TGISaturday

I couldn't have asked for rain on a better day. After I was all done with the soil outside, it began to shower which was fantastic. The rain helped the soil settle and set my plants in. When I woke up this morning to go outside, the soil was rich and black.

I couldn't have asked for rain on a better day. After I was all done with the soil outside, it began to shower which was fantastic. The rain helped the soil settle and set my plants in. When I woke up this morning to go outside, the soil was rich and black.

We went out to the nursery again and bought a "few" flowers and plants. They are all perennials because I have no desire to do this again. My fingers are still sore from shoveling.


Top to Bottom:
Foxglove - I always see this in garden magazines and websites, so we bought one to see what the fuss is all about. Actually this is Keith's plant! I think it looks like measles.
Creeping Pink Phlox - A good ground cover.
Candy Tuft White - Cactus like perenniel with white flowers. It looks hearty and with the flowers, I thought it would be a nice addition to the garden. It must be popular because there was only 1 left when I went back.
Thrift of Sea Pink - I bought this to add color.
*Lena Scotch Broom (tall bushy one) - HIGHLY RECOMMEND*- My neighbor has a Scotch Broom and it stays green all year long and loves sun. I put this one in front of the air conditioner to camouflage it. It grows nice and big with each year and when it blooms, it looks like a burst of fire orange flowers.
Shirly Temple Peony - Adding another peony to my collection. Pale pink to White. I want a TON of peonies, so my plan is to add more and more to the garden each year. Remember to mix in lots of hummus or organic compost. Side dress with hummus each spring.
Mallow - Grows to 4 feet tall. Another good addition to fill the garden with.
Ice Plant - This is the weirdest looking plant. They look like little fingers and have a funny texture when you touch it. It's supposed to bloom pink flowers.

Here's what the edamame looks like.


Well, that's it for today. We have a wedding to go to this evening.

TGIF

9 AM: We ordered a truck load of top soil from a local landscaping supply store. Then we went to Lowe's to check out some paint samples, cabinets and tile for the kitchen.

For cabinets, we decided to go with the unfinished stock cabinets (saving $1K). Keith stained a sample piece of unfinished oak in Red Cherry to see how it would look before we went ahead and bought all the cabinets.



While we waited for our dirt, I put my seedlings outside for some fresh air.


This is what I did with the sweet potato vine and licorice. It's supposed to grow really full and hang down.


My peony is taller already.


Funny thing. A squirrel must have buried a hazelnut in one of my planters. I went to pull this out and realized it was a little hazelnut tree. I hope to nurture it to maturity.


1:30 PM - Then came the dirt! We laid a tarp down to later cover the top soil in the event of rain.




And then we spent the next 6 hours shoveling top soil into a wheel barrow and dumping it along the house. Let me just say that I would never want to do this again!


5:00 PM


6:00 PM - We would pour it into our garden and then smooth it out with a hoe rake.


7:00 PM - I was surprised we got this far. It looks so nice.


Exhausted and broken.


I was so achy afterwards I couldn't even move.


Many times, I had to relocate the pre-existing flowers or shrubs.


I got the asian FOB squat down good.


TADAA!!! Be sure to water anything you plant new or relocated.


I love the tree. It really opens up the corner and you can see the flowers. The kids kept complimenting me on our new tree. They were so excited about it for some reason. It was so sweet.


Here's the North side of the house. I planted the daffodils last Fall. They are low maintenance so I'm happy with the way things look here. I just might add some other little annuals here and there.


Within the hydranagea, I found an old bird carcass. EWW


Keith pulled out the other dead tree. It was a mess! I also cleaned between the hydrangea bush. There were lots of dead stems. We were too tired to do anything else at this point, so we're saving the rest for tomorrow or next week!


We haven't decided what to plant here yet. Any suggestions?

Lawn Work

Keith spent the entire day working on the lawn. Thatching the weeds and bald spots. Laying weed killer down. He mowed what was left of our lawn from the winter and edged along the side walk. It's looking pretty good.

SEEDLINGS
I've been trying to relax more so I haven't been keeping up with the blogging, but I thinned my seedlings into their own cups. I've been placing them outside to get them acclimated to the weather. My neighbor is starting other types of vegetables (ie. carrots, beans, roma tomatoes) and we're going to swap plants. I started some broccoli and the edamame is coming up. I am mostly concentrating on the landscaping now.

KITCHEN
Cabinets:
We decided to go with the unfinished stock cabinets at Lowe's. The fancy drawers which the sales associate was trying to sell us on would only apply for 2 out of our 10 cabinets, so it didn't make sense to go with it. We bought a sample piece of wood (dishwasher filler side piece $10) and some Red Cherry wood stain ($6) by Cabot to test out how it would look before buying all the cabinets. It looks pretty darn good!

Tile is 0.68/SF, so when we go back we'll get that too. It's only ~$70 for our entire kitchen.

Weeping Cherry Blossom

There was an electrical fire at Keith's job today, so he got the day off and wanted to plant another tree. I have always thought this corner of the house needed a weeping tree of some kind, so when he made the suggestion I was ecstatic.

So we chucked the dead tree onto the street and went to the nursery for a new one.


Here she is! I can't wait for it to thicken up and bloom all over.


In other news, my peony bush began to make way.


Here's one of my daffodils.


I like this photo because it reminds me of how imperfect we are.

Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker'

For more information, go here.

Dogwood Tree

We planted a flowering pink dogwood tree today on the South East corner of the house. This area needed a tree. We continued cleaning and tilling the side around the house. It looks so nice once everything is tilled. I want to start planting things of interest on that side and building some depth, so that the it's not so sterile looking. Go here for more information on how to plant a tree.



Dig a hole twice the size of the pot that the tree is in.


Fill the hole with soil and compost.


It looks like a twig right now, but I can't wait until it grows in.


Red rose bush


I went to the nursery today and saw that they had sweet potatoe vines! They are great for hanging planters so I got some along with some bacopa and licorice for contrast.


Licorice. If you rub it between your fingers, it smells really good.


I also picked up a combination of perenniel and annual flowers to fill the gaps between veggies and add some color to the garden during the summer.


I am especially looking forward to this Nigella. I couldn't find it on Burpee's website, but I found it here on Renee's Garden. It's also known as Bridