November in the Garden

Next week the old porch will come off, and the exterior transformation will begin. This will probably be one of the last "before" pictures.

The leaves have turned and our giant oaks are mostly brown. I am jealous because the neighbors' oaks have more red and orange than ours!

 I am especially envious of the bright red maple across the street, 

even when I have to rake the leaves.

The nandina berries are coming into their fall color.

Close up you can see the oak leaves that have fallen in the bush.

We have an amazing view of the hills of south Arlington. In the distance, the trees are yellow, red, brown, and green. As I child growing up in West Texas, we cut leaves from construction paper, but I never really understood what we were doing. Now I know.

I have no idea what it is, but this fragrant purple flower has just now begun to bloom.

 The Chinese lanterns are still around and look beautiful with the turning leaves of a little volunteer oak..

A nice spot to sit and enjoy the pleasant weather we continue to have.

Last month the neighbor was obsessing over the acorns. Now I understand why. I thought I would just rake them up with the leaves, but they have already started to sprout and must be pulled out of the ground by hand. It's like trying to vacuum straight pins out of the carpet.

I raked the brick path yesterday, and it is already covered again.

This is the tall camellia at the back of the house. It is an evergreen and has my first blooms in the spring - a pale pink, 3 inch, waxy blossom. One of my favorites! It is fun to see the promising green buds tucked between the leaves.

The leadwort by the front door still has a few blossoms, and the leaves are a beautiful red.

Maybe it's because the fall has been so mild, but the rose is very happy.

The chrysanthemum put on a little bit of a show, but I forgot to take a picture at its peak. Still not a favorite. I will probably get a replacement next fall.

The fall blooming camellia is still going with its small pink flowers. Trying to think how I can make this stand out more. Ideas, anyone??

Here's the part I am choosing to ignore - construction rubbish. In front and on the side of the house are piles that grow with demolition and shrink with runs to the dump.

I see leaf raking in my future.

Organizing the Garden Shed

Organizing all of hubby's tools and my gardening things has consumed every free moment for the last two weeks. But I actually did have fun coming up with creative and economical solutions. I am very proud to say that everything was accomplished for $10.

The metal shelving was left by the sellers when we purchased the house. The wooden shelves were picked up for free by the recycling bin in the high-rise apartment we lived in when we first moved to D.C. Random hooks, towel holders, a wall shelf, and a strange cabinet/shelf thing were pulled out of the kitchen and laundry area. All the tool boxes have been acquired over the years.

So this is how I started.

Even with the tool boxes, we had more stuff that needed to get organized. I had the idea to use all my old cat food and laundry detergent buckets since they are sturdy and easy to open. (I am a grandchild of the depression and never throw away anything that might be useful. My children are rolling their eyes right now.) At this point, I made my one-and-only purchase, a $10 quart of chalkboard paint. 

The side of the can listed the surfaces you could use the product on - virtually everything except plastic. But I am a rule breaker, so I taped off the area I wanted to paint and got busy.

As long as I carefully removed the tape, the paint stuck. 

Meow, meow, meow, meow.

I also painted strips on the plastic tool boxes because what was written on them in Sharpie years ago often did not line up with the contents. 

Every plastic container was given the same treatment, including an old, red kitty litter box that now holds gloves! Hubby is obsessed with gloves.

For years we have just stuck our rakes and shovels in a sturdy, unused trash can. They were always a mess. So hubby used a scrap of plywood to make a round separator that fits inside, with blocks of wood screwed on to keep it flat.

I am pretty lazy and would have skipped this step, but hubby wanted the tools to be held upright.

He then cut another round piece that sits over the top, with 3 tabs and blocks that stabilize it.

 A little close-up.

And here's the finished product.

Now fully loaded.

Since our yard is so small, we have an electric lawn mower. Extension cords need to be accessible. The solution is a pair of old dish towel hooks from the kitchen.

There is even room for our gardening hats on the hooks.

I used 2 old closet hooks and an old length of copper pipe to create a holder for tape, wire, and string. Just for your info, any tapes with adhesive will be stored inside during the winter months. They don't like to be frozen.

I also had a couple of over-the-door racks left from the kids' college days. They fit perfectly over the rafters and slide easily out of the way. This one holds work lamps.

This one holds caps.

I left just enough space between the shelves to hold my step stool and a small ladder.

I also used the extra shelf bolts to hang the huge wrenches.

You can see the step stool and the ladder between the shelves.

I painted the vertical front strips of the wooden shelves to identify what goes where. Hubby has the special ability to never remember where he found something when it is time to put it up. I am hoping this will help.

I also used it to point to areas where seldom used items are tucked behind things - like left-over tile and the chain saw.

I found a cheap towel bar somewhere in the house and hung it inside the door.

I folded some light-weight wire into quarters and twisted to make S-hooks for hanging whisk brooms and a small broom on the rod. Then I added a vintage towel.

I think this was my grandmother's. Very 1940s, stained and worn. A perfectly charming rag!

Another fun vintage item to hold pencils, markers, scissors, etc. It is just cardboard with a metal bottom, but I love the patina.

There is not a lot of contrast and the light from the window made it difficult to get a good picture of this simple wooden shelf that I hung above the little window.

I used black, gray, blue and white paint to create a chippy finish. This is not generally my style, but I thought it would be fun in the garden shed. The bottom side is probably the most important part.

I used an old pottery pitcher of my mothers to hold some ivy that I am rooting and will use to make some topiaries.

Here you can see the long ivy vines draping over the rafters. They will be perfect for wrapping around the frames.

And right under the ivy is my potting bench. (Hmm, I wondered where that green glove was.)

Next to the potting bench is a strange shelf recycled from the laundry area. I have also used chalkboard paint to recycled a tea tin, a round candy box, and two plastic containers. The dog biscuits are to win over the neighbor's noisy dog.

I love my gardening corner.

Now the inside feels as neat as the outside!