners and midpoints if you want extra support.
   
4. Once happy with the layout:
   
   • Use the Construction Adhesives on top of each base block, plus the sides.
     

Secure the second layer block-by-block.

Step 6: Customize (Optional)

I added a stained wood trim to the top of the bed for a polished finish.

What I Did:

• Cut wood to size (I used 16-foot boards to reduce waste).
  
• Stained and sealed the wood completely.
  
• Glued it down with construction adhesives and added heavy objects on top to keep it in place while drying.
  

You can also paint the blocks if you’d like. I did this for fun — but honestly, it’s totally optional. Just sweep off any dirt before painting, and don’t stress about perfection.

Step 7: Fill the Bed

Soil can be expensive — and in fact, soil cost can rival the project itself.

Budget-Friendly Tips:

• Layer the bottom of your bed with yard waste: sticks, branches, leaves, grass clippings.
  
• Use the hugelkultur method if you’re building a deep bed.
  
• Check Facebook Marketplace for free dirt or compost.
  
• Buy in bulk from local landscape suppliers if needed.
  

For my hydrangea bed, I had leftover soil from other projects — a lucky break!

Final Thoughts: Would I Do It Again?

Absolutely! Building with concrete blocks was:

• Affordable
• Simple (no power tools required!)
• Long-lasting
• Customizable

It took some patience, especially during leveling and block stacking, but once the foundation was set, the rest came together fast. My hydrangeas are thriving in their new, elevated space.

Alternatively if you want to build this bed for vegetables that would work too, however I chose to build mine out of wood for added features needed to hold back invasive grape vines. You can read how I built that bed under, How to Build Functional Raised Garden Beds.

If you’re looking for a DIY raised bed option that’s accessible and sturdy, I highly recommend giving concrete blocks a try.

Have Questions?

Feel free to leave a comment or share your own raised bed tips below! I’d love to hear how your project goes.

Happy gardening! 🌿

My raised beds were originally planned up to prevent some invasive vines against my neighbor’s fence, which you can read about on my post Building Raised Garden Beds to Fix a Problem with Invasive Grape Vines.  However I have always wanted to grow a vegetable garden, and this was one of our best (possibly only) options in our yard to add a garden. 

Planning Ahead

If you are coming across my post too late in the growing season, try to make this garden bed a goal of yours to plant your vegetables in, next spring. Reason I say this is because building beds can take time and when the clock is ticking you don’t want to miss out on getting plants in the dirt, especially since our growing season is so short here in Minnesota. No need to lose out by waiting to gather your supplies and build your beds. 

Temporary Garden Ideas

You can make a temporary bed, like I did, and have just as much fun this year while you begin your real planning for next spring.  

One day I decided to grab a couple 2×4’s in our garage and cut them enough to build a frame with the length I had available.  These were nothing special, and were simply built because I had the itch to grow some vegetables, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to get my true raised beds built for a while yet. 

Honestly, garden beds really don’t need to be anything special, since plants just need some good soil and sun anyway.  I just ended up tossing in a couple bags of quality dirt over my existing soil, and added starter plants that I picked up from a local garden center. 

Temporary Beds Provide A Great Trial Period

This worked great, and truthfully, planting in this temporary bed allowed me to gauge the amount of sun I would receive, where I planned to build my actual raised beds later that year.  

When it came time to build our beds in this very spot I had been growing my temporary garden, I had to dig out all my plants and move them elsewhere. I wasn’t sure where this could be, but I noticed we had this broken wheelbarrow that we haven’t thrown out yet, so figured I could just move my plants to this for a bit.  

This held all of my pepper plants very well, and because I had full expectations that it wouldn’t be long before I’d transplant them back to my newly built beds, I wasn’t worried about their growing conditions in this small space.  

Well plans change, as they often do, so my peppers did remain in this broken wheelbarrow for the remainder of the growing season.  

Sharing this with you, because I’ve learned that this too is another option if you have something similar that can hold dirt.  My plants did very well in this shallow filled broken wheelbarrow in a semi sunny location.  

It’s odd to me sometimes how things just seem to work out.  I was picking banana peppers, jalapenos, and a couple bell peppers at the end of the season from this little garden I created.  Not a crazy amount of peppers, but I was so excited every time I’d go outside to check how they were doing, I knew then and there that gardening was for me. 

My Process Before Building Raised Beds

It started out with me measuring the area I had available so I could determine the size of beds I’d like to build.  Because these beds would be next to my neighbor’s fence, I wanted to make sure I allowed enough space between the back of my beds and the fence for yearly maintenance.  After all, I need to get back there to trim all the growth that occurred that year. 

Measure Before You Build

Please make this a priority of yours before you begin any project, because it will truly help you figure out how much material you need to buy, and how much room you can work with. 

When you really begin to measure the area you will start to think several steps ahead and may be able to catch possible flaws or other things you want to change in your design before you start to buy your materials and build your beds. 

During my process, I will begin to mark the area for each bed in my lawn. I even changed it a handful of times before I ended with what I have today.  I knew I didn’t want to build a bed right up next to our backyard fence, so I left a good amount of space before the first bed.  I thought this could be a good area to store pots, or for a bit of time, our yard bin.  Either way, I left this available for whatever I might find useful for this space. 

I also knew I didn’t want my beds to go much beyond our neighbors fence, so I thought lining it up with that would look much nicer overall.  Especially since their vines would fill in the fence and they wouldn’t have the back of my beds to look at. 

Now that I had the location for my outside beds figured out, I was able to see where the remaining two beds would go, and how much room in between each bed I would have. 

Consider Bed Access When Choosing Your Dimensions

As mentioned above I plan to build my beds with enough space between the back of the bed and the fence, so this removes some of the room available to me between the side of my house  and front of the raised bed.  I needed room to allow a comfortable walking space in between, so I chose not to build my beds too wide from front to back.  

Width: 

Think about how little you want to strain your back when having to reach into your bed to access your plants.  Most often you will read others providing a recommended width of around 2 feet around your bed.  This should provide you with a good reach without having to bend over into your garden too much, which the comfort aspect is one of the reasons to grow in raised beds anyway. 

Depth: 

Another measurement to consider is how deep you want your beds, or another way of looking at this is how tall you want your bed to be.  Beds can either be ground up, or you could build it with legs, which would certainly keep you from having to fill so much of it with dirt or other yard materials if you chose to layer the bottom first before adding in the soil.  

The lovely thing about building your own raised beds is being able to scale it to you specifically.  I based my bed design on what I would personally find comfortable for me, but I also took into consideration the wood dimensions when I was deciding how much lumber I’d need to buy. I try to consider my budget when I come up with projects like this, and felt an added layer to make my beds taller wasn’t necessary. 

Length: 

Now if it were up to me, the more room to grow vegetables the better!  However… of course I needed to give myself an easy way to get in between my beds for the aforementioned yearly maintenance that had to be done still.

Because I had around 30 feet to play with and I wanted a comfortable enough distance between each of the beds, I decided to space them 2-3 feet apart, which by doing so would allow me to build four beds that were 5 feet in length. 

Plan Out Your Shopping List

Before I bought all of my materials for this project, I planned out what I would all need by searching online and adding everything I believed I needed into my cart.  

Print It Out

This not only allowed me to see how much this project could end up costing me, but It was super helpful once I got to the store, as I brought a print out that I marked with the isles on so I knew where I needed to go once I got there. 

I don’t know if you’re like me, but for projects like this that I’m not familiar with, I get overwhelmed and will forget something, or it will take me forever and a day to find it.  It also included the pictures of each item I needed, so I could pick it out much more quickly too.  

