School is out for summer and I am spending all of my free time gardening! Even though it has been unseasonably hot for late spring/early summer, I have a wonderful space under the carport at our new house that I have claimed as an open air she shed and pretend greenhouse and I am loving it. It stays nice and cool there and allows me to work outside a long longer than I could in my full sun cottage garden.

Here is a view from the entry to the carport looking leading to the shade garden. This week I worked on building a small little path through the shade garden with stepping stones I dug up from the side of the house where they were unused, along with a mix of pretty natural stones I brought from home. 

Can you believe this is the same area just six weeks ago??? 

I think the garden looks established already because I brought several plants from the yellow brick home. I was able to tuck large clumps of thyme, sedum and oregano in and around the stepping stones, so the path looks like it has been established for a while. I love that these perennials will come back each year and look good from now through fall with regular pruning.

I added some sweet little garden touches along the path like herb plant markers and my favorite little garden fairy and an itty bitty, white washed terra cotta pot with succulents.  Little petals from the potted dahlias above dropping along the path just adds to the whimsy and beauty.

I just sprinkled a light covering of cedar mulch to make the bed look tidy, surpress weeds, and keep mud from splashing up on the hosta leaves which was a problem during the last rain. As you can see, I still am using netting to keep deer from chomping on the leaves until we can fence in the other side of the garden.

Early this week I spotted this corner plant stand at a local consignment shop and knew right away that it would be great for filling in negative space at the back of the shade garden. It was $20, but I sort of got the stand for “free” because I had money in my consignment account. Score!

Eventually I will have rhodedendrons planted in the bare area behind the tree to cover the fence and fill in the space, but for now the plant stand is something pretty to distract from the unfinished and weedy area. I love having an extra place to display some of my favorite potted shade annuals like scented geraniums.

I extended the planting area to the left of the shade garden path with some shrubs that were in other spots in the landscape where they weren’t making an impact. I filled in gaps with potted plants and already this bed seems mature. The grass and clover area shown here will also be part of the pea gravel and flagstone patio.

I just snapped this picture and forgot to put my herbs pots back the way I had them perfectly styled, but still you can see how I am using the carport for additional gardening space for potted plants. By the end of summer we plan to replace the red fence with taller privacy fence painted either a moody gray or green and I will plant more evergreens to the left of the globe arborvitae in the portion of the yard that gets more sunlight. I will have to stay on budget though and wait until later in summer when plants and shrubs go on clearance. 

Well I hope you have enjoyed strolling along the little shade garden path and seeing the progress from last month! I can’t wait to show you how the carport is going to transform into an open air she shed and potting area soon too! I was so upset about leaving my brand new she shed at my backyard cottage garden before I ever even used it (we bought our new house before the shed was finished!) but I really think I am going to love this new area just as much. It will be fun at least!

How is your summer gardening coming along? I love hearing from you! Thanks for visiting!

Amber