The Shed Revisited

We have written about the shed before. In fact it was one of our earliest posts, January 2, 2008. Click here to get up to speed on how the shed came to be. While we love our little shed, the examples shown by Nan Ondra and the gang at Gardening Gone Wild put us to shame. We will hold our heads high and soldier on to tell you about our humble shed anyway.This is a little eight by eight foot building that was purchased while the female offspring Semi and Chickenpoet were living in the house and attending college. There was no garage or utility room on the property and a safe dry spot was needed to store the lawnmower and their bicycles, among other things. It sat at the end of the driveway in a carved out niche in the steep hillside behind the house. When we began the renovations we had the shed moved to the top of the hill by the backhoe. It is now part of the garden view and was painted to match the stone gray of the house. In fact a stone from the property was taken to Sherwin Williams to match the color. The name of the match just happened to be….are you ready?  Stone. You cannot make this stuff up. The window was saved from the house next door that was torn down to build the garage and installed in the shed by yours truly. Not a perfect carpentry job, but it really enhances the shed and lets in much needed light and air, yes it opens. The metal hayrack windowbox is planted with Japanese painted fern, Japanese blood grass, creeping jenny and sweet william. I don’t do anything to it at all, not even water, it fends for itself. The ferns have self spored on the soil below and have formed a dense colony there. A Japanese climbing fern has settled in there as well, growing over the old hand plow wheel that was found on the property.  There does seem to be an Asian theme here.  I never thought about it before typing the word Japanese so many times to describe one little spot.The shed anchors the knot garden on one end and seems to belong in that design. On the right hand side facing the doors is a raised bed that used to grow tomatoes before our new luscious veggie bed was built.  Now there are blueberry bushes  in there.  The hemlocks, to the right and not in the shot, that line the back fence have grown so large that they shade the berry bed.  The pyracanthas that line the fence behind the shed have also grown to gigantic proportions and are pruned to allow for safe passage from their thorny reach. Would you like to go inside?The interior was supposed to get a tidy up before this post was written, but it didn’t happen that way. No cleaning was done before this shot was taken. The ladder was stashed inside one day when it started to rain. That was months ago. We were going to prune the rose Veilchenblau that grows over the roof, that has not been done either.  The tool holder in the middle of the upper board came loose and all the tools resting on the black rubber coated metal fell to the floor. There they remain.  There is a stack of press and stick vinyl flooring tiles  that were to be affixed to the floor of the shed.  They have been sitting there since 2000.  The Banana Republic bag has some dried flowers inside to save for seed, hopefully with a name tag.  The white bucket is saving seed of catnip, possibly.  The new walking stick is resting to the left by the door.  The bit of hardware cloth will be used to protect bulb plantings from squirrels digging to bury walnuts.Speaking of seeds, this large colander is used to separate the seeds from the flowers and stems. It is the perfect size for that job and was purchased at a garage sale for less than a dollar.This corner features the riddle, used to coarsely separate the seeds from the chaff before the colander has its way with them. Just to the right at the top of the old medicine cabinet from the torn down house are the remains of the little nest that was the mystery in the shed. A few days later we thought that the mystery had been solved, and then it was. In an old metal mailbox standing on end by the door are various short stakes and three markers for the graves of veterans of the Revolutionary, Spanish American and Korean wars that were in the shed of The Financier’s father in Pennsylvania. They appear to be bronze and are quite detailed. We believe they were to be placed on the graves of deceased Elks club members, a club in which Pop was very active, that were veterans of those wars on Memorial Day. We are not sure about this and if anyone recognizes these types of marker and knows of another purpose for them, we would appreciate hearing from you. A closer look at the window box planter and window reflecting the blue sky and maple tree suggests a feeling of garden harmony.  This structure offers more than just a place for tool storage and seed saving.  It is an oasis and a haven when rest or safety is needed suddenly while toiling ceaselessly out of doors.  There is a sense of rightness about it, of belonging in a spiritual way to the universe, alternative or otherwise.
Frances