Most people have a backyard project that can look messy when work is in progress. For these reasons a secret garden or garden workroom can be a benefit.
photo credit: Or Hiltch

My garden workroom area is located behind a shrub hedge. The backyard looks tidy, but watch out when you enter the garden workroom!

Right now the workroom has two compost bins, an area for plants I salvaged from my flooded side yard and a holding area for new shrubs I purchased. I am also setting up a temporary moving greenhouse for the shrub cutting I am starting. I plan to start close to 500 shrubs. Some I will use in the new garden areas, other I will swap for different perennials.

My backyard is large so I can fit a 20-foot by 12-foot work area in easily. You can also plan wisely and use a small area of six foot. Any spare area in the backyard will do.

To set up a garden workroom decide on the area of space that is available to you. Will you need a compost area? Small portable greenhouse? Large amount of sunlight?

It’s also important to have a source of water and possibly electricity if you need lighting or will be using hand tools.

The next concern is how to partition off your work area. You could use a row of hedges like I have. Or you could put up a fence or a temporary partition wall made of latticework or wood.

My one friend created a temporary garden room by using tall sunflowers and flowering vines. The flowers lasted long enough to create a secret garden room for her messy backyard project and added color and fun to the side of the backyard.

Temporary plant holder.

I have about 200 perennials that need moved this weekend to clean up my one flooded part of the yard. It’s a mess and everything has to be moved.

I could have used some beams I had from tearing down a fence but I wanted a project that was as easy as possible and could be moved or taken apart in no time at all. So I chose old dresser drawers. I pick up dresser drawers along the curb or buy dressers that are falling apart for $1. I keep the dresser hardware for mosaic projects and stack the drawers until I need them.

To set up a temporary plant holder, drill or punch a few holes in the bottom of the drawers for drainage. If you have a lot of compost you can mix compost and soil and plant the plants quickly, water and set in shade for a day so they will suffer less from transplants shock.

If you are lacking in soil you can either head to the garden center or mix some of your own, after all this is a temporary holding area for plants.

These dresser planters can actually be made to look very cute in a theme garden or hillside garden area. Plant the front or add fake brick or cemented pebbles and they will accent most garden areas.

Mixing a fast soil for the holding beds

Place 4 inches of straw, leaf mold or compost in the bottom of the drawer. Top with 4 inches of soil from your yard. Add 3 or 4 inches of straw or grass clipping. Add more soil (at this time of year when hanging baskets are finishing up I use the soil from them for many projects.)

Place the plants in the drawer and water well. Top off the soil with grass clipping to help hold in moisture. I often will use a weak compost tea or fertilizer to help with plant shock.  I usually cut the perennials tops down at this time. Winter is almost here and the tops will die back anyways. Let the growth go into the soil not the tops, which die in a month or so anyways.

If you don’t have dresser drawers and wood box or even a cardboard box will work for a week or two.

Fall is a great time for moving and dividing perennials. If you need to make a temporary home for them the dresser drawers may be a perfect solution. Just remember to plant the perennials in the ground before the frost starts.

Technorati Tags: backyard design, perennials, planting perennials, secret garden workroom

At this time of year it’s easy to find free or cheap plants. Many nurseries are downsizing their plant inventory so they don’t have to over-winter shrubs, trees and plants.
photo credit: steve conry

You may also need to move plants quickly such as I need to do and when that is the case you need a holding bed to put any plants in to keep them healthy until you can plant them.

I had to move all my plants out of my front raised bed area and find perennials that were moved when a hillside garden was washed out in a flood we had this summer. So all told,  I had at least11 perennials varieties to move. The perennial groups were large so its fair to say I had over 175 plants that need to be planted as soon as possible.

Creating a holding bed for plants

So I took two large 10-inch posts measuring 10 foot in length and laid them parallel with a three-foot distance in between. I used two bales of straw on the bottom, 10 buckets of rotted sawdust, 5 bags of rotted leaves (referred to as leaf mold) and about 4 wheel barrels of dirt (yes dirt, not soil). I added a little compost on top and put the plants in.

Once the plants were in I watered them and then covered the mixture with grass clippings to help retain moisture.

This should hold the plants until I can get them in their new home – two weeks at the most. I will water them again tomorrow and then leave them alone for a week.

Tip: The plants will determine the depth of your holding bed. Shallow rooted plants need less depth while shrubs or trees will need more depth.

I set up the temporary holding bed in a semi shady area so the plants should do well and not suffer in direct sun.

To make a quick holding bed any large wood boards or beams should work. Dresser drawers and old crates will also work. And I have seen hay bales used too.

As long as you can create a temporary raised garden bed area anything that will hold soil will work.

photo credit: lepiaf.geo (back on 8th)
All you are doing is creating an area where you can hold plants for a few weeks until you plant them in their new garden location. You need a soil mix that the plants can live in, water and to place them in the ground and not disturb then until you are ready to plant them again.

I have used temporary holding beds many times in the past. It has saved plants and been a big help when I find plants, trade plants or have to move a large amount of plants quickly.

Technorati Tags: backyard oasis, landscaping, moving plants, perennials, plants, raised beds, temporary holding bed