Take Notes

Another thing I chose to do and mentioned previously, is to find the lumber lengths that would allow me to get most use from.  I knew the width and length of my beds, so I simply tried to see how many cuts from a single board I could get.  

Once I figured out the best length to give me the most use, I chose to add that length board to my shopping cart, and determined how many boards I would need. I suggest taking very good notes (or sketch this out) while you are figuring out how many boards you will need, as it can get very confusing once you go back to reference all the lengths from each board.  

Concerns Around Pressure Treated Wood

You will notice that I chose to go with pressure-treated wood to build my beds as I believed this would provide me the longest life during our winter seasons, however I know there are a lot of gardeners growing organically today where this would raise concern.  

If you are concerned about chemicals leaching into your soil I have seen people choose to char their wood for similar protection so they can purchase non-treated wood (alternatively you can choose the more costly cedar or redwood).  Another option is adding a fabric barrier between the wood and soil like I had done.  This isn’t perfect, but I mainly chose to add this to keep from any dirt seeping through the wood if it happened to shrink. 

Although the wood I chose is pressure-treated, it was treated with the chemical ‘MCA’ according to Home Depot’s website.  This chemical is known as Micronized Copper Azole, which is considered safe for vegetable gardens. Even though it may still leach some copper into the soil, it should not be significant enough to be absorbed by your plants. 

My Shopping List:

Take Advantage Of The Free Services

I’m not sure about all home improvement stores, but one reason I love going to Home Depot for these types of projects is that they will cut your wood to your specified lengths.  At least they have during the times I’ve been there. It can be hit or miss however, and sometimes it depends on who is available to help.  I suggest going earlier in the day, and flag someone down to ask if there is anyone that can help. 

Be Prepared

I do suggest coming prepared however, so that when you find someone that can help you, you can easily relay to them what you need.  Thankfully I thought about this before heading to the store, so I had my cutting lengths all written down and was able to share this with them while they were grabbing the boards from my cart. 

This too makes it easier for transporting back home.  These boards can be incredibly long, and even with a truck it would not have been possible without them being cut before leaving the store.  

Reminder During Checkout

Just remember to face the barcodes all near each other because the individual that has to check you out will be very confused by how much lumber needs to be charged since it appears like you have more than you actually have.  This again is where it is helpful to have a print out to easily share with them the number of cut boards you have, and also to ensure you are charged appropriately. 

How To Build These Raised Beds

Because you will likely be working with your own measurements based upon your personal needs for your own raised beds, I’m not going to break this down into my exact measurements. 

I do believe you will gain enough knowledge on how I built my beds, to be able to turn this around and build your own beds to your desired measurements, by following the general design of my beds and planning ahead, like explained above. 

Start With Your Base

After you return home and have all of your materials available, you can start piecing your beds together.  Now that you already have all your boards cut to size, it will be a breeze moving right along. 

Group Your Boards By Length

I suggest organizing all of your boards together in piles based on the length so you can ensure you have all the correct pieces, and will not have to make any correction cuts at home.  You will likely have a few stragglers that don’t belong in the project and were leftover cuts that you will not need, and might grab by mistake if you had not already grouped everything together.

Start Framing Your Base

Take your two front and back as well as width length boards and line them up in the shape of your bed.  You will then grab your 4×4 corner posts, which will be your support boards, and what each outside board will be screwed into – making sure the first row is level. I do wish I had taken a picture of this part, but it escaped me as I was either holding the boards together or clearing out the area of our yard to place the finished beds. 

I chose to keep the 4×4 corner post a bit shorter than the overall height of the bed because I didn’t want it showing up once I filled the beds with dirt.  Just make sure it’s tall enough to screw the top board into. 

Once you have screwed in each board to the height you wanted, you can begin on the next garden bed as the privacy panel will come later.  

Consider Additional Support

If your beds were longer than 5 feet, you may want to consider including another board in the center front and back for additional structure, but the boards I bought were pretty solid already so I was not worried about them warping once filled with dirt. 

At this point it might look like you just built a bunch of coffins, haha.  That was my very thought when we were moving them to our front yard for placement alongside the fence.  Don’t worry though, it will look better once you fill it with plants. 🙂

Incorporate a Privacy Panel (or Garden Bed Trellis)

Normally when I think of raised beds, I don’t think about adding a privacy panel or permanent trellis on the back because if you have a spot to place them and access them from all around, there is no need for this.  

However my beds were serving multiple purposes, and I needed to incorporate a back panel so I could prevent my neighbors’ vines from growing into my beds.  I thought the look of these smaller wood slats would look nice and cover enough of the view from behind the beds, so I chose to go with this look.  

Add 2×4 Vertical Supports

For this addition, you will simply tip the bed forward and screw in a couple 2×4’s at the height you want your back panel to be.  

I chose to go with a height of 5 ½ feet because I didn’t want to run into any issue with this being considered a “fence”, which I believe you are not able to install at 6 feet.  Besides, this height was just enough to keep from seeing most of the vines peaking above. 

Once you have your 2×4’s secure, you can start screwing in the wood slats.  

How to Evenly Space the Wood Slats

Spacing your 1×2 wood slats was a little more of a challenge, and when I had my Dad here to help, we were moving a lot faster with the three of us.  However what we did was grabbed an extra slat of wood on the flat side, we stuck it between each section to get the same distance and screwed them into the 2×4 from there. 

Alternatively, if you have any Trigger Clamps this was incredibly useful during this step of the project to secure the wood slat on one end as you screw in the other. 

Include the Mesh Screen (If Needed)

Once you have your back panel built, you can now staple on your mesh screen if you need to prevent anything from growing through your wood slats.  This is much easier to do before you fill your beds with dirt since we could just tip the bed forward again, and stretch the screen over the back and start stapling it into the 2×4 on the back.  I chose to keep the top and bottom alone so that whatever may fall into the back can easily be removed without getting stuck in between.  

Stain Or Paint Your Beds

Now that your beds are fully built and ready to be filled with dirt, you can choose whether or not you want to add some color or maybe even additional protection by staining the outside of the beds.  

I chose to stain the bottom of the bed the same color I have used on another bed of mine in the backyard, which was made of concrete blocks.  You can read more about that under my post 5 Steps to Build a Budget Friendly Raised Bed Using Concrete Blocks if you are interested. 

To stain your back panel, I would strongly suggest getting yourself this Stain Pad Applicator because it made my life so much easier when trying to get enough coverage on each wood slat.  This thing made this part of the project so much faster and smoother over trying to use a normal stain brush which I can picture dripping stain everywhere. 

I also used this for the base of the bed which was fairly quick as well, but a little trickier near the bottom of the beds as I’d get too close to the ground at times, but not an issue at all since this is just outdoor beds after all. 

Time To Start Growing!

Now that the beds are built and ready to go, all that is needed now is to start filling your beds with dirt and add some plants. 

I took awhile to do this only because I wanted to fill my beds with dirt from another project I’m working on that would give me plenty of dirt to use.  I started off by adding sticks, leaves, and grass clippings for the remainder of the season, which would all get very packed down after winter, leaving plenty of bed to fill yet.  

Once I was able to start adding in dirt from our backyard, I filled it a bit over half full, leaving enough room to add in bags of really good soil and compost to mix in with my existing dirt.  I knew my free dirt had a lot of clay in it, and I wanted something to help with drainage and reduce the clumpy-ness so my seeds had a good chance to take root once I began to plant. 

I hope I have been able to share enough with you from my own personal experience, that will give you plenty to base your own project off of, and allow you to build the raised beds that will work best for you!  

