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A mom blog on creating the perfect home for one's family

rock garden with boxwood and lilyturf

Shade Garden Complete For Now

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Thanks to my setback, where I accidentally sliced through a Verizon cable while preparing my side yard's shade garden, it took me longer than I expected to complete a new shade garden for my home. The garden is nearly complete now, except for a small patch that I've left exposed, without a covering of red garden stone, because I am still waiting for Verizon to come in, take out the temporary cable that they installed, and bury a new permanent cable . But, I am happy with what I've been able to complete so far. I've lined my shade garden with a red gravel, and have planted the bed Continue reading...

utility markings

Day 3: A Setback and a Learning Curve

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Progress on my home's new shade garden is slow and sure -- with only a few days left to my daughters' summer vacation before school starts, I've been squeezing in as many hours in with my kids as I can. Well, progress on the garden was going well, until I made a major mistake late last week. Many of us have heard the warning to "call before you dig" before setting a spade or any other type of shovel into the earth at one's home. I learned that lesson the hard way late last week when my spade sliced a Verizon wire. Even though I was only digging about 6 inches into the earth to remove the Continue reading...

shade garden

Day 2: Planting a Shade Garden

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Despite the light drizzle here in Central New Jersey, I managed to plant three boxwoods and my two perrenials (lilyturf varegata) in my newly dug shade garden. I am happy with the progress I'm making so far! I still have a lot to do. I'd like to mix in topsoil to my garden (I already mixed in a little when I planted the boxwoods and perrenials), add some small red gravel, and perhaps add some edging like these red brick pavers: My kids don't feel like going shopping today because of the rain, but I think we'll hit the garden store later today anyway! Continue reading...

planting a shade garden with boxwood

Day 1: Digging a New Shade Garden Bed

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I while back, I posted about my plans to put in a shade garden on the north side of my home. Well, this past weekend, I got started earlier on the garden than I thought I would. Saturday morning I drove past a garden nursery that was having a 30% off sale for all of its plants. I had to take advantage of it! So, I wound up purchasing three boxwood plants for about $11 each. So, later that day, while the kids were playing outside, I decided to try to get started on the bed. I started digging up the sod, and the grass came up easier than I thought! I guess I have all the rain we've Continue reading...

Weeds Be Gone!

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I spent yesterday at a family member’s house, so I decided to give him a hand and get some of the weeds out of the brick walkway that leads to his home. The walkway is covered with crabgrass and clover – so much so that the weeds look like they will soon take over the space. The problem is that this family member doesn’t want to use chemicals or a commercial weed killer on the weeds, so getting the weeds – which are quite large – out from between the bricks is very tough. I thought about spraying on some weed killer on and not telling him about it, but because he has pets who might inject Continue reading...

garden collage

Planning a Shade Garden

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Lately, I have been dreaming about starting a shade garden in my home’s side yard. With a playground behind our house, our backyard can sometimes be noisy, and the side yard, which is on the north (and shadier) side of the house, is a lot quieter. Also, my kids love to use the Slip ‘N Slide in the side yard, which has a wide expanse of grass. So, I’d love to create a rock garden in the shade next to the house, to provide a pretty place for me to sit when I am watching the kids play, or if I want a quiet spot to read a magazine or a book. To jump start my plans, I did some research on Continue reading...

pallets

Pallet Furniture

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Lately, I’ve been obsessed with pinning images of DIY wood pallet furniture. Just search “pallet furniture” on Pinterest, and you’ll find really creative ideas for homemade wood pallet coffee tables, patio furniture and even home theater seating. The pallets most DIYers are after are made of wood and are used to pack goods while being shipped. The wood pallets can be often picked up for free in parking lots or dumpsters – just be sure to check that the pallets are being discarded before you start loading them into your car! Repurposed Pallet Furniture One pallet furniture piece I Continue reading...

paver patio with wrought iron patio table and chairs

Our Outdoor Space

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Now that summer is here, I am hoping to spend more time in our backyard. Our backyard is much improved from when we moved in, when all the backyard had was grass, some trees and a view of the schoolyard behind our house. Two years ago, we put in a gray paver patio, and it looks great! I was lucky enough to snag a black wrought-iron patio set at a big discount from Smith & Hawkins when it went out of business three years ago.  Privacy Fence My home’s backyard is also much improved since we planted some skip laurel bushes along the chain link fence that separates our yard from Continue reading...

Planting a Summer Garden

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. The weather was so beautiful here in Central New Jersey last week that I got inspired to work on my home's front garden bed. With the hopes of having a weed-free garden bed this summer, I dug up all the weeds in my planting bed -- the bed was a mess with weeds everywhere! I then put down some landscaping fabric to prevent new weeds from sprouting, and covered the garden bed with several healthy inches of black mulch. My, those bags of mulch were heavy! (And, as usual, the folks at the garden store didn't offer to help me carry those bad boys. I have to find a more helpful garden Continue reading...

