Home of the Freedom Dinners. We exist to give freedom by creating beautiful community.
Home of the Freedom Dinners. We exist to give freedom by creating beautiful community.
Garden Tool Links :
If you’re planning to use the drip system kit, Click Here for a full video on how we use them in our garden
A few more planting tips - for MID MAY when you plant your Seedlings into the Garden Bed :
your seedlings should have 1 to 2 sets of true leaves (this takes approximately 4 weeks)
before you plant into the garden, don’t forget to harden off your seedlings so they can slowly acclimate to being outside.
if possible, plant the seedlings in the late afternoon/evening so they have time to settle in before the sun starts beating on them.
gently remove the start from the tray by pushing up thru the bottom watering hole
plant the starter so that the entire pod of dirt is covered by the garden soil, be gentle with your little seedling, but tuck it into the dirt snuggly
give the freshly planted seedlings a gentle watering once they’re all tucked into the garden bed.
water the seedlings in the morning and evening for the first week, especially if it is sunny and warm! You should be able to water your entire bed with 1 (2 gallon) watering can
your garden will thrive with sun + consistent watering + feed it a dose of that stinky Alaska Fish Fertilizer from our garden supplies list. Use as directed
*Reminder! your dahlia does not need very much water until you see the green shoots coming up, it’s okay if rain water and garden water gets on it but no need to water like when you start seeds. Wait to water consistently until you can see the green shoots come up.
Click here for how to pinch your dahlia : you will get more and more blooms if you pinch your dahlia when it’s about 6 inches tall and has 2 sets of leaves.
Click here for how and why to use Sluggo : Slugs LOVE Dahlias so go purchase some of the Sluggo we put in our Dahlia Supplies List and sprinkle it around the perimeter of the plant as soon as you see the green shoots appear!
Click here for how to stake and support our dahlias. The flower netting for a large patch or tomato cages for single dahlias that we love to use are in our Dahlia Supplies List
Be sure to hit Subscribe to our YouTube Channel so you know when we add more garden content, especially to our Dahlia Playlist. All through the year we’ll be adding more dahlia content!
Even though we have a fairly short season of hot weather here in the PNW, we have STILL been able to grow bumper crops of tomatoes and here’s why.
We start your tomato seeds inside, under grow lights, in February.
We grow primarily cherry size tomatoes with just a couple larger heirloom tomato plants. Click here to come harvest tomatoes in the Tomato Garden with me this is fun of instagram! The smaller the tomato that faster it will ripen which means we get BOWLFULLS of tomatoes all summer long in a mix of smaller varieties. Click here and I’ll show you! Here are our favorites; black strawberry, black cherry, white currant, spoon tomatoes (these are crazy small, like a small blueberry and so beautiful for salads) and then we also plant money maker, green zebra and margold.
Click here for the trick on How To Plant your tomatoes : every time we move our tomatoes into a bigger pot and eventually into the garden we do this! This allows it to have a big healthy root system.
We feed our Tomatoes consistently through the summer - click here to feed your tomatoes with me!
Towards the end of the summer, end of August and beginning of September we cut off as much foliage as needed on the tomato plants so that the tomatoes are getting sunshine directly on them. This helps them ripen! I call this the big tomato haircut.
We get so many questions about peonies we knew we had to give a little space for tips just on these deeply loved garden flowers! Peonies are one of our favorite low maintenance spring flowers. But yes there are a few tricks to getting them growing happy in your garden.
We encourage you to purchase a mature peony plant from a trusted greenhouse or garden plant supplier. Ask your greenhouse about their return policy! Most places will allow you to return plants if they die within a year of you planting them in your garden. This is an amazing policy especially when you’re spending a good amount of money on a peony!
Before you plant in your garden do some thinking and watching - where does the sun hit for the longest amount of time? That is where you want to plant your peony. If they do not have full sun they will not bloom.
Peonies love to be planted and then forgotten about. Moving a peony plant will cause it to produce less blooms for a season or two. Be sure to give it the happiest spot possible so that you do not have to move it.
Peonies LOVE pots! If you’re not sure where to plant it in your garden, plant it in a large pot that you can move to sunny spots to test out through a growing season.
Click Here for how we use our favorite Peony Supports - we put both peony supports in our Garden Supplies List. For larger peonies use the square tomato cages, they will give you the best support.
Did you know you can save your peony blooms to enjoy later in the summer? We posted several helpful how to videos in our Growing Peonies Play List
Cottage Garden Map : if you’re stumped on what to plant in your garden bed, below is a Cottage Garden Map for you to print out and refer to as needed. The spacing may seem a bit big when you first plant your seedlings but give those plant babies time and they’ll be filling all the space you give them!
Here are the varieties that we used when we planted this garden :
1 Dahlia
3 Purity Cosmos
3 Black Boy Bachelor Buttons
1 Black Beauty Zucchini
6 Dwarf Jewel Nasturtium, 3 plants on each side
3 Calendula Playtime Mix
3 Mrs Burns Basil
3 White Russian Kale
Want even MORE help deciding how to design and plant your garden beds? We created a full Garden Planning EBook as well. Use Code GARDENHAPPY for 50% off, just for you our Garden Workshop Friend.
We feel so honored to be able to help you get your garden started. Be sure to join me online for lots more gardening fun. We love sharing what we’re up to as we take care of our own garden. Hop on over to @kellywelk on instagram and click here to subscribe to our YouTube Channel! What fun to garden together.
If you would like even more Garden Maps, check out our Garden Planning Guide. We included every variety we planted this season plus garden maps from several seasons to help inspire your garden as well. Be sure to use your exclusive discount code GARDENHAPPY for 50% off!
There’s so much fun in store this year - we look forward to having you join us in the orchard, at our table or in the garden again real soon. Click here to see all the fun we’re planning for!