Thank you for taking the time to read my story, and if you have any comments to share down below, I’d love to hear them.

Happy Gardening!🌿

Why Plant Hydrangeas In A Raised Bed (And How It Saved My Shrubs)?

I feel that raised beds can serve multiple purposes in your garden. You can take an area of your yard that may seem flat and boring and bring additional character by raising up your gardens and adding height or layers that will be visually appealing when overlooking your lawn.  Not only that but it can improve your ability to provide the right growing conditions, or simply give you the option to plant in an area you may have otherwise deemed hopeless due to drainage issues (spoiler alert: this was my issue). 

Below are a few reasons why I think planting hydrangeas in a raised bed is a great idea.

Adds Aesthetics To Your Garden

Now I didn’t choose to build beds myself for this reason, but I will say that I’ve enjoyed the look it has brought to our backyard. I built my raised bed out of concrete blocks and painted them a slate blue color to match my garden shed door, and let me tell you that finding a matching color was quite the challenge for me. 

I would grab color samples based on memory, but get home to compare to the shed door and would just laugh at how wrong I was.  You should have seen me the day I found it though, as I was ecstatic and had to go tell my husband how proud I was for finally finding the right color match. 

Here is a picture I had to take just so that I could prove just how close of a match I found when comparing it to our shed door off in the distance.  It really is the simple things. 🙂 

I try not to care too much about something like this since at the time it was just my solution to keep my hydrangeas alive, but a small part of me really just wanted to see if I could do it, and it looks so much nicer because I took the time to focus in on those details.  I’ve also chosen to continue this paint color with the other beds I’ve built for my vegetable garden in my front yard, to keep things uniform, as shown below. 

I like the idea of raised beds because there are so many options to choose from, and even though I went with concrete blocks, you could really go with just about anything. Think about building your beds using lumber/wood, bricks, stones/rocks, or even recycled materials like old used tires.  

The list could go on I’m sure, but obviously you want to consider your situation and why you are choosing to add raised beds into your landscape, and what sort of look you are going for in your design. Raised beds will allow you to define your space, and how you might want to use it.  They can give a clean look as well if you choose to build them that way.  Here is how my bed turned out once built and my hydrangeas started to spring to life once planted. 

However you choose to incorporate raised beds in your landscape, it will provide you the added character in your garden, and with the added height you will be able to see the layers in your plants even without having to buy a larger sized plant to gain that extra height. 

Help Manage Soil Conditions

Another beneficial reason to incorporate raised beds into your landscape is when you might be dealing with soil conditions that are not ideal for the particular plant you want. 

I live in Minnesota and we are known to have clay and slightly acidic to neutral pH rated soils (meaning we fall around the 6.0-7.0 pH scale), which honestly works great for many plant varieties.  My hydrangeas seem to thrive wherever I plant them around my house, although this too is not a reason I chose to plant them in a raised bed. 

However, this is another excellent reason TO plant these shrubs in raised beds because if your area does not have ideal pH levels, perhaps much too alkaline for your plant, you can correct this from the start with a raised garden bed! Add in the right type of soil and amendments from the start, and it will turn the soil into the perfect conditions your hydrangeas will thrive in. 

Also, it would be much easier to maintain and likely last longer than planting directly into the ground because you can try to amend your natural soil as best you can, but unless you keep it up there’s a great chance that it will return to its original state eventually as this is where it’s supposed to be.  

Improves Drainage Issues

And here we are, the main reason and only reason I chose to plant my hydrangeas in a raised bed. I probably wouldn’t have thought to do this early on in my landscaping journey, but thankfully I had to experience it for myself, and in turn it has brought me more inspiration and confidence to include raised beds in my garden designs. 

Before building this bed, I started by landscaping around our deck, and simply planting my hydrangeas directly into the ground.  It looked really nice, until it didn’t work for us anymore. 

This was truly a trial and error garden experience too, as you will see in the pictures I’ve shared, this was not the first design attempt. I should have known it wouldn’t work from the get go as I was fully aware of our drainage issues during the spring, however we did have a french drain installed so I was hopeful that this would be our final solution to our flooded spring seasons. 

The image below demonstrates what we were dealing with after winter passed and all of the snow melted.
Note: this was before our french drain was installed. 

However when you are also working against a steep hill leading down to your house, I feel you are destined to have to deal with some sort of standing water regardless of having a french drain.  The snow will melt and in turn that water will flow downhill and concentrate where it starts to level out. 

Here is a picture the following season after a heavy rain when I was working on my first garden design.  This was one of the original garden projects I was doing when I initially started landscaping around our house, and I think I was digging my holes so deep because I thought it would help with drainage beneath the plant, since the soil in this area was so compact and I didn’t want my newly planted hydrangeas to get waterlogged.  I was still learning, and through this experience I’ve taught myself that there are multiple things to consider when landscaping, which I share more of down below. 

Because we live in Minnesota, and the snow is not going anywhere, we will always find that we are going to have to deal with some sort of standing water, at least once the snow melts or we have days with continuous heavy rain. Through experience, we’ve discovered ways to speed up the drying process.  One not so fun way was on a nice sunny day I’d go out with my bucket and scoop up water to then pour into the french drain basins, haha.  

This worked, however it took a long time, so I will share a product I found that has been a life saver for us.  I highly recommend this water pump if you deal with drainage issues of your own, or to be honest, simply need an easy way to move water from one point to another.  

I don’t like to waste water, so I decided to test it on our dog’s kitty pool at the end of a hot summer day. I grabbed our ‘WaterBug’ and tossed it into the pool, hooked up the hose, and directed the water to my plants. This worked so well too, and I didn’t have to just pour the water out into the lawn in one spot where it’d get sloppy, and depending on my dog’s mood that day, it wouldn’t become a target mud spot he’d dart back and forth in, out of excitement, getting his paws all filthy. 🙂 

Anyway, back to what may seem like an obvious reason now, but by building a raised bed I was able to lift my garden space above its flood zone and keep my hydrangeas from getting waterlogged. 

Do Hydrangeas Grow Well In Raised Beds?

You might be thinking it is not as common to landscape with raised beds, especially when you are planting larger sized shrubs or anything besides vegetables really.  The idea behind raised beds is for convenience right?  Well yes, but truthfully there are many other reasons as you hopefully learned above, that make the idea seem more appealing now, right?  

Hopefully I’ve given you a reason to want to think about using raised beds in your own garden design, but another thought comes to mind, and that is can your hydrangeas even grow well in beds?  I’ve shared my reasons down below to hopefully better persuade you, but as shown below, through my own experience, these hydrangeas are thriving in this raised bed. 

Ideal Growing Conditions

As mentioned previously, hydrangeas can do very well in raised beds because you have the ability to provide them their ideal growing conditions by amending the soil to match their needs. 

Managing pH Levels: 

Hydrangeas do well when your pH levels are falling closer to being slightly acidic, and if you are living in an area with highly alkaline soils your plant may not receive the appropriate nutrients it needs to perform like it should. 

Soils Compaction: 

Raised beds will keep the soil from becoming too compacted as well since it remains undisturbed by human (or pet) traffic. Compacted soils can become an issue if you are experiencing heavy rains, and the soil does not absorb the water as easily which will affect the plants ability to pull in water or nutrients when it needs them. 

Soil Erosion: 

Another thing you may not think about when starting a garden, is having to deal with things like wind or heavy rains which can remove the top layer of your garden’s soil and take the nutrients with it. At least in a raised bed, it has no place to go but remain inside of your planter. 

