Charlie in the Azaleas

Our new house has many mature azaleas and ever since we bought it last year I've been so excited to see them bloom.  When we moved in at the end of May last year they had already dropped their blooms. So this spring is the first we are seeing them in their full glory. 

The bushes in the driveway have already bloomed and are slightly past their prime. But the overgrown bushes in the front yard are in their full glory right now.  I took this as an opportunity to get some pictures of Charlie. 

The sweetest little thing. Probably need to frame this one. 

After getting these he decided we needed to take pictures by ALL the bushes. So the rest are with the nandinas. 

What a goofy, but fun boy! 

Happy Spring!!!!

New Raised Garden Beds

So you know how I like to garden, right? It's a sickness really. One of the things I've missed about our old house was our established garden and established herbs. Sob! I'm still a bit tender about that loss. 

When we were looking at houses I knew I would need space to garden. I guess it wasn't so much a deal breaker as good schools and two bathrooms. But it was always a consideration. We also wanted to make sure there was yard space for play too. And this house/yard delivered big time. We even got a pool as a bonus! 

Anyways, my February goal was to get our gardens up and running so that I could get my herbs started early. (Most herbs can be started before your first frost date, FYI.) I wanted to do higher raised beds here. I've always liked the look of wood ones so that's what I started planning on. I looked at the ready-made kits and do to what I wanted to do (2 8'x4' beds) it would be about $300 before tax. When I priced out treated wood it would be over $200 and then tax.  

I really love the look of wood raised beds. But the problem with wood is that it rots. And I don't really want to go to all the trouble and expense to build the beds only to have to replace them a few years down the road. 

My mom suggested we price out cinder blocks and we did. They came in at $100, with tax. So yeah, that's what we went with. While not the most aesthetically pleasing, they are durable, inexpensive and will last us until we are tired of the beds. 

Here we are in process.  It took us two trips to the Lowe's to get all that we needed. 

Before dirt we removed the top layer of grass and put down a bunch of cardboard as a barrier. The cardboard will breakdown and enrich the soil over time. 

We called Yardworks, a local company we have used previously, and they delivered three yards of dirt the next day. 

I thought Charlie would love this, but he was mostly freaked out. Oh well... 

He helped with dirt distribution though.  Based on calculations 3 yards should have been the perfect amount,  but we had a ton leftover. We're slowly adding more as the dirt settles and will put some in other places too. 

I planted parsley and spinach seeds right away. I also started my pepper seeds inside. Is it already garden season?! Yay! 

Next up: fruit bushes! The City of Germantown had a fruit sale last Friday which we took advantage of. After redoing the shed last fall I had planned to plant some berry bushes around it.  I'm glad I waited as we got some good deals.  I'll do another post on this later when I have pictures. 

So, what kind of garden beds do you have? In the ground? Wood? Cinder blocks? Pots? 

Hints of Spring

Lately I've noticed a few hints of spring. This is doubly exciting as we are in a new house and totally new plants are springing up in places I didn't expect. I'll spot some new growth and ooh and ahh and Bryan will roll his eyes at me. I can't be the only one who gets excited at these things, right?

So while Charlie and I were outside the other day playing I snapped a few hints of spring. 

A sedum (I think) in a container on the back patio. 

Daffodils!!!! I've always wanted daffodils in my yard. There are several clumps of these in the front and back. 

Blossoms on the tree.

I have no idea what this is. I don't remember there being anything here in the summer or fall. 

Daffodils and hellebore. 

This bed is half weeds, half daffodils, irises and daylilies. Can't wait to see it all in bloom. 

The delights of a new yard for a gardener! I'm so excited to see how things shape up for the spring and summer. Thank you, Lord, for new life! 

Shed Problems

We inherited this aluminum shed when we bought our house. Great for storage, not so great on the eyes. 

I've been staring at it all summer. It's the backdrop to our pool time and patio time. It's been bugging me. 

Pretty much since day 1 I've been scheming of what to do. Something needed to be done with the doors and shutters asap. 

This past weekend we finally got to work. Really it's our first project with the new house. Yay for finally making it ours! 

First we sanded.  I purchased a sander online as this was our first big sanding project. Gotta love a new power tool!

We hand sanded and scrapped the loose paint on the shutters. 

Bryan busted out the leaf blower to dust away all sanding dust and paint flecks. 

We applied two coats of decking stain to the door. We were super nervous to see how it looked because the door was in such poor shape. It is a cheap piece of plywood nailed to more cheap wood. There are many randomly placed screws which are visible. Plus, it's weathered quite a bit. 

But it actually took the stain pretty nicely and looks way way better than before. 

See, an improvement!

Charlie helped me tape off the shutters. 

We still need to add the door handle back on (also spray painted green), but such an improvement!!! 

