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...
Day 3: A Setback and a Learning Curve
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...
Day 2: Planting a Shade Garden
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...
Day 1: Digging a New Shade Garden Bed
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!
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...
Planning a Shade Garden
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...
Planting a Summer Garden
. 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...
Organizing With Shoe Bags
This post contains Amazon affiliate links. I’ve been pinning a fair amount on Pinterest lately, and I’ve been finding a lot of creative uses for hanging shoe bags – and I mean doing much more than organizing shoes! I’ve seen shoe bags used as office and craft supply organizers and by adding some potting soil, even as hanging planters. I’ve been thinking of maybe trying the hanging planter idea – I’d like to find something to add interest to my yard’s chain link fence. Organizing This and That A hanging shoe organizer can also be a great central organizing area Continue reading...
Readying a Spring Garden
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...
Creating a Raised Garden Bed
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...