Gardening Archives | Page 2 of 9 |

Front Yard to Garden Sanctuary Transformation| Big Progressions and Little Confessions

July 4, 2017 By Laura 2 Comments

We have our great big garden-sanctuary-accomplishment to share with you today. Big progressions, and also some little confessions! But in order to appreciate it in all of it’s glory, you have to learn a bit about what we started from. If you’ve been following us for years, this post will refresh your memory. And if you are new here, you’ll be able to appreciate it just as much.
We all love a good ‘Before and After’, don’t we?
So we encourage you to read along!

A Look Back at a Bunch of Nothin’.

For as many years as we have been blogging, we have talked about this project. Plans to transform our hideous (oh, we have proof!) front yard of simple garden beds, into a beautiful garden sanctuary. And in these conversations with you and talking about our little garden dreams over the years, these changes were always imminent! Definitely about to happen.
Except that it really never did get very far.

First, we confess, that although every time we were all hyped up and ready to get going, every time too, for one reason or another, our grand plans always got sidelined. The seasons to get it done would end before we really accomplished much, and so we never really made any progress! Whether it was lack of time, lack of money, or how things are just easier done in your head than in reality – well, most times it was probably all of those things! Weekends are short, and our family is busy. All of that. Every time, we only got as far as maybe building some garden beds, which we have just done for the 3rd time at this point, since we originally told you of any real front yard transformation gardening dreams. And some planting for the season.

But the aesthetics and bigger vision for our garden area, in our front yard mind you, never really came in to play, as we just kept talking about it. It was pathetic.

You can see where we generally started with our little blah-lot in here in 2009, and how we expanded what little space we had, by sacrificing some driveway.
And how we were still just getting another garden bed up or whatever here in 2010.

And since then, there has only been many seasons, where we have just shared lots of photos with you, of all of the beautiful and bountiful vegetables and flowers that we have grown in what garden beds we had. You can find countless blog posts on them in the garden archives here at the blog.

But the little garden sanctuary dreams just weren’t coming together. The space as a whole, where these garden beds resided, has been just so UGH.

ANOTHER CONFESSION. . . .

Yes, I have enjoyed working in these garden beds over the years, anyway. But I have loathed feeling like I am doing so, in such an on-display manner, in our front yard! I often wonder if I might be mistaken for one of those yard ornaments, of the bent-over woman’s bum, weeding her garden. You know the one? Ugh. Granted, we live on a short dead-end road, so the traffic is next to none. But there are also neighbors frequently walking by on their way to the beach and such, and to be honest….when I am out working in my gardens, I just want the peace and solitude to do my thing! By myself. Alone. (Or with my family) I don’t want to say hello to people, and make small talk as they walk by. Call me a witch. Of course I do say hello and chat anyway, if it so happens, because it’s only polite. But I don’t want to, in the least bit. Especially when I am hot and sweaty, with dirt sticking to me . . . . just . . . . no. Please, leave me be while I play in the dirt. Thanks.

During this season in the photo above (circa 2010?), though it is hard to see here, we actually had 4 garden beds at that point, and then the ground-level pumpkin patch which is closest to you in the photo.
In the gardening seasons 2013-2015, the kids kept a super cute square garden as well.

It was during that period we tore down the wooden beds and put up cinder blocks gardens, which I came to be a big non-fan of.
I was almost immediately like . . . . disassemble and build wooden beds again, please. (That didn’t get undone for 2 years I think. My knees and shins hated it, and I also especially hated the concrete jungle in our already-ugly front yard.)
–

– BEFORE –
Proof of Hideous . . . . .

But aside from the garden beds we built, growing beautiful, delicious and healthy produce and blooms over these many gardening years, the space itself has remained fairly ugly!!
Without the garden beds in season, it’s been actually hard to look at.
For me, anyway. In part probably, because all I see is the garden dreams in my head, missing. And a whole palette of blah-colors, that blend together like yuck. I felt bad for the neighbors passing by daily. Whether I’m out there bending over, or not.
–

(It’s coming, hold on . . . .)

