Our little garden....

You can not believe how excited I was when I saw these...



Our first potatoes! I wanted to grow potatoes so we cut up a yukon gold we bought from the store and planted each piece in each corner of the box. I can not believe they actually produced anything. Those potatoes were from one plant.



Grae had to inspect each one with his "scope".


We're also growing blueberries, carrots, tomatoes, grapes, squash, eggplant, pumpkins, cranberries, elderberries, plums, pears, and various cut flowers.

Here is a carrot that Maddie pulled up. Why they can't wait until they are ready, I don't know!



It's red on the outside but orange in the middle.


Molly was in charge of washing everything.


I wish we had enough space to raise some chickens. I would love farm fresh eggs everyday!

More landscape work

We've been working hard the month of May to get some of our hardscaping and plants in. I want to relax and enjoy the backyard and our new little girl in June. Looks like I get to do that!

Brian called today to let me know he found a free standing swing for the backyard. He found it on Craigslist and the lady is only two blocks away! She only wanted $50. We've been looking at spending $169 so this is a great savings. Next year Brian is going to build a cedar arbor and put a cedar swing in it so this is only temporary.

Now without further ado: our backyard work in progress.

When we moved in:
Now. The "playhouse" for the girls in the corner is not quite finished. We are going to put an open pitched roof and some stairs. It is made of 4/4 pressure treated fir and cedar.
Here is the same corner a month ago: Before: Now: We planted some shade loving hosta, ferns, astilbe, ground cover, fushia and dianthus.
The huge lilac in our yard has a split down the middle. Pefect for a secret garden path. We've planted some grasses, sedums and thyme around the rock garden bridge. Oh and Brian's newest brainstorm.We had some cabinent doors leftover from the bathroom remodel so I painted them with chalkboard paint and Bri hung them by the hinges. The girls are having fun chalking out in their play area.

The backyard is really starting to come together. Of course we have tons more work to do ;) It looks really nice in person. You'll have to come over to see it.

Bridge is done...

We pretty much finished the garden bridge. It is over 8 ft long and made of cedar. Brian didn't want the "new" wood look so I stained it a dark blue. I think it turned out very nice.

Next step is to add some more plants around the rocks under the bridge. Excuse the mound of mulch behind the bridge. We are waiting to put in more garden paths and build the girls playhouse. Then that mound will be gone.

Here is what it looked like a couple of weeks ago.

Day outside

Bedroom progress has begun (i.e. plaster repair) but by the time we got back from Farmer's Market it was time for Grae's nap and work on the room stopped. His bed is in our room so we went outside to start working on building our garden bridge.


Brian working on the second piece of the bridge support. You can see, on the left, the first one cut. While Brian was taking a break, Maddie and I worked on cutting the cedar cross pieces. Yes I helped out and have photo proof!


I really needed goggles but Brian couldn't find any.
And showing my 8 1/2 month pregnant belly. Big isn't it, lol.
We went to the toy store while on our Farmer's Market trip and bought Grae what he desired most. It only cost $2.50.


Walking the plank with his trusty new sword. Forget trucks and cars, Graedon is into pirates, dragons, knights and Peter Pan. He has a Captain Hook voice that he uses when holding a sword.


 

Fun outside & recycling

We decided to build a play area for the kids. I was tired dragging their Little Tikes mountain climber out onto the lawn and then back again. So we started by framing the area with 2x8's and leveling the dirt.

We ordered cedar wood chips from a local company and they delivered that day.

Partly finished. We are going to paint the shed and add some fun signs and outdoor artwork to the side. We are also going to be planting some flowers and evergreen bushes around it.

The kids love it, I love it and it smells so good (because of the cedar)

This ladder was falling apart so Brian hung it on our shed and planted two Akebia vines. They will eventually take over the ladder and fill it with nice flowers.

More recycling. Our house had a Dish Network satellite installed when we moved in. We tore it down, I spray painted the top part aqua, put it on top of an old step stool (also spray painted aqua), sprayed a couple of coats of poly and we have a bird bath.

Landscaping

Nothing is getting done to the interior of the house lately. Even though I look around and think, I need to finish those kitchen cabinents/moulding/trim/tv stand/curtains/hallway/schoolroom/bedroom, etc. It has been nicer to be outside. We are planning a major front door overhaul. And by overhaul I mean ripping it out and building an actual porch, replacing the rotting threshold and putting in a new door.

In the meantime we are working on landscaping our backyard. We have big plans for it.

Here is what is looked like when we moved in:Pretty much it was a lawn filled with mud and moss with overgrown butterfly bushes in between. We ripped those bushes out first thing.

When we had to take down our chimney we saved the bricks and made a circular brick path around the yard. The inside of the circle will stay grass but the outside will be filled with walkways, secret gardens and lots of flowers.


This is where the 2 major butterfly bushes were. Where you see the concrete blocks will be an 8 ft wood bridge. In the very back corner will be a playhouse/stage for the kids.


A closer look. We planted a dogwood tree, blueberries and ginkos. Underneath the blueberries will be cranberries and a variety of ground cover/plants.


The blueberries.


This is the back of the yard with the enormous lilac tree that I love and Brian hates. Our neighbors took down a huge maple tree and we bought the wood. We have about a doze of these huge logs so we placed them at the base of the lilac. We'll be planting ground cover in front and ferns, hostas and shade loving flowers in back. It will look pretty.

So it's not much to look at now, but will be next year. I can't wait.