I want to plant berry bushes on the front of the shed. Blackberry on the left, blueberry on the right. And I'm considering trying to espalier a pear tree on the side to the right.  Crazy? I can't decide. 

So while it's not totally done, it's way way better. 

Greenhouse!

I didn't anticipate having a gardening related post for a few more months, but I actually have garden related news this Monday morning!

For Christmas Bryan bought me a greenhouse from a local garden supply shop. It's not super fancy, just a pipe and plastic covering get up, but I'm pretty pleased with it! And he's pleased that I won't be starting seeds inside anymore! Win/win!

Saturday Bryan and his brother, Brett, set it up for me in the backyard.







So far I don't have much to put in it. My limes, which are seriously struggling, and a few herbs I had moved inside for the winter. What I'm really looking forward to utilizing this space for is starting seeds.  I received my seeds in the mail last week. This year's garden will have more tomatoes and peppers than ever before and they always do well when I start from seed.

Do you have a greenhouse? How do you utilize it?

Pansies and On Being a Pansy

This year I did something a little different. You see, I've had this beautiful plant stand I got from my grandmother's a couple years ago. I've been meaning to put something in here, but just never have. I haven't really experimented in the ornamental planting area before. It's new, unfamiliar territory.

Having been raised in the South, this means I've spent a lifetime reading my mother's and grandmother's Southern Living magazines and being amazed by the gorgeous containers featured on a monthly basis. But my mom didn't really put containers together, so I never felt comfortable doing them either.

Until this year. I decided it was time. Time to get over my fear of ornamental plants and time to use the planter.



Here's the silhouette of the planter. It's lovely and feminine.



In the center I planted an ornamental cabbage and then put 9 or so pansies around it. I know. This is not rocket science. Why did it take me so long to do this?!

Having worked primarily with edible plants the last five years I hate spending money on purely decorative plants. It seems frivolous. But it has been so nice to have this lovely little arrangement by our front door the last month or so.

They are thriving too! Which is more than I can say about my mums which are not pictured for obvious reasons. They do not look pretty.

Now if only I can bring myself to use my other two decorative pots collecting spider webs on my front porch (which you can kind of see in the first photo).

Do you create decorative plantings? How do you do it? What are your favorite plants to use?

See Ya Later Side Yard

We have a narrow side yard. Well, more of a strip of land between our house and the neighbors drive way. It had gotten way overgrown in the last year or so.



See how those bushes had started growing above the window sill? And yes that's a 6' ladder for scale. Those vines creeping up the house also added a classy touch.



On Saturday Bryan felt inspired to take them down. He grabbed my grandmother's Maddock and went to town.



There were some scary thick vines mixed in with the bushes.



Not afraid to dominate!



There were several smaller bushes scattered further down the side of the house which he also took out. We are leaving the tree for now. But it will need to be limbed up sometime soon.



Here's how it looks for now. There are some stumps that will need to be pulled out and weeds pulled out, obviously. And once those vines dry a little bit we'll pull them down. But so far, so much better!

In the fall I'll start thinking about what to plant here. I'm considering adding a few more blackberry bushes and maybe some blueberry bushes as well. The back part gets mostly shade so we'll find some low maintenance shade loving plants for back there.

Garden Update

Happy Monday! Time for a garden update.

We had rain the last five days! Not much has gotten done in the garden this week aside from adding a little dirt to the potatoes in buckets on Saturday between rain showers. Although, as I stated last week, there's not much work to do now aside from weeding and watering. Just waiting until everything is ready for harvesting.



Here's the view from the top step of the whole yard/garden. Still looking a little sparse from a distance.


The potatoes in this bed are huge. I can't decide what I should do about the dirt situation. Should I add more or let it be?


Extra tomato plants I need to take to my mom and my fig tree.


The left side of the garden.  The sweet pepper in the left most bed is starting to bloom. A week or so ago I planted an extra row of carrots in the middle bed. I'll add another row or two I think in another week or so. Or should I plant my jalepeno peppers here?


The jet start tomato in the right bed is growing like crazy. There are four or five blooms on it already.


The right side of the garden. Peppers are growing slowly in the left bed, although the chocolate bell pepper has a couple of blooms. Basil is starting to sprout in the middle bed. And the cucumbers are looking healthy in the right bed.


My meyer lemon has put out a ton of new leaves in the last couple of weeks.


The prettiest lettuce yet.


Over in the new bed the peas are sprouting!


Strawberries!


Seeing lots of sprouts in my cinder block holes.


The right side of the bed. More tomatoes and soybeans.


Lots of lettuce sprouting over here.


Potatoes in buckets. These are growing so fast! I'll probably have them filled with dirt in just another week or two. Then it's the waiting game.

No harvests this week. I could probably put together a little salad with lettuce that is ready, but that's about it.