Then last year, we took our first gardening season completely off, to, you know, really get something accomplished in our ultimate goals for the front yard. Or that was the plan, anyway. :/ I was SO MISERABLE, not having my gardens to work in, Y’all. It was rough.
But again, even still, we didn’t get much done, again! We did take down all of the cinder block gardens, and got building new beds. But we only got 4/8 done that we wanted, not to mention all else we were definitely going to get done. (Yeah, right.)

Busy family, flying time, the whole 9 yards . . . .

BUT THIS YEAR . . . .

. . . . come the first sign of spring, we hit it hard! Time was not going to get away again. Really, really, really.
We would make time, we had the money, and after some good collaborating brain storming, as usual, Michael had some loose garden-layout plans down on paper.

We have finally….really….seriously…..put a BIG dent, in the transformation of our front yard, into more of the garden sanctuary we have been envisioning for all of these years.

And we’re so excited to show you today!

*Just know first though….

>>>>> That it’s all not done yet! Consider this Phase 1! We’re just excited to show you what we’ve done already.
It’ll continue to be a work in progress, and grow in beauty, as there are still many exciting plans still left undone.

>>>>>> What is planted in the garden at the time of these photos, were still little seedlings, and the rest hadn’t been planted yet! So while it’s not the lush beautiful full gardens they will be this early in the season, it’s the structure and set-up of the new garden space layout we really want you to show you all at this point.

That said, we think it definitely qualifies as a transformation at this point. It looks completely different now.

Will you agree? We are about to see!!

Take a look for yourself!
– AFTER –

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19 | Our Unique House Numbering

May 26, 2017 By Laura 3 Comments

Will you love it? Or will you hate it?
Well, that’s the question! We’re pretty sure we’ll have some mixed opinions on this idea we’ll be sharing with you today, on our unique house numbering. And we are really o.k. with that!

Because, if you’ve caught on yet, you may have noticed that our style within this sacred space which we call home, definitely leans towards the creative and eclectic side. (And if you haven’t caught on to that yet, you’ll be seeing a whole lot more proof in the upcoming posts!) The fact of the matter is, as two artists keeping a home and raising a family together, and who do most everything needing to be done, ourselves, we don’t really thrive much on making everything around us match, or looking normal and conventional. With many projects, we simply enjoy pushing ourselves to think outside of the box. It gives us incentive, to get tasks done.

How can we do this project, and make it functional and efficient, but different than the expected?

How can we complete this project, in a way that will make us smile every day at home?

These are the questions we ask ourselves. And so that’s the mindset that came into play once again, with this idea of uniquely numbering our house.
WHICH by the way was a project we did last spring; 2016
That’s important to note, later on.

Now, lots of people come to our home, for various different reasons. Some will love all of the very different things they see, and some will not. We don’t even aim to please anyone but ourselves. We want our home to be a place we love to live. Just like everyone else, we imagine. But what we do hope, is that people who come here will look around, and just keep see things they find very interesting. And in doing so, we hope that they will feel….intrigued. Or amused! Maybe inspired. Any of the above, or something else entirely.

The fun for us, in most projects that have to be done, is the creative process. We say that all of the time. Brainstorming new avenues . . . . being excited about pulling together even a slightly unique idea . . . . presenting something that stands out, as different, or unexpected . . . . those are simply forms of joy to us. Not all projects we have to do, or choose to do, but as often as we can, when we feel so inclined.

So before we get to the unique house numbering, we’ll first share with you a very quick little conventional home improvement project, for our conventional reading-friends . . . .

. . . . the wall underneath this flower box in the front of our house. UGH! I have always hated it. We have more of this hideous material, as concrete steps to our mid-level yard, and then as the back retainer wall; both of which we will also rectify the appearance of, in due time.

But here is our solution for this concrete wall you see there first.

Michael simply refaced it, with these rumble stone pavers, adhering them with construction adhesive. Big improvement if you ask me. Even as conventional of a solution as it is, it is much more pleasing to the eye. Don’t you think? I can’t even wait to blanket the ugly stuff everywhere else, one way or another. (Who knows what we’ll come up with!)

But let’s get to the main project of this post; the unique house numbering. Thanks for you patience.

First, you really should know though, about the sketchy comings and goings at our house . . . .