Provides Hydrangeas Added Protection

I included this section in my list because my mind instantly goes back to all of those times my hydrangea’s branches would break off because I happened to find the most fun ball for my dog to play with in the backyard, and he becomes so obsessed as well as fast with it that he pushes it all the way up the hill with his nose and charges back down straight towards my hydrangeas.  These were not in the ideal spot for this type of play and I attempted to protect my hydrangea by barricading them with a plastic garden netting as shown below, but I didn’t have the heart to take this toy away from him because it has come in so handy when needing to tire him out.  

If you are interested at all I’ve linked it here because besides it being tough against my plants at times, it has been enjoyable to watch. Even my neighbor a couple doors down had to come over and ask me where I got it because they enjoyed seeing him play in the backyard and wanted one for their own dog. 

Alternatively, raised beds may help keep smaller animals away from your plants since they could be more skeptical to jump into something unfamiliar, or depending on the height of your bed, won’t be able to access them at all.  

However, do know that if they are determined, they WILL get into your bed.  This is confirmed through experience, as my neighbor next door sent me a picture of a rabbit nest full of baby bunnies, in her raised garden bed last summer, and her beds have to be waist high. 

Lastly I think raised beds will add the necessary protection to your hydrangeas or other plants when dealing with lawn maintenance. Think of the maintenance that goes into your lawn care, or perhaps you have a landscaping or lawn service that comes by to spread weed control or use string trimmers.  By lifting your plants above ground level, it can also prevent them from receiving unnecessary herbicides or harmed by a string trimmer. 

What Should You Know Before Planting Hydrangeas In Raised Beds

I know I’ve shared my reasons above as to why you should consider adding raised beds in your landscape, but there are always other things you should take into consideration before fully committing, so you can give yourself the best chances of success from the start.

Here are a few things I think you should also know before you start building beds of your own.

Consider The Space

It’s important in all situations to consider the space whenever you’re going to be landscaping around your home, and even more so when you are limiting your space with a raised bed. 

Some plants may be too large for the bed you place them in, so please always check the mature size beforehand.  Hydrangeas are shallow rooted shrubs and I’ve noticed they tend to spread out near the surface, so you can imagine if they reach the outer edge of your bed they may end up becoming rootbound if it would have needed more room to spread. 

The hydrangeas you see in my bed are known as Bobo hydrangeas.  This dwarf variety is considered to be the smaller compact version of Limelights which you may know can get very large. This is why I think mine have done so well these past few years as their root balls stay fairly compact, and their size shouldn’t get more than 3 feet around. 

Think of the root ball as a mirror image of the plant you see above ground. If you know the mature width of the plant you plan to use, this will likely end up the size of its root ball.  I think that might also be the reason you want to follow the drip line when fertilizing or watering, so that you are placing the nutrients the plant needs where it’ll be most successful in reaching the active roots. 

And it goes without saying, if you are planting more than one plant in your raised bed be sure to space them far enough apart so they will not overcrowd each other. I might have gone a tad bit too close with my own, but I think they are still far enough apart to get adequate air circulation to keep from the leaves forming any fungal diseases.

Provide Adequate Irrigation

The major advantage of planting directly into the ground is that your plants have the best chance of absorbing the natural moisture in the soil.  It will not dry out too fast either, so you are having to irrigate a lot less frequently. 

Not the case with raised beds.  If you choose to plant in raised beds, you will need to know that the soil within the bed walls will dry up much faster, and in turn you will need to remember to water your plants more frequently. Consider the days you get rain too, as this does help delay the frequency of you having to water your own beds thankfully.  

You could also consider using mulch, or do what I did and plant Creeping Jenny to shade out the soil and protect the roots from the direct afternoon sun my hydrangeas receive during the day.  Just know this is a spreading ground cover and it does grow quickly.  I have trimmed it back during the summer to prevent it from entering my lawn, although it is easy to pull up if I don’t get to it in time. 

Location

Location is very important to consider as well when planning a garden design using raised beds because unlike simply planting something in the ground and moving it if it doesn’t work out, you are sort of stuck with your decision on where you build this raised bed. 

I know it can be done of course, with effort, but chances of you relocating a raised bed once it’s been built is slim. So be sure to clock the amount of sun you are receiving in the location you plan to add raised beds.  

It is always wise to consider what your beds are made out of as well, or what the outer color of the beds will be, as the sun will be absorbed into darker colors better than lighter, as well as certain materials will take in more heat. I did not build my beds very tall, so the concrete blocks, which I painted a dark color, do not see a lot of the sun during the day.  Besides, the Creeping Jenny does a good job at spilling over the edges anyway…  

Should You Plant Hydrangeas In A Raised Bed?

Now that you have read from my point of view on why I think landscaping with raised beds can certainly work, as well as what things you should consider before moving forward with a project like this of your own, it’s time to think if this is something you should do in your own garden plans.

I’ve listed a couple recap questions to ask yourself, that might help with your decision.

How Are Your Drainage Conditions?

If you are dealing with a situation like me, I say without a doubt, adding a raised bed would be a great idea and provide you the ability to grow the plants you want in this area of your yard that may have seemed hopeless before. 

Just be wise about the material you choose to build your bed with.  I deal with standing water in the spring or after heavy rains, so there was no way I’d build my bed out of wood, even if it was treated, because the water is bound to win eventually and the wood will deteriorate. 

Could Your Yard Use Some Added Aesthetics?

Some people’s yards are simply flat and perhaps boring to look at, and plants of various sizes can certainly help grab your eye and define layers in your landscape, but if you’re someone like me that likes to incorporate a little character with additional aesthetics other than just plants, I think adding raised beds can provide something extra to your design. 

In my case, I was able to add some color in my garden by painting the sides of the bed, and I framed it with stained wood to give it a more elegant look.  Now when I’m in my backyard, I get a sense of pride to see how nice my raised bed compliments the flagstone patio and path I installed, to help from walking on the wet ground until it had a chance to dry up. 🙂 

If you’ve made it to the end, thank you so much for spending the time to read my post.  Hopefully I was able to provide you with enough to think about to help you decide if adding raised beds into your landscape is the right choice for you.

If you like what you see, or learned anything, please tell me about it by commenting down below!

Happy Gardening!🌿

After watching the snowflakes fall to the ground however, I thought it would be fun to write about some ways to bring winter interest into your landscape.  This way, come Spring when you are starting to work on your own outdoor projects, perhaps you will keep some of these ideas in mind when picking out your plants. 

Bringing Winter Interest to Your Landscape

There are other reasons to bring a unique arrangement of plants to your landscape besides just adding more character to a pretty bleak space once the snow has covered the ground. Although it is nice to bring more appeal to your gardens, it’s helpful to the wildlife and beneficial insects as well. 

Why Winter Interest Matters

If you have these plants that can remain left alone come fall, and still look attractive in the landscape in the winter, you will be providing shelter for the wildlife in your area as well as giving a safe environment for the beneficial insects we want to keep. In turn they will lay their eggs in your gardens, which will aid in controlling the insect pests we don’t want because they eat the plants and bring diseases to your gardens.. 

So where to begin… There are several various plants, shrubs, and trees you can consider as they will all bring definition to your landscape whether it be their foliage, branches, or even just the general form of the plant. 

The types I will share will be deciduous plants, perennials and of course evergreens or conifers. 

Deciduous Plants: Adding Texture and Color

I know what you might be thinking.  Why would I suggest something that will drop all of its leaves in the winter to be something to add to your landscape for interest? 

