dill

from my garden...mmm

blossoms

Ok so here are a few blossoms from our yard...dandelions are not blossoms but they are pretty!

yellow

This is the back of the house, well, partially. We will probably put in a deck and patio soon so I wanted a before picture. The yellows are so warm and cheerful!

Garden

Our garden went from this overgrown nightmare to the picture below, being tilled by Chris. We later built in beds and a little fence to keep the wild dog out:-)....pictures will be posted soon of the final result!

We kept the roses and the little clump of tulips. I can't wait to plant my 200 hundred plants!

progress

These are my beans growing on twine in my dining room windows. In 3 weeks they went from seeds to about 15 inches long. I am very excited about getting these things planted in my garden, its just too early still.

I cleaned and organized the back porch, organized the dining room, cleaned the kitchen, had Chris hang the shelves in the dining room, organized Keira's clothes, put up stickers in her room, and generally just cleaned and organized the house. I have made a lot of progress and I still have a ways to go. I am just glad I am not procrastinating, I have 10 days left to get it all in shape!

i love it

Forsythia in my yard...I love how vibrant the yellow is, I wish I had a shirt that color. Friday we'll go out and work on the garden, I can't wait!

garden dining

Spring is almost here, a little less than a week away! I am dying to get out in my back yard and make it usuable! Above is a photo from Martha Stewart's website. I love the pea gravel! I used to HATE gravel, but I am coming around...plus its cheaper than bricks and pavers!

These last three pictures are from http://gardenrooms.typepad.com and I am completely in love with all 3 looks. I have a variety of tables and chairs. If I still do a deck and patio on the back of the house the yard is big enough to do a separate space. Of course I'm still working on my garden rendering. My plants are out of control...I thinned some...I will post an update on those soon.

my plants

Here is a pile of seeds I planted yesterday. That's right some of those were 20 cents a packet!

I used indoor planting trays with clear lids on them this time around. I have 144 little pods planted. I am hoping they will all take, some of them have several seeds in each and they are now sitting in the window.

I planted tomatoes, squash, peppers, cucumbers, basil, green beans, dill, parsley, marigolds, oriental poppies, bachelor buttons, sunflowers varieties, and some zinnias. I have more flowers to plant including bulbs, I have a giant elephant ear in a pot in the sunshine too. I want to be ahead of things when its warm enough to plant. Last year I was pregnant at this time and then had Keira in April and the garden never happened. I won't let that happen this year!

garden design

I googled 'garden design' to see if I could find any renderings of gardens to base mine off of. This is what I found and its at http://www.creativeearth.co.uk/.

I've been dying to get out in the garden and start digging everything up but we still have about 6 inches of snow back there. Granted its nice and warm out today and I probably won't be able to get out there any time soon, so in the meantime it would be a good idea to get planning.

I got some bulbs from Costco last Saturday. I will not be able to even plant them until April. I got ranunculus, peonies, hostas and anemone. Some are shady plants some are full sun and I think after the little planning I've done I have some good ideas about how to get started. I would like to do some raised beds for vegetables and herbs and then the bulk of the flowers to run along the borders of our yard. I am also figuring in the deck/patio we would like to put in this spring. Keira will be walking soon and I'd like a nice place to sit and watch her as well as use for entertaing, etc.

I will get busy on my drawing and I will post photo of Keira's room, its come a long way!