. . . . that, many people a day, who have nevah-evah been to our home, need to find our house. We’re talking an unusual amount of people. One might suspect illegal activity, if they didn’t know the facts. Or know us. The reason we have such high people-traffic though, is because [Read more…]

Tropical Hibiscus and Blueberry Bush Blessings

July 20, 2016 By Laura 1 Comment

No one could have known how sad I have been this season, without my gardens to work in, and watch grow.
But I have been. Until I was blessed by surprise, with a Tropical Hibiscus and Blueberry Bush.

We had decided to completely overhaul our garden area this year, in an effort and plan to re-plot and grow a lot more of our own food. Although I’ll be the first to admit, there’s been many plans made over the years, that never materialized. And considering we’re deep in July here now, with little accomplished still, I’m losing hope on this one, too.

But I’ve happened to get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of working in the soil and growing things in my gardens over the past years. Growing anything, beautiful or nutritional. This year, however, there has been nothing out there, but dirt. Then, some gardening-related joy came my way. On two separate occasions, I was given these two very unexpected gifts:

A Tropical Hibiscus and a Blueberry Bush.

And oh, how they helped soothe my little gardenless-woes! I have been loving having them to tend to, and seeing them grow. But what makes them mean the most to me, is where they came from. Let me tell you a bit about that.

The Tropical Hibiscus

This is probably the kind of beautiful plant that I would always want to buy, but never buy for myself. And therefore, I would have probably never had something so bold and lovely. But now I do.

And how is that? Because . . . . a very special and thoughtful young man in my oldest daughter’s life, surprised me with it. I think he got quite a surprise, himself, by [Read more…]

The Kids’ Gardens

August 12, 2015 By Laura 5 Comments

After intending to for far too long, I am finally sharing with you our kids’ little gardens, today!

All 4 of our kids help in our family gardens at some point or other through the gardening seasons; although some do with more joy and ambition than others. There is always some weeding, dead-heading flowers, or picking vegetables, that needs tending to. I do much of it myself, but sometimes I could use another pair of hands, and the company is nice sometimes, too.

But just prior to the gardening season in 2013, I pitched the idea to the kids, of having their very own little garden.
I explained that they could plant and grow whatever they wanted, but they were also responsible for keeping it up. That meant keeping it weeded, watered, dead-heading their own flowers, and generally tending to it with love. Not only that, but after their father built the frame base, they had to be a team and prepare the bed themselves. They all loved the idea, and each have had their own little garden ever since!

It may have been more work than they anticipated, that first year! Because although we have had loam brought in by the truck full for our other garden beds, we had a perfectly good dirt pile next to the driveway that we didn’t really want there. It had been overgrown with weeds and grass, though. Basically, it was less of a dirt pile any longer, and more like a grassy hill, riddled with rocks! So they did work hard, like a team. The boys dug the hill up, pulling and shaking out the grass and weed clumps, and putting shovel fulls earth onto the handmade screen on the wheel barrow. The girls sifted the dirt through, to remove all of the rocks, and then wheeled the barrow over to the garden bed, and dumped the dirt in.

That was the less than fun part. But they made the most of it, and it was good and done for many years to come.
Now let’s look at their gardens, today…. [Read more…]

Photos from Around the Homestead – May, June, July 2015

July 9, 2015 By Laura 6 Comments

*Hello Friends! First, there are a whole bunch of photos to this post here, so you really need to NOT scroll, and just let them load for a minute. Therefore, you might as well just read this brief intro, if you are one who usually just looks at the pictures. 😉

About the title: I always use the term ‘homestead’. So just so you know, yes, we do understand that we do not technically live on a true homestead, by definition. But we still have taken to the word. We are simply referring to our home and the little tiny property we live on. We’re going to keep using it, because it works for us.

Lastly, it’s been quite an unusual spring and early summer for us all. Kind of tough, but it’s all good. I am finally starting to get around on my own two feet, following my wicked broken ankle and torn ligaments in mid-April. That kept any usual projects and activity off the table. But God has taught me much through it all, as I knew He would. Things like patience, Psalm 46:10, and all of that good and hard stuff. I didn’t realize how much transforming I had to do but, um….I see it in full color now!

Anyway, the photos are probably loaded now. Just some brief descriptions from here on out. Hope you enjoy……
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