Returning to My Post

It's back to blogging! I have moved yet again, this time to our treehouse in the west side of Portland. So I am embarking on creating yet another minimalist home. We are painting, remodeling, and landscaping. So, I will have a lot to write about.

I will also be writing about ways to save time and money.

Upon returning to the land of blogging, I went through all of my favorite blogs that I had listed and was shocked to see how many were no more. Some stated that their space was for sale, some were just not found and some were just replaced by ads.

So I have updated my blog favorites and added some more I think you'll like. So I hope you'll follow me on my latest journey. Cheers!

Drip System Heaven

Now that I am back in downtown Portland in my townhouse again, I spent some time revamping my drip system. If you've never used one, I must say they are so worth the initial set up. Mine's on a timer and connects to two misters for my small front flower garden and then goes around the yard and up to the second deck to water my flower baskets. It's really hot up there, and I know from experience that they would soon be dead without being watered every morning. 

The most expensive part of the system is the timer, which pays for itself in saved water costs. The rest is just 1/4 inch tubing that you puncture with an awl- like tool and little connectors that go into wherever you punch into the tubing. 

I had a lot of fun putting it together. I bought a small kit and was on my way to saving time, money, and the planet - my favorite things!

Here are Two Great Blogs

I just found a new ecology blog that is totally cool. I wanted to share it with you all. It's called Let Me Green . The first thing I found there were affordable solar panels which I want to power my green house as I want to continue growing vegetables over the winter in our potting shed. My husband and I went to an art opening at the Launch Pad Gallery on Thursday and bought a really cool piece of multimedia art to go in there. It's by Rebecca Shelly. Here's some info about her. She has a great web site about gardening and her art. If you're a gardener, you've got to check her out!

Rebecca Shelly

Rebecca Shelly will be showing some beautiful drawings & installation work from her MFA thesis about modern-day victory gardens. These pieces are originally inspired by a WWII era government propaganda campaign to encourage Americans to plant food gardens, which they called, “Victory Gardens”, as a way of supporting the war effort. Shelly has taken the idea of the Victory Garden and adapted it to address a different yet equally grave set of problems facing us today.

Minimalist's Backyard - Taming the Mess!

If you haven't tamed your backyard yet due to bad weather, floods, etc. I's not too late. Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Good Design:

First of all, a good design aimed at low maintenance will really help. Decks are great because they can cover a large area, are great for entertaining and most importantly, let the rain water absorb and the earth breathe. Avoid lawns. They are the highest maintenance item in a yard and waste water. If you have one rip it up and replace it with bark or gravel paths through beautiful perennials.

2. Trees:

The best trees are ones that don't drop leaves. Basically pine trees. We plant Leland Cedar on all of our properties due to their quick growth and low maintenance. They can turn a yard with no privacy to a very private one in about three years. The squirrels, birds and cats love them too! Routing the water from your downspouts to your trees really helps relieve the storm drains and here in Portland, we get a discount on our water bill for doing so.

3. Privacy:

Trees don't always solve every privacy problem. When they don't, you can use trellises with vines. I recommend either potato vines or honeysuckle. Star jasmine is also great but takes longer to grow. Clamatis usually dies out in the winter. There are some non deciduous ones but they grow more slowly.

4. Flowers:

To save money and time I grow perennials. That means if you don't have too bad a winter, they come back each year. If you put a cold frame or plastic to keep the frost off them, they'll have a better chance depending upon where you live. Buying a few showy hanging plants each spring really makes you look like a super gardner too!

5. Vegetables:

My vegetable garden is completely grown in containers. They're just ones that trees came in and misc ones I've picked up. I do this because I hate to weed.

6. Watering:

I have two drip systems with a timers. I created them myself. They cost around $150 to do the front and back yards. and I am sure I have saved much more than that on my water bill and in plants saved. It was fun to put together too. It's just a hose with off shoots of little hoses to each plant that I want to get water instead of watering an entire area which encourages weeds. I even have it routed up to my hanging plants!

7. Compost:

I have a compost bin that is open on the bottom so the worms can come up. I just put my kitchen scraps and yard debris in it so I don't have to take them out to the curb. Less work for me! To read more about composting you can read: Minimalist Composting: Why It's Worth It

8. Weeds:

You're gonna have them. I don't let them get me down. I just go out a couple of mornings a week for about ten minutes in my clogs and halter top with a shovel and get my frustrations out. Then I throw them into the compost bin and reward myself by picking some flowers, herbs and vegetables.

Happy gardening!