Well, there are deciduous plants that not only look nice in the landscapes due to their foliage, but their branches as well.  I’m talking about Red Twig Dogwoods. 

Red Twig Dogwood: 

Although there are a variety of different dogwoods available today for you to choose from, I’m going to stick with sharing this in reference to Red Twig Dogwoods, which the bark will provide a nice red pop of color against the white snow in your yards.  An excellent contrast to provide the much needed winter interest when everything can be so gray outside. 

Hydrangea: 

Yes, of course I will include my Hydrangeas on this list since I do have them in my own landscape and enjoy what they bring to my yard. 

These deciduous shrubs or even tree forms do not provide any appeal in their branches like the previous dogwoods mentioned, however if you chose to leave your blooms intact, then they will provide a nice dried flower ball to create definition against the branches of the plant. 

Winterberry: 

I think the name says it all, but an amazing looking deciduous shrub I would suggest adding into your landscape to bring winter interest would be the Winterberry. 

This is such a lovely looking plant that not only brings that pop of color from the berries, but will serve an additional purpose in your landscape by providing food for the wildlife. 

Unfortunately, according to ASPCA.org, the berries are considered toxic to dogs so I will likely keep this shrub out of my gardens.  I try to be mindful of this when I choose my plants, and it’s not as common now that my dog is getting older to be scooping everything in his mouth to test, I’d like to keep his options limited.  So please keep this in mind when you are choosing plants for your own landscapes. 

Perennials: Nature’s Winter Sculptures

I like to bring perennials into this winter interest category because if you are a lazy gardener like I am, I tend to leave my perennials alone in the Fall and cut them back in the Spring. 

There are also a couple reasons to leave your perennials in the Fall that have nothing to do with being lazy. 🙂  

Why Leave Perennials Standing Through Winter?

One of those reasons is to provide homes to beneficial insects.  Following the pollinating season they will end up finding a home in your garden to overwinter, whether that being they burrow into your plants stems or under the fallen foliage or soil surrounding your plant. 

Another reason I choose not to cut back my perennials is to allow the foliage to provide the added warmth around the base of my plant so the cold winds of winter won’t damage the root system.

Here are a few different plants to consider in your own gardens that will provide you that additional winter interest.

Astilbes:

One of my most favorite perennials in my own garden are the Astilbes.  I do not receive a ton of sun in my yard, so I’ve had to look for plants with low sun requirements, and this is one of them that I absolutely love.  The flowers come in several colors and I love that they offer a fern like look with their foliage. 

Once the blooms have dried up, the stems of the plants remain rather strong, so come winter the flowers of the Astilbe sort of look like feathers to me, sticking straight up from the snow. It could be a personal preference, but I like the appearance it provides in my winter landscape. 

Alliums: 

Another wonderful plant to consider adding to your landscape would be Alliums. I have them included on the side of my house around the base of my Lilac Tree because they provide a pop of color once the blooms of my Lilac have faded. 

Alliums, much like the Astilbe, hold their blooms on tall sturdy stems as well, so come the winter season you will receive that added interest of these cute little ball-like blooms floating above the white winter snow.  They remind me of a large dandelion when it reaches its final stage and turns into a puffball, when you pluck it from the ground and make your wish. 

Echinacea (Coneflower):

This native flower is a must have in your garden.  If you are unfamiliar with the name, Echinacea, I started out knowing them as Coneflowers. By the look of the flower, it is very easy to remember Coneflower over Echinacea, so feel free to call it whatever since others will know what you are referring to. 

Here is another plant I love having in my garden because it can grow to a decent height and appear over other perennials in your garden without being hidden.  The bees and butterflies love this flower too, as I find them all over mine during the summer. 

I like to leave these alone in the winter because they not only provide winter interest, but seeds for the birds.  

Sedums:

I’ve included Sedum, known as the Autumn Joy Sedum, in my pollinator garden.  I might have planted too many in this small garden in my front yard, but this perennial is so pretty throughout the season I couldn’t help myself but plant several of them. 

Sedum plants provide a unique form in my winter landscape because they stand out from my other perennials by their shape alone.  They remind me of broccoli heads with a pop of color.  Although the color has faded since Fall, they still give you the winter interest by their mounding shape and definition in the flowers. 

Ornamental Grass:

A top choice for me when landscaping, is including ornamental grass. There are so many types of grasses you can include in your own landscape, and I’m sure many of them will bring winter interest. I like the look of the tall varieties that will sway in the wind and form a nice tall upright form against the snow.  

Evergreens & Conifers: Year-Round Beauty

Of course before I end my post, I will need to include both Evergreens and Conifers on my list of trees and shrubs that will bring you winter interest into your landscape.  Each of these are going to be my number one choice, and there are so many options to choose from, all of which are dependent on their size and space you have available to grow them. 

I don’t have a very large yard, so it would look quite odd if I were to add something like an Eastern White Pine tree, which does make me slightly sad since this is one of my absolute favorite Conifers. They give a soft appearance that stands out amongst the other trees, with their long blue green needles.  I will just have to continue to enjoy them when hiking through our nearby trails. 

Arborvitae: 

You will find that I have a couple varieties of Arborvitae in my personal landscape, and these types were chosen due to their mature size remaining smaller than most Evergreens. I was looking for something to plant along our walkway that wouldn’t get much bigger than 2-3 feet around, so I decided on the Technito Globe Arborvitae.  

This shrub looks so nice in the winter, and provides lush dark green foliage all year round.  I also enjoy how the snow layers on the leaves and branches, and looks so beautiful in the landscape during winter. 

Boxwood:

Before I chose the Arborvitae, mentioned previously, in my landscape, I had considered going with a Boxwoods because they had smaller varieties to choose from and seem to keep their tight compact form as well as look nice when trimmed, and provide a clean appearance to the landscape. 

I chose against Boxwoods because I was new to gardening with a new puppy at the time, so I was focusing mostly on pet friendly shrubs, and these are considered toxic if ingested as well as a skin irritant from the sap. Although if I were selecting plants to add to my landscape today, I don’t think this would deter me because I know now that my dog wouldn’t be eating the leaves, and I could simply wear gloves when having to prune the shrub. 

Spruce:

There are so many Evergreen and Conifer varieties that can add winter interest, but I will end this by listing the Dwarf Globe Blue Spruce because I just love the color that this shrub can provide in the landscape with its blue needle leaves and mounded shape. 

It’s nice to include a variation of colors in the landscape that will balance nicely against the greens and yellows, allowing everything to pop against each other and stand out. I like to bring this added interest into the landscape for foliage and color alone, since we can’t always have something flowering in our gardens.  

Of course this will add wonderful winter interest as well with the way it collects the snow on the needles and a touch of blue color against the other green Conifers or Evergreens. 

Non-Plant Options: Adding Structure to Your Winter Garden

Alternatively if you wanted to add anything else into your landscape that does not fall under the plant category could be things like: 

• Sculptures
• Trellises or Arches
• Arbors
• Fountains
• Benches
• Rocks/Boulders

Planning Ahead for Year-Round Garden Beauty

The list could go on, but I hope what I have provided above gave you some inspiration for your next landscaping project, and allow you to think ahead on what types of plants, shrubs or even trees you might want to think about adding into your garden to bring that added interest to your landscape when everything else has been spent until the following season. 

If you like what you see, or learned anything, please tell me about it by commenting down below!

Happy Gardening!🌿

Of course, there is a right time to start and for some reason every year I have to sit and recall back to what I had done the previous season. Is it too soon to begin? When can I start, and what are the steps I need to remember so my plants and shrubs have the best chance to thrive?

