With only about 3.5 months left before our baby girl arrives, I have a lot of work to do to get the nursery together. Surprisingly in just the last week I've managed to get a lot done (got a glider and a changing table, and the room painted- all the old furniture out of the room, and all the clothes up on hangers in order--> newborn/3 months/6 months/9 months). But I plan on saving all the pictures of the nursery for one giant nursery "reveal" at the end once everything is done. I've been taking a lot of photos though (before and after) because I've been doing a lot of "projects" for the nursery, not just buying things new, but taking used items and repainting them etc.
But in addition to that, the other activity that I just can't seem to stay away from is GARDENING! For the last few weekends I have spent everyday outside gardening. I think it is because I finally have the space and the nice weather to enjoy it all. The other great thing is it stays daylight here till about 9:30 pm, practically 10pm and I find myself still outside that late gardening and watering.
Here is a photo of our view of the nearing sunset from the front porch with the sprinkler on....
It's from this exact spot where this photo was taking that I plan on placing my two rocking chairs on the front porch once I get them (very soon). There is just something so relaxing about being outside as the sun is going down, listening to the sprinkler, and sometimes smelling a distant fire that makes you think of camping in the woods. (since this is out in the country people start fires quite often) I can't wait to get our fire pit built. We already have a nice spot for it in the back of the property that is cleared and has a bark mulch ground with a border.
Here are some photos of the front of the house. I planted new plants in a certain section of the front, along with these beautiful dark purple calla lillies Patrick adores. He loves them so much I went back to the nursery to buy more and planted them in just the right spot where he can see them everyday from his office window.
I also got these two Dwarf Alberta Spruce trees to sit on either side of the entrance to our porch. Now I just have to find the right ceramic pots for them. I'm thinking a green ceramic pot to bring out the green in the paint on the exterior of our house. We hate plastic containers.
Here are some shots of Schmizel & Yum-yum in the window watching me garden. They like it because they can smell and hear/watch everything. Sometimes I even bring them out into the garden with me, but then I can't really get as much work done. (yum-yum doesn't like to share window with anyone.)
Here is the front of the house:
Flowers in the front:
Moving onto the back of the house....I have these metal framed planters that I bought from Houston. I decided to put them up against the fence to my garden and plant herbs in them since they are wait level, hopefully when you walk by you can smell some of the herbs as you enter the garden. I planted the following: boxwood basil (so cute), sweet basil, lemon verbena, stevia, mint and rosemary (my favorite). I run my fingers through the rosemary all the time and then put them up to my nose. I love it!
This is the cutesy boxwood basil plant! (above)
Here are some more photos of the garden. I also recently planted an "early girl" tomato plant, boston cucumbers,
edamame, jalapeno, and
serrano pepper plant. I also have some tomato plants that I started from seed, but because I started the seeds outdoors and the season is not long enough for maturity of those plants (unless you start in a greenhouse early on when it is still winter) I have decided next year if I want to get serious about all this vegetable gardening business I am going to have to set me up a little miniature greenhouse with lights to start seedlings in February so that by the time you can actually set your plants out in the ground (which is MAY here) the plant will already be far enough along.
The strawberry patch that has so many strawberries I cannot keep up with picking them! (above)
Brussel Sprout plants (still no brussel sprouts yet, but these plants sure have been growing nicely. Beets are on the back of the photo (above).
Sugar Snap Peas. These things sure did grow FAST up the trellis. Today was the first day I noticed finally there are white flowers! (above)
More herbs: spearmint, oregano... (above)
The grape vine. There are little clusters all over it. I need to spend some time attaching all the branches nicely to their support wires. (above)
Pepper plants, cucumbers, tomatos
Wildflowers...
Cilantro for rabbits and the sugar snap peas.
We have six Northern Blue Blueberry bushes in the garden as well. There are a bunch of berries ripening now as we speak. I hope to try raspberry bushes next year.
In the wildflower area I planted a whole punch of watermelon seeds, and two kinds of pumpkin seeds. I also planted one pumpkin plant that I purchased at a nursery. Hopefully by the time October rolls around we will have some nice fat pumpkins to harvest. I've always wanted to grow pumpkins and watermelons, but have never had the room. I'm sure planting their seeds in the wildflower area is not really the right way to do it, but this is my first season and I consider it my experimentation year! Plus, it's kind of hard bending over so much when pregnant.
The Asparagus box. I also let some of the wildflowers grow here and planted a ton of Giant Sunflower seeds last week. They are already sprouting!!!!
And here are some more misc. photos of the garden area:
Lamb's Ear (above) so fuzzy....
Beautiful peonies & oriental poppies.
And finally, a couple shots of some back flower beds and potting I worked on today, along with letting Schmizel explore (he's such a big baby).
~Shannon
