SFG in the Winter

My 4X4 garden is in my front yard. It looks weird and is sort of an eyesore now that it is winter. I covered it with a tarp. Any "decorating" ideas or suggestions?

Hi Amy! I don't actually have any suggestions for you, but I did want to be the first to welcome you to the forum!

I am interested in hearing what ideas others may have for you. Everyone is so friendly here and there are so many creative people here as well. But, where you live, will your box eventually be covered with snow? 'Cause that would solve it!

Don't discard your Christmas tree. Stick it in your box as though it belongs there!

Welcome aboard!!

Without a picture it's hard for me to qualify "eyesore." I think my SFG looks great any time of year, personally. I think a tarp would look worse.

If it looks bad, to you, lying fallow, try covering it with a layer of leaf mulch or regular mulch. You can remove this in the spring. It's hard to make things look pretty when nothing grows this time of year. All you can do is dress it up the best you can.

Hope to see more of you around. It's always nice to see more SFG'ers announce their arrival.

Josh strung Christmas lights on upside down tomato cages. I have a big ceramic frog and some purple kale in the bed in front. In Boston, I like the idea of the Christmas tree ( yours or a neighbors discard) decorated with suet and seed clusters for the birds that might be around.

Kay

This got me thinking about next year.
At the cut your own tree farm I always wonder who buys those very economical yes cheap "charlie brown" trees for about 5 dollars or less? And what to do with them? Now I see myself puting a few of them in my boxes, decorating and lighting them up, adding pine cones with peanut butter and seeds for the birds too.

I can't believe I didn't think of the suet and the birds. Thanks a million for sharing this idea. It's a great way to attract mockingbirds, wrens, nuthatches, and woodpeckers.....all birds that thrive on picking insects out of wherever they can find them.

Your SFG would definitely benefit from those guys getting used to checking around the garden daily. In fact, hanging a small suet feeder near your garden year round would potentially cut down on bug/pest problems very economically.

Thanks for all the ideas. My xmas tree is too big, but I'll scout out my neighbors' curbs for a small discarded tree on trash day.

gwennifer wrote:Hi Amy! I don't actually have any suggestions for you, but I did want to be the first to welcome you to the forum!

I am interested in hearing what ideas others may have for you. Everyone is so friendly here and there are so many creative people here as well. But, where you live, will your box eventually be covered with snow? 'Cause that would solve it!

No snow yet! Last year it WAS covered most of the winter so it wasn't an issue.

Hello, Amy - welcome!

Although I'm sure we will have some snow this winter, those who supposedly know are not expecting a severe rest-of-the-winter in these parts. You probably won't get the snow-mountain camouflage we had last year!

My two thoughts would be to put some clay pots in the corners, creating a simple "this is a garden, and it is the off-season" statement. Or, in a similar vein, I have a few things like a raccoon statue that's about 1 1/2 feet tall - if you have any fun things like that, they could do the same thing as the clay pots.

A photo would help us come up with suggestions, and if I thought my yard was an eye-sore, I wouldn't be in a hurry to post a photo!

Also, do you have any friends or relatives that you trust - a lot! - with your feelings? My thought is to ask them if it is really an eyesore, or if you are being overly-critical because it is your house and your yard. You can see why I am making this suggestion conditionally!

I like the idea of pots in the corners and maybe some greenery like broken pine branches, over the bed itself.

Be careful of the birdseed. There is one that prevents veggies growing and you don't want an accumulation of those seed hulls in your bed. If I can find out which one, I'll be back to let you know.

Buy a load of plastic plants and winter plant the bed with them

24 years ago my new wife and I went on a 6,000 mile round Europe camping trip on the way back to great Britain we stopped off one afternoon for two days at a chocolate box picture place called " Mon Schau " the place was nigh deserted as it was the end of September but boy did all the black & white original tudor style buildings looked good carrying masses of hanging geraniums etc . There were zilions of flower filled planters dotted all over the place as well.

That first afternoon was very cold , a bit too cold for tenting out for two very sun tanned love birds who'd been experiencing temperatures in the low hundreds only two days before .

So that night we found a hotel that was still open at the end of the season and booked in , went and had a great meal in one of th still open gasthoffs and off to bed . In the morning I got up shivering like a jelly . I opened the curtains and found snow on the windows , eventually got dressed and decided as the view was good to take some pictures from the room .. I opened the double window set and to get a clear photo shoot and noticed every sodding flower in the boxes and planters in the place were made of an artifical silk like material & plastic ... so you wouldn't be the first to do it & you could let your mind and hands run riot doing it...

LOL, that's a good story! thanks for sharing!!

amysc wrote:Thanks for all the ideas. My xmas tree is too big, but I'll scout out my neighbors' curbs for a small discarded tree on trash day.

You could always cut off the top portion and use that part.

Amy.

Kelejan