In the Garden This Week . . .

This week, we've seen the end of the azalea bushes and the beginnings of the rose bushes.  We've spotted a few different shades of red roses, a few different shades of pink roses and what we believe are going to be yellow roses.  The photo below shows one of our garden beds that is overgrown with lots of greenery but few flowers.  We're going to be home this weekend to work on cleaning much of that out.  I love the greenery but I love colorful flowers even more so we'll be balancing that bed out a bit.

We added a few things this week and took a few things out.  The back yard is starting to really come together.  The pool is still being worked on.  We think the previous owners just stuck the cover on the pool right before we did the walk thru in November and didn't even bother to vacuum the leaves out of it.  Jim had to find a bigger vacuum for the pool  that was able to handle A LOT of leaves.  He's taken seven large vacuum bags of leaves out so far and the deep end is still loaded with them.  Hopefully, this weekend it will finally be ready for swimming!!  

We found this little guy swimming on top of the pool cover last week.  We've found three others since.  I don't mind them.  As long as they don't hop into my house I'm fine!!!!  : )

Next, we're going to start working on the vegetable garden.  That will be a joint effort between my son, Connor, and I.  We're starting from scratch so we're going to keep it simple with a few tomato plants, some herbs, eggplant, peppers and I really want to plant string beans.  I have such great childhood memories of growing up next to my grandmother and sneaking into her gigantic garden and picking her string beans.  Pick 'em, wipe 'em on your shirt and pop 'em in your mouth.  Nothing like it!!!  : )


Happy Thursday ~ Wendy

How Do Our Gardens Grow . . .

These last couple of weeks, we've been busy with planting and rearranging and digging.  It's been a bit of a slow process due to the weather, my husband's work schedule and just plain old lack of funds to buy all that we need to fill our gardens.  We've decided to go the all perennials route this year which will save us money in the long run.  It's been a lot of fun picking out flowers and looking on the internet for gardening ideas.  

 

These two guys are in our new garden that Jim dug alongside our driveway a couple of weeks ago.  We're trying to give our house a little more curb appeal without breaking the budget.  Recently, I picked my son up from his friend's house and got a lot of inspiration from what they had done to their little front yard.  I came home and told Jim what I wanted and he made it happen.  I'm so pleased with how it came out.  I'll take some better pictures of the whole garden next time so you can see how simplicity can sometimes be prettiest of all.  : )

Playing around with some editing.

This is what our front garden looked like a couple of days ago before Jim finished it.

This is what it looks like now that Jim has widened it.  We're going to plant perennials along with some vegetables.  I've wanted a vegetable garden in the back yard for the last couple of years but it hasn't panned out so I thought why not put some in the garden that's already been dug.  There's also going to be a sitting area and we're going to cover some of it with pea gravel and put a little walk way with stepping stones that lead to a new garden gate.  Hopefully, we'll get this all done before the winter!!  : )

Our front window box.

We also have a family of baby house wrens (that's what my father-in-law told me they are) living in our little birdhouse in the backyard.  I was able to capture photos of the mom and dad feeding the babies.  We haven't seen any of  the babies yet but I've noticed the little house shakes a lot more even when the parents aren't nearby so I'm guessing the babies have hatched. 

Hopefully, I'll catch a glimpse of the babies before they fly away.  I'm looking forward to sharing more photos as the gardens grow and change.  I've always been in love with the idea of gardening but I think this is the first year that I'm really looking forward to actually tending to one.  I get so much inspiration from all of the beautiful blogs that I follow.  They truly motivate me to do better and be better!!  : )


Many blessings for a happy Thursday ~ Wendy

Hi Ho, Hi Ho . . .

Last weekend, we loaded up our lawn mower and weed wacker and headed north to tackle my mother's yard.  She lives on 40 plus acres of land but the woman that she rents her little house from told her she's only responsible for maintaining the grass in the immediate area around her house.  THANKFULLY!!  : ) 

This is what the grass looked like before it was cut.  About two feet tall and filled with lots of buttercups.  So pretty but a definite magnet for snakes and my mother had already seen one outside of her back door. 

My nephew Tristan and my son Trevor. 

Jim mowed while these two helped with raking and weed wacking and dragging the cut grass away.  They really did a great job but, as the saying goes, "all work and no play . . ."  No danger of that with them!!  : )

They also moved and restacked the leftover firewood from next to the house to avoid my mother or her two dogs being confronted with a snake when she takes them out her back door.  Thankfully, there was only one snake to be seen all day and that was on the far side of the house where nobody spends much time.

As a side note, I have to share a quick story . . .

My husband is seriously afraid of snakes.  While he and my mother and I were sitting at her dining room table discussing the recent snake sightings, one of my mother's dogs decided to lick Jim on his leg from under the table.  He almost jumped out of his seat!!  When he told us what had happened, my mother and I laughed until we almost cried!!!

The culprit, Seamus!!  : )

Megan was a busy girl, too.  She made a pound cake with her Nana and then wanted to help the boys outside so we gave her the task of sweeping the back patio while the cake was in the oven.

Some buttercups that I picked before they were mowed.

A gorgeous day to be outside!!!

Tristan taking a photo of me taking a photo of him.  : )

Reading her new book that Nana gave her for all of her hard work.

It was a beautiful day with minimal snakes and maximum fun.  Oh, and the pound cake with homemade whipped cream and strawberries wasn't too shabby either!!  : )


Many blessings for a beautiful Monday ~ Wendy

This Moment . . .

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

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Many blessings for a beautiful and safe Memorial Weekend ~ Wendy

The Makings of a Garden or Two . . .

My husband and I are determined to get our gardens/windowboxes planted this year after a gardening hiatus last year.  I didn't even plant my front window box like I usually do.  We put it off and put it off and before we knew it July was approaching and we figured why spend money on flowers when the summer is almost half over. 

Sadly, another one of our favorite local farms shut down this last year.  It was where we always bought our flowers and sometimes our pumpkins.  This year, we walked around Lowe's and Home Depot's Garden Centers along with a whole crowd of wanna be gardeners.  Definitely not the same feel as walking around the pretty greenhouses at the farm but a plus in that there were so many more flowers to pick and choose from.

A pink tutu and sparkly purple shoes was her outfit of choice for the day.  : )

Are we done yet??

This is what we came home with ~ fox glove, lavender, witch's broom, several different types of daisies, carnations, black eyed susan, lobelia, vinca vines, snap dragons and a few others whose names I don't remember.  I have to admit that I'm usually more in love with the idea of gardening then I am with actually doing the gardening but this year is different for me.  I've found that as I'm getting older I want to spend more time outdoors.  I think taking up photography has a lot to do with that but I also feel like being closer to nature is where I need to be.  We are blessed to have a home and this little bit of land that is ours needs to be treated with tender loving care.  Out of all the earth that there is, we have been given this one little part of it and I want to make the most of it.  I think this sends a message to the Universe that we are grateful for what we've been blessed with.  AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE.  : )

I want to post some before and after photos as we get this all planted.  And, once the flowers are planted, we're going to get started on a little vegetable garden.  We tried to plant one last year but that's a WHOLE OTHER STORY!!  : )


Many blessings for a beautiful Thursday ~ Wendy