Reaping what I sow!

So a while back I did some sowing of wildflowers in our back yard. I did it a little late in the summer, but the seeds have sprouted and I'm finally seeing some awesome wildflowers. Take a look...

Next to my fence flowers

A few more days and everything will be FULL bloom! Can't wait!

This birdie has a new lease on life!

A couple of summers ago my mom got me pretty ceramic mushrooms, the biggest with a little birdie sitting on top. Well after a few year in the ground, the largest garden ornament lost it's stake and the bottom of the mushrooms broke too. I kept them because I thought they were pretty and didn't want to get rid of them, but I didn't exactly know what to do with them either. Well, Hubby found a cool piece of wood in our backyard, and an idea was born!

I had Hubby drill some large holes in the cool looking log, and I dripped some epoxy in the drilled holes and around the base of the mushrooms, and ta-DA!! I'm really liking the way it all turned out and that these gifts got a new life on my garden table.

Weeding and Sowing

Today I spent most of the day weeding the bed we put in last year next to our gravel patio. After a very busy May, the bed had not been tended to at all this season--though some of the perennials have been doing just fine without me. After weeding, hubby tilled around the plants and I planted some nasturtium around the boarders and then some more of the seeds I bought earlier in the year ( poppies and chinese forget-me-nots for this area). Though, the seeds in the front beds are sprouting up, I am always unsure how seeds will come in...I guess we'll just need to wait and see.

End of April

Today

An improvement, right?

Winter to Spring

We've been cleaning up the beds, and there have been some noticeable changes around here...

End of April

Today

End of April

Today

It's amazing what a month can bring. I'm excited to see more changes as the season moves forward and our seeds begin to sprout (cross fingers). 

Here's a few more pretty spring pictures for you...

Sowing Seeds

Last night we took a little time in the front beds to weed and till up between the plants already coming in. Then I planted some wildflowers up there, and watered it all really well. I planted Five Spots up front because they are the shortest, then Chinese Forget-Me-Nots, and then some Red Cardinal Flowers in the back.

I hope they come in alright, I have had mixed success with seeds. I guess we'll see over the next month or so.

I need a dose of spring!!!

I am desperate for spring and summer, so I took a little time today to order some wild flower seeds to plant in a few months. All of the following wildflower are from American Meadows.

I can't wait!!!

Nasturtium Vinegar

Today I made four bottles of nasturtium vinegar that I will give away as gifts. The finished vinegar will have a nice peppery bite and will an excellent ingredient to use in salad dressings, sauces, and other dishes. Here's how I made it...
I picked about 4 blooms per bottle and lots of leaves that I cut in thin confetti strips. I put the leaves and blooms in the bottles and filled the bottles with apple cider vinegar. Then I sealed up each of the bottles.

Now to let them sit for at least 3 weeks before using. The nasturtium can remain in for decoration, but you should make sure the vinegar always covers the flowers or they will mold. 

Garden Kabobs

Yummy Kabobs with fresh garden veggies!!

Nasturtium, chicken and a little salt. Delicious!

Pork, sweet pepper, cinnamon, brown sugar. 

Far right, streak, salt and pepper...also, cherry tomatoes mixed in the other kabobs. 

All cooked up on the grill with a little extra virgin olive oil. So good and fresh!!!

What we did on our summer vacation

We build a gravel patio!!

When we moved in our house a few years ago, the backyard was one of the things that made us say "Let's buy it!" But that doesn't mean we did have some improvements to make. The site of our new gravel patio used to be where the previous owners had a swing set. We have a nice big deck off the back of our house, but the patio allows for more entertaining space and most importantly a fire pit. Below are the general steps we took to make our patio...

1) Dig down about 4 inches the entire area you are hoping to cover with your patio. That seems very simple but for us took the most time. Much easier to say than to do! Also, its good to have a plan of what you might want to with the displaced dirt.

2) Tamp the dirt.

3) Shovel in enough "traffic bond" or small pea gravel to cover the entire area to a 2 inch depth. You will want to make sure everything is relatively level at this step but a gravel patio is much more forgiving that a brick patio.

 

4) Tamp this layer of gravel.

5) Now the next steps are what we did, but is the fun and creative part, so if you are thinking about attempting a similar project have fun with this part. We added landscaping lumbers that matched the borders to many of our flowerbeds. We then put bricks lining the landscaping lumber. The bricks we used where also left by the previous owners, they are imperfect and discolored and I love them! Under the lumbers and bricks we put leveling sand. This is the part we were most concerned with everything being level. We got a long level and tried our best to have the sand level everything out. Though this was the step we were most concerned with leveling, we eyed a far amount of it too. (Again, way less particular than a brick patio.)

6) We also added a small star burst for where the fire pit would sit. We used a trash can lid, put sand around it, and then leveled out the bricks, each going longways and making a bursting pattern. Then, of course, removed the lid.

7) Pick out your gravel! We discovered while Lowes and Home Depot sold gravel it was much cheaper to buy from a bulk landscape place. However, that might be because we have a truck, delivery costs might drive up the price much more. We picked a purple granite mix.

 

8) After shoveling out all the gravel in the nooks and crannies, the only thing left to do is place your furniture, fire pit, and have a fire!!!

My First Garden

This is our first year gardening, and I think things are going pretty well. Here's some of our "crop"...

Cherry Tomatoes

Butternut Squash

Sweet Peppers

Nasturtium (Edible Flowers)

I'll show more as we "harvest". Can't wait!!!