I Declare a Squirrel War!

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As I've posted before, my daughters and I have been enjoying watching beautiful goldfinches feed from a birdfeeder we've added to the backyard. My kids like watching the birds so much, that my husband has  purchased a set of binoculars for each daughter. I first bought a simple net feeder and filled it with thistle seed for the finches, and soon had plenty of finches in the backyard. But within about a week, the squirrels discovered the net feeder, chewed holes in it, and emptied out the seed. Darn rodents! I vowed to keep the squirrels away from my birdfeeder. So, I purchased a Continue reading...

goldfinch on sock feeder

Feeding Finches in the Backyard

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Until recently, I was a very sad birding enthusiast. I had a few birdfeeders in my backyard, but all they seemed to attract were noncolorful blackbirds and morning doves. That was until I purchased a very simple and inexpensive netted sock bird feeder ("thistle sack") from a local grocery store. Filled with nyjer/thistle seed, the sock has been attracted beautiful black and yellow Eastern Goldfinches (New Jersey's state bird) to my backyard daily. The birds are so colorful that it looks like wild canaries are flocking to my backyard. The great part about the new finch feeder in my Continue reading...

privacy for a chain link fence

Chain Link Privacy

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As I’ve blogged before, I’ve been obsessed with creating privacy for our chain link fence. For the past several months, I’ve been thinking about how to add privacy to the chain link fence, either through planting shrubs and trees or through adding a fence screen of some kind. The fence drives me crazy, because there is a schoolyard with a playground behind it. Kids are out in the playground throughout the day, and even after school for after-school care. The kids are nice and friendly, and always want to know what we are eating, etc., when we try to have our dinners out on the Continue reading...

flower garden bed

Readying a Spring Garden

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Spring has sprung, so on Sunday, I prepped my flower and vegetable garden beds. With the weather so nice, my kids wanted to play outside, so I decided to hit the garden store in the morning, so I could work on the gardens while they played. The first thing I did was add mulch to our front flower bed. We already have a few blooms coming up for spring – in that garden bed we have tulips, daffodils and hyacinths – and I want to keep the weeds down once the flowers start flowering. I bought two bags of mulch, but it wasn’t enough to cover the garden bed, so I’ll be back to the garden store Continue reading...

paver patio with wrought-iron table and chairs

Privacy for a Chain Link Fence

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For homeowners whose backyard backs to a chain link fence, lack of privacy can be an issue. Finding ways to create privacy for a chain link fence can be difficult. Such is the case with my home's backyard, which has a schoolyard behind it. The school's chain link fence separates the school playground from my home's backyard. The playground is filled during the day and some afternoons with children who are very curious about my activities should I venture into the backyard when the schoolyard is filled. (Luckily, the schoolyard is quiet and empty most weekends.) So, if I'd like to use Continue reading...

a closeup of a sunflower

Creating a Raised Garden Bed

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A sunflower that I grew in my family's raised garden bed last summer.Last spring, one of the best things my daughters and I did together was designate an area of our yard for a raised garden bed, and started a flower and vegetable garden. We started small and planted sunflowers, peas, tomatoes and sunflowers. My daughters loved watching the sunflowers grow, and especially liked eating the peas straight out of the garden. This year, we decided to expand our garden, and bought the same raised garden kit that we purchased last spring from Eartheasy.com, the Farmstead Raised Garden Continue reading...

sew, st. patricks day, flag

Crafting a Flag for the Garden

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With St. Patrick's Day coming up, I wanted to hang a St.Patrick's Day-themed flag in my garden. But I am always surprised at how much those tiny garden flags cost. For instance, a Leprehaun hat garden flag runs about $12 at Amazon.com. So, using the leftover fabric from the leprechaun window valences that I sewed, I created a St. Patrick's day garden flag for my garden this morning. First, I pinned and sewed about .25-inch seams on each side and on the botton of the flag so I wouldn't have any frayed edges. Then, I pinned a two-inch seam on the top of the flag and sewed that, to create Continue reading...

sunflower

Almost Planting Time

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Now that my family’s vegetable garden is nearly on its way (I still have to add more soil), I’ve been thinking about what we want to plant this spring. My daughters and I definitely would like to plant some peas. We got a bit of a late start last year (and didn’t plant until about May), so this year we will do it right and plant our peas around St. Patrick’s Day, the traditional pea planting time for much of the Mid-Atlantic states. We had some success with sunflowers in our garden last year, so this year we hope to plant sunflowers again, but BIGGER ones. So, I purchased a few Continue reading...

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