Are You Ready to Begin Your Spring Cleanup?

I hope my list of 5 things to remember when caring for your panicle hydrangeas this Spring become a good resource for you to fall back on when we just need that friendly reminder on how to start. 

This list will be targeted towards your panicle hydrangeas because not all hydrangeas are the same, and panicle hydrangeas need different care then let’s say the big leaf type. 

1. Plan Your Pruning Around The Ideal Temperature

If you live in Zone 4b like I do, Spring seems to arrive at a later time than we all hoped it would.  There’s always that slight chance that we could get hit with more snow, so it’s important to pay attention to your last freeze date.  

When Should You Start Pruning Your Hydrangeas?

Even though panicle hydrangeas bloom on new wood, meaning the fresh green stems that emerge from your shrub that year will be the very stems you will receive those beautiful cone-shaped flowers on, it is still important to prune them annually.

So when is the right time?  The way I like to look at it, when it comes to pruning some of my plants is to imagine that they are in a deep sleep, so I like to try and make sure that any serious pruning is done before it has a chance to fully wake up.  However you also want enough time for the hydrangea to begin to form this season’s buds which will show you where you can start pruning. 

Look for Signs of Bud Formation

Panicle hydrangeas should start forming buds around the 50 degree mark, so when you begin to see your temperature steadily rising and keeping around this temp day to day, take a walk through your garden to inspect your hydrangeas.

If you notice they are starting to bulge then get out your pruners and get yourself ready for your first step in caring for your panicle hydrangeas this Spring. 

2. The ⅓ Rule: How Much to Prune

You may have heard or read others talk about the ⅓ rule in pruning because this is what the recommended amount that you remove from your shrub to be without causing too much shock or stress to the plant. 

If you do cause additional stress to the plant, there is a chance it may slow its growth that season and none of us want that. Also by cutting too much away, there could be less foliage, and with less foliage your hydrangea won’t absorb as much energy from the sun. Which in turn could cause it to limit the amount of flowers it would otherwise have provided you. 

What Is the ⅓ Rule?

So when you have your pruners in hand take a good look at the size of your shrub, and simply shorten it by ⅓.  Find the stems you plan to keep, with the shape of the plant in mind, and simply look for the nearest bud around the ⅓ mark and snip right above that at an angle. 

3. Shaping Your Hydrangea for Better Growth

Now that you know how much you can cut off of your panicle hydrangea, you can begin to decide if it will require some shaping. 

I like to consider panicle hydrangeas to be a low maintenance shrub, and they really are, in my opinion. You certainly don’t have to spend a great deal on shaping these, and you could just let them be. Although by doing so, you give them the best chance of thriving and becoming a strong plant in your garden. 

Cutting Back Fragile Stems and Encouraging New Growth

I like to begin by assessing the current stems, and picking out the ones that look most fragile. Go ahead and cut those back at the base if you want, so you can encourage the energy from your shrub to focus on its strongest assets. 

This will also help you get better access to the stronger stems you plan to keep, if you need to get back in there and snip a few more branches that might be a little more unruly like shown in the image below. 

An Exception to the Rule: Shaping Your Shrub for Stronger Growth

I know earlier I had commented on not cutting back too much to prevent shock or stress on your plant, but if it’s necessary to cut away a bit more than you’d like so that the stems aren’t growing against each other, I consider this the exception to that rule. 

You want to allow the plant stem room to grow and air to circulate, so you are providing it a better chance of success by snipping off those ugly branches that will eventually thicken and cause more disruption with the shape of your hydrangea. So what better time than any to sacrifice the plant for better health in the end.

4. Clean Up the Area Around Your Hydrangea

After all that pruning you have accomplished, unless you were cleaning up along the way, you should now have a mess of sticks and debris surrounding the base of your panicle hydrangea. 

Why Cleaning Up Is Crucial for Your Plant’s Health

Regardless of pruning or not, it is important to clean up the area around the base so that you prevent any fungal diseases or insects laying nests near your shrub.  I sometimes like to surround the base of my plants with fallen leaves during the Fall season to provide extra coverage so the ground around the roots of these plants stay warmer during our cold winter months. 

Not always do I get the chance of protecting my plants this way, but even still, the wind will likely have blown leaves and debris or even trash on occasion, so it is always best to clean up or pull away from the wood base so nothing is sitting against it. 

How to Break Up Stiff Mulch for Better Soil Aeration

I personally use wood mulch in my beds to keep the soil moist and prevent too many weeds from appearing, but there are times that this mulch can start to stiffen.  If you’ve worked with wood mulch you may already know what I mean, but if not, it basically becomes matted above the dirt and no longer easily moved.  When this happens I grab a garden fork or some sort of tool to break up the mulch to allow the soil beneath to breath. 

You will come to notice, I’m not a gardener that likes to purchase fresh mulch every season to replace or top dress, in order to make my beds look fresh and beautiful. Mainly because it’s added expense, extra work that takes time, but personally I don’t think it’s needed.  Yes it will look so much nicer, but is it helping the plants any more than simply mixing up the existing much I already have, as long as it hasn’t fully decomposed yet?  I think I’ll stick with what has been working and save myself the time and money. 

So whatever you may do in your own beds, just provide your hydrangeas a clean space to start growing, and this will give you a better chance of a good and full growing shrub that performs well in your landscape.

5. When to Fertilize Your Panicle Hydrangeas

Depending on when you got around to pruning, you may or may not be ready to start fertilizing your panicle hydrangeas.  Wait, why do I say this you ask?  Wouldn’t it make more sense to get all the Spring cleanup accomplished in one go? Sure, but there is a chance the fertilizer you spread could be wasted if it’s still too soon and the plant wasn’t ready to absorb the nutrients yet. 

Personally gardening isn’t perfect, and the only way we are all going to learn is by finding what works for you. I think I’ve fed my hydrangeas at all different times the past few seasons since they’ve been planted and I’ve had a successful year – however I’ve also learned a bit more each year and it starts to make more sense to me as time goes on. 

The Best Time to Fertilize Your Hydrangeas for Maximum Growth

If you want to provide the best chance for your panicle hydrangea to perform well this season, I would time your fertilizing out when the buds start to green up.  This shows you that your hydrangea is beginning to wake up, and beginning to actively grow.  When it reaches this phase, it will begin to absorb the nutrients and will need the energy to continue with its growth cycle. 

Choosing the Right Fertilizer: What Works for Hydrangeas?

I don’t have strong opinions on what makes the perfect fertilizer to use with your panicle hydrangeas at the moment, but I have started to use Epsoma’s Rose Tone Fertilizer this past Spring with guidance I received through YouTube’s Garden Answer channel where Laura has recommended this type since she’s been using it on her hydrangeas. 

Bonus Tip: The Importance of Soil Testing

Performing a soil test is always recommended when you don’t know what your soil conditions are, and having a soil test done will provide you with the best starting off point. With a soil test it will provide you the insight you need to determine what fertilizer your soil and plants will benefit most from. However I know not everyone will want to go through that added step, so if you find something that allows an equal N-P-K balance, you should be just fine. 

Should You Test Your Soil?

The fun and sometimes not so fun thing about gardening, is you get to know a little more about the science behind it all. If your plant is deficient in a nutrient there is a good chance it will show you through its foliage, or possibly stunted growth, so it is always good to pay attention through the growing season. 

If you are unsure what it may need, try snapping a photo of the plant as well as a close up of the foliage to show the exact coloring, and take it to your local garden center and ask if they are able to help you find the right nutrient that it might be needing to correct that issue. 

