How to Camoflouge a Shipping Container

 

This is our very plain, very utilitarian shipping container/tool shed. It isn't much to look at so I tried a few different things to camouflage it. 

 

 

We found some scrap wood lying around the property and used it to make some flower beds in the front and right side. Lucky for us, there is a place that sells soil right across the street, so we loaded up the truck twice with lovely rich dirt.

 It looks a little bare now, but I am continuing to add plants and have faith that the ones I have planted will fill out eventually. In this end are 2 lilac bushes, a gooseberry bush, a bleeding heart, some Chinese lanterns and sunflower seeds all along the back wall.

The far left tree is an olive tree, beside that is a pink peony, then an azalea, some pink and purple columbine and a small rose bush.

Behind the olive tree is a red seedless grape vine.

We traded a friend a bunch of glass fishing balls for all this wood to build trellises out of.

I've planted a Boston Ivy smack in the middle which should eventually cover the whole shed. It turns a magnificent crimson and orange in the fall

Hopefully it will look like this someday!

I've never seen these before, I have planted four of them, can't wait to see them in bloom!

My lilac in bloom. The other one was supposed to be purple, but when it bloomed it turned out to be white as well, so I am still on the hunt for the perfect purple lilac for my collection.

A few weeks later and things are starting to fill in now.

The olive tree now has all these little buds on it...can these be olives? Can't wait to find out!

The grape vine is doing well, lots of new growth in the last few weeks.

The peony has three big buds close to blooming, I feel like I am waiting for something to give birth!

The neighbor donated a few plants from her garden to me. This is a bunch of chicks and hens that hopefully will spread and make more ground cover.

 She also gave me two bunches of this stuff. Not sure what it is called but it apparently makes a good ground cover with spikes of purple flowers.

Here is a bee enjoying a lunch on the purple spikes.

 

 

The Chinese lanterns are really taking off now, should be a good crop of them this year!

The gooseberry bush has lots of lovely berries.

We had built a lean-to shed off the side of the container to store bikes, gardening gear and building supplies. It needed a make-over as well. We made two small shade beds on each side of the door.

 

And here they are a few weeks later, a few more additions and things are starting to fill out.

 

 

There is English ivy to grow up the back of the wall, an Astilbe sp? bush in the center that has lovely pink spikes in the spring. Some Hostas for lovely green colours, some Forget-me-Nots which hopefully will spread along the border and some Lily of the Valley also donated by the neighbor.

 

The backside was looking pretty rough as well so I bought some cedar fence panels to cover it up

We put some more trellises in the small gardens The goal is to make these gardens perennial, so I only have to do this once. I can't wait until it's all covered in ivy and grapevines and the beds are full of lush plants.

Elsewhere in our yard, there are two cherry trees in bloom over the driveway

Sadly this beautiful old tree that used to have a resident eagle hanging out in it, had to come down. The local beaver had undercut the root system so badly, it was a hazard waiting to happen in the next big windstorm. So now you see it and...............

........... now you don't :(

 

 

Well, it's still only May, lots of growing season yet, looking forward to see how this all looks in a few months.  I want a food garden as well but have so much left to do on the house, that I will leave that project until next year.  This year I will just focus on finding more perennials for my flower beds and enjoy watching them grow! Happy gardening to you all!

 



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