Some New Color

Today I decided to clean out the bed in front of my porch. It was looking a little frumpy, so I decided to spruce it up. Before an after pictures:

Playin in the Dirt... Again:)

Another Saturday... another day well spent in the yard. Today I sprayed a serious amount of Round-up, rearranged my raised beds (or the plants in them), made a trellis for my peas and cucumbers, and refreshed the soil in my raised beds with cow manure (Black Kow to be exact). I also switched out the pump in my overflowing urn  to an actual pond pump... hopefully this pump will last a while.

Here is a picture of my bean trellis (left side)

A new row of impatiens

the overflowing urn, once again, overflowing:)

My fescue is still coming in nicely, hopefully I will be able to mow the top half of the yard next weekend... it is looking a little unruly. I also bought 4 more pittosporums to replace those that died. I did have a reality check today. I realize I have planted way more seeds than I can possible grow in my raised beds... not to sure what to do with the extras. Maybe I will make a little "patio garden" for my mom and sister.

Part of my desire to fix my backyard stemmed from a sense of lack of control that I felt for my life last year. I didn't want to write a blog about how bad my day was, or how overwhelmed I felt in school, or how miserable I was at work... so I decided to write about something I love, and almost make myself accountable for maintaining my yard. Now my yard has turned into a sense of pride for me. On the weekends, there is no better feeling than to go outside with a cup of hot coffee and stand in the sunlight and admire the sweat and time I have put into creating a beautiful space. Although I still have a long way to go with my "peaceful place in the dirt" I certainly feel like working in the yard has been a sort of therapy for me.  

More plants! (and a rotten bench)

Another journey to the Grower's Outlet has lead to some fabulous new color in my yard. I planted impatiens along my wooden fence, foxglove behind my day lilies near the rotten stump, a butterfly bush near my bird bath (where a little bird was recently spotted bathing!) and some more blue star and hostas. I also went to Garden Ridge with a friend and picked up some super cute solar powered hanging lanterns. Everything seems to be doing really well -  it has all been in the ground for a little more than a week.

In the bottom picture you can see my rotten bench and my flying pig. I bought the pig at a local art festival, and the bench actually came with the house. It has been leaning against a fence in my yard collecting moss for some time now, so I am glad I finally found a home for it. In front of the pig is a "Cape Cod honeysuckle". I have read many posts online where people talk about how it isn't really a honeysuckle, and how the plant itself is not even hardy enough to survive in Cape Cod. The irony is, I planted it about 5 years ago and after it "died" I have been treating it as if it were a weed. I finally realized it was my honeysuckle after a trip to Disney World, where they have it growing in front of the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Here is my little bird that I caught playing in my bird bath. Behind it you can see a hydrangea (that was here when I moved in) about to bloom.