Feeling Better Prepared to Care for Your Panicle Hydrangeas this Spring?

Well there you have it, my 5 things to remember when caring for your panicle hydrangeas this Spring, and I hope that it gave you enough to think about so that you can easily jump in and begin your gardening season with success!

If you like what you see, or learned anything, please tell me about it by commenting down below!

Happy Gardening!🌿

When my husband and I took a trip to Seattle in the Spring of 2024, I had my heart set on taking a tour of Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. When I was planning our trip I discovered that Seattle offered one of the top rated botanical gardens here in the US, and being that it was a short ferry ride away I started researching to see what we needed to do to ensure we got a spot reserved on the calendar. 

What I’ve Learned When Planning Out My Trip:

Consider The Weather

Because we were traveling in the Spring, May to be exact, I was concerned we were going to be rained out. I was checking the weather almost daily to get a sense of how often it changed, not that I would be able to predict the weather by constantly checking, but I like to think it helped, haha. 

It will always be difficult to predict the weather, so I made it my priority to check in on the forecast from time to time. I even started taking screenshots of the weekly forecast so that I could compare and see how often it would fluctuate. Yes, I may have taken this a bit too far in my planning, haha, but I do think it allowed me to make a better decision on the day we chose to purchase our tickets. 

How Will You Get There?

While I waited to purchase our tickets, I began to research Bainbridge Island.  We were not renting a car, so we could not just drive to the Nature Reserve ourselves.  I would need to understand how the transportation system worked and how close the drop off site would be. 

Several YouTube videos later, as well as reaching out to people through Reddit, I began to piece together our options. I’m a major planner when it comes to going somewhere I’m not familiar with, so even though I spent so much of my time figuring out our day of adventure, it was so worth it!

I was able to book us a pick up time through their transportation known as Kitsap Transit, which would take us all the way to the entrance of Bloedel Reserve. 

Consider Location For Shuttle Pick Up

When you book a time slot through Kitsap using their ‘Ride Pingo’ app, it will give you a time window for when you can expect to be picked up.  I loved this option because if you planned ahead you could pick a specific location you will be and the shuttle bus will come to you.  

Of course there are bus pick up locations that you could walk to instead, and you wouldn’t have to deal with scheduling a specific time at your chosen location, but I really wanted to check out the iconic Pegasus Coffee House, so we thought that would be a good site location to have as our pick up. 

The tour we chose was shortly before noon, so we didn’t give ourselves too much time to tour Bainbridge Island before we hopped on the shuttle, so this worked out well for us.  We grabbed our espresso and stepped outside to sit on a bench overlooking the Winslow Wharf Marina. 

Use The Ride Pingo App

As we neared our pick up time, I started to get anxious as I didn’t want to miss the shuttle so I kept walking towards the road to check. However, I noticed that when I opened the Ride Pingo app it provided the location of the shuttle on the map in real time. 

This was the coolest feature, and although I was still skeptical because I was new to all of this, it allowed me to relax by the water without worrying too much about missing the shuttle. It worked perfectly too because I remember us walking towards the road when it appeared to be turning onto that road from the app, and sure enough there it was, just as the app displayed. 

Spring Time at Bloedel Reserve

When we arrived, the atmosphere was incredibly serene. Located at the northern tip of Bainbridge Island, this was far enough away from the main downtown area that you can just smell the fresh air and hear nothing but nature, truly removing yourself from reality and connecting back with nature.

As I had mentioned previously, we were traveling during early Spring so it was expected that we would not get the opportunity to see every garden in full bloom. The amazing thing about Bloedel Reserve however, is that it offers so many unique gardens.  Each garden has a purpose and provides seasonal interest no matter what time of year you decide to visit. 

Touring the Unique Gardens of Bloedel Reserve

When we checked in, they provided us with a map of the gardens which was incredibly helpful and a fun experience. Bloedel Reserve offers several unique gardens by different names, and you can sort of discover them upon arriving without the map as they really do offer their own distinct appearance. 

My Personal Favorites

I loved each of the gardens in their own way, and I took so many pictures while hiking through the trails.  However we made sure to stop and take in the incredible views as well.  You feel so small when you are surrounded by what I believe to be Western Hemlocks that reach the sky. 

Even though we visited the gardens this Spring, I would most definitely go back during another season so I can walk through and explore how much everything has changed, as the colors most certainly will be different.  I would love to see the Meadow Garden once all the flowers have bloomed, or I bet the leaves in the fall would be spectacular. Although I wouldn’t see ourselves vacationing in Seattle in the winter time, I have seen images of Bloedel Island in the winter and that too would be incredible to hike through on a nice day. There is just so much this place can offer.

Rhododendron Garden

We walked into the Rhododendron Glen Gardens after touring the home that resides on the land of Bloedel Reserve, and it was simply beautiful.  This was a favorite of mine because the flowers were in full bloom at this time in the Spring, and there were so many beautiful colors to see. It had to be a favorite of others touring as well since we started to see people walking these trails nearby. 

We had even come very close to a deer amongst the rhododendrons and snapped a picture before it trotted away into the bushes. 

Japanese Gardens

Japanese gardens have always been a true favorite of mine, and if I could create one in my own backyard I would do it in a heartbeat, but unfortunately I do not have the ideal conditions it would require (or the space). 

These gardens bring a calm feeling, with all the clean lines and perfect manicured trees and bushes. I just loved all the various colors and different shapes of the leaves as you can see in the picture I captured on our way out. 

The Reflection Pool

I’ve listed the Reflection Pool as one of my favorite gardens, not because it stands out against these other gardens as this extraordinary space, because what you see is what you see, it’s just simple.  

However, I find myself gravitating towards this garden because it relates to my design process in my own personal landscaping. I love simple, functional and clean looking spaces, and this garden is exactly that. The perfectly shaped hedges surrounded by an equally shaped pond gives me this tranquil feeling that I just love.  

The Moss Garden

After leaving the reflection pool I was already relaxed, but when I entered what felt like a fantasy garden, I was in awe.  Maybe it was just me, but I felt like what I was looking at was fake. I still do!  I snapped a few pictures, and to this day when our photos run through our album on our Google home hub, I stop and stare because it brings me back to this time walking through the trails of Bloedel Reserve.

Planning Your Visit: Here Are A Few Tips I Learned

If you are planning to take a trip to Seattle, and would like to witness these beautiful gardens at the Bloedel Reserve yourself, here is a list of my personal tips or suggestions that I think you will find helpful.

Get An Orca Card

Go online prior to traveling and sign up for an Orca card. We found this card incredibly useful for transportation around Seattle as well as taking the Bainbridge Ferry across the Puget Sound.  Just remember to sign up for this card several weeks in advance so you can ensure it will arrive in the mail before you leave for your trip. Alternatively you can pick one up once you arrive in Seattle, but I think it’s slightly more expensive. I just prefer to plan ahead.

Download the Ride Pingo App

I downloaded the Kitsap Transit app (Ride Pingo) to book our pick up time for our tour at Bloedel Reserve. It will allow you to choose the exact location you would like to be picked up by the shuttle, which was super convenient. Otherwise you can hop on the shuttle at their designated locations in town. Just remember to provide yourself with enough time (I believe 25-30 minutes) before your scheduled tour.   Although the timing is important, it really was not too bad, as I feel if we had been somewhat late to arrive, they would have taken care of us as everyone we spoke to was so friendly. 

Take Your Photos, But Remember To Stay Present

After sharing the pictures from our visit, I’m not sure what more I can say to convince anyone who loves photographing nature that it’s worth checking out. You will find all kinds of things to take a picture of, but don’t forget to put the camera down so you personally can take in the wonderful views and remember the feeling you had when you look back through the pictures you took.

Just Go If You Love Nature

If you will be traveling to Seattle, or even live there and you haven’t toured Bloedel Reserve please do yourself a favor and schedule a time on your calendar. I can’t think of anyone that would not enjoy visiting these gardens, and escaping from reality for a couple hours. 

If you like what you see, or learned anything, please tell me about it by commenting down below!

Happy Travels!🌿

At least this is what I thought at first until my Mother-in-Law gifted me with a Peony and I wanted to find the perfect place to plant it.  I realized before that, I wasn’t opening my mind to the possibility of simply creating a spot in the sunniest part of our yard for this sole purpose. 

Before I really started gardening, I could only imagine landscaping around our house, but as I’ve continued my new hobby I’ve begun to become more confident in expanding my options. 

Why Consider a Pollinator Garden?

We all know too well that we can’t survive without bees, so why not help support the environment by contributing to their success and provide our beneficial insects a place to nourish themselves. In addition you will be rewarded by being able to enjoy the butterflies and bees in your yard, jumping from flower to flower. 

What You Need To Know Before Starting A Pollinator Garden

Sun Requirements

Most flowering plants will do best under full sun, so try finding an area of your yard that you know receives sun most of the day, or at least 6 hours.  This should provide you the best chance of success with plenty of blooming flowers. 

Understand Each Plants Watering Needs

When I was choosing my plants, I tried paying attention to the drought tolerant plants because I do not have irrigation set up, and only plan to hand water this garden.  

It’s always advised to look into plants that are native to your location too. This way you should have great success in them flourishing since they are created to survive your exact growing conditions, and often do not require much water either. 

I had not considered native plants in the beginning (although I’ve started to incorporate them this year when I had other plants fail on me).  I started my garden only focusing on which plants fit my design I’ve drawn out, shown in the image below.

Seasonal Interest

When you add plants to your pollinator garden, try paying close attention to when they will start to bloom.  I sort of accomplished this in my own garden, but was so focused on the look of the plants, that I forgot to ensure they would look amazing throughout the entire season as well. 

I do love each of the plants that I’ve added on their own, but if I could do it all over again, I would consider adding various types of plants that achieve the same look I was going for, but extend the blooming time. 

For example: I absolutely love my purple Salvias, but they bloom earlier in the season during the Spring-time while everything else is still green, or waiting to come up.  If I considered including later blooming Salvia’s, or another plant I found known as Liatris Spicata or Blazing Star (native to Minnesota), I would be able to retain this same color when my other plants finally start to come alive mid-summer. 

Know the Mature Size of Your Plants

This is often one of the hardest rules to follow.  It’s difficult to see all that space between each tiny plant when you start off your garden that first year. You can see in my picture below, that there was plenty of space left when I made my plant placements.  It is so hard not to want to fill it in so that we can achieve that full look, and see all those pretty flowers next to each other.

However, even when I thought I was doing a good job at keeping my plants far enough apart so that they would not overcrowd each other once mature, I’m already finding that they are just too close and I will have to remove some of them from the garden next year. 

You can see how my plants are starting to crowd each other in the image below.

Choose Plant Placement on Height

As mentioned above, it’s important to know the mature size of your plants, which not only is regarding how wide they get but how tall as well. 

Another thing I chose to ignore or overlook was the bee balm that I planted in my pollinator garden. I suppose I thought the bee balm I picked up was one of the taller varieties, but that was quite the opposite.  I don’t believe these plants have gone over 10” in height if I were to take a guess, but you can see them hiding in the picture below. 

If I considered this, I should have planted these on the outside or in front of the taller plants, but instead they were tucked in the middle and have been hidden since day one.  I plan on moving this too next Spring so they have a better chance of seeing the sun.  They really are a beautiful magenta color when they first bloom, and I’m missing out on getting to see it before they begin to fade. 

Other than that, I feel I did a pretty good job with placement as I focused my taller plants in the back or closest to the fence that I included for added interest. 

7 Steps to Create Your Pollinator Garden

As I’ve shared above, there is a lot that goes into planning out a garden, and I’m a true believer in having a good idea of what your next moves are before beginning a project.  I think it allows everything to move a lot quicker, and you have more confidence going into it than you would if you were to make it up as you go. 

1. Layout Your Design

I find it very helpful to have your physical plants before you start digging, because you can visually see what it may look like before even starting. 

Of course, these plants are at a much smaller scale, but you will give yourself a chance to rearrange or reconsider the placement before putting them in the ground.  I have done this with every garden project I’ve started.  I’m a visual person, and struggle seeing the full picture without having it in front of me. 

2. Mark Your Garden Bed Area

You may have already decided how far out your bed would be before your plant placement, but I have found myself expanding or reshaping my garden beds after I made my final decision on plant location, so be flexible and allow yourself more room if you can allow it.  

3. Remove the Turf

I’ve mentioned this in other posts I’ve written, but this has to be my least favorite part of landscaping. Thankfully I’ve accumulated garden tools that have made this task a bit easier, but by no means do I look forward to this step.

If you want this to be a little less difficult, check out this Saw-Tooth Edger, which is one of the garden tools I highly recommend if you have to deal with removing turf, or simply cutting out and shaping your garden bed

4. Add Edging (If Using)

If you plan on using edging, I like to start placing this around the shape of the bed after I’ve removed all of the grass.  It starts to pull everything together, and holds in the mulch when you add it at the end. 

5. Start Digging

Now that you have your garden space cleared out, you are ready to dig the holes for your plants.  I like to have a bag of Epsoma’s Plant-Tone All Purpose Fertilizer and Bonide’s Root & Grow Concentrate nearby as I have had great success in my plants growth when I’ve started them off right from the start.

Make sure to dig your holes wider than the pot the plant came in, but just as deep so you aren’t burying your plant lower than the current dirt level removed from the pot.  

Tousle the side of the dirt to loosen the roots, but not too forceful to cause damage to them.  Just enough so the plant will want to start feeding off and start growing through your own garden’s soil. 

Sprinkle a small handful of fertilizer pellets, and water your plants with your root concentrate and finish by filling the rest of your empty hole with more dirt. Depending on the condition of my soil, which I work with a lot of hard clay soil, I like to incorporate some compost as well if I have it on hand. 

6. Water and Set Your Plants

Continue to water your plants once all have been put in the ground.  This should hopefully keep them from too much transplant shock, and be happy in their new home. 

7. Finish With Mulch

I like to include wood mulch in my gardens, directly surrounding my plants to provide insulation and shade from the sun.  It also keeps the weed seeds from germinating and filling up my beds.  

Besides serving the functional purpose mentioned above, I think mulch adds the final touch needed to your garden and makes it complete.  You may notice after a year or two, you will need less and less of it as the plants start to mature and fill in the space. 

Here is a finishing picture of my garden, including my little helper who was happy to know his mama was finished playing in the dirt and ready to play ball with him.

Final Thoughts

Now that I have been enjoying my pollinator garden for a few years, I’m starting to think about ways to update it based on my suggestions above. I think I will start by removing some of the plants I have multiples of, and that are too short for the space they’re in. 

I’ll need to find a new home for those plants, which may just mean I need to come up with a new garden bed elsewhere. 😉 Then I think I’ll replace the plants removed with native plants that will fit the space and provide me with more seasonal interest that I can enjoy more than I do today.

If you like what you see, or learned anything, please tell me about it by commenting down below!

Happy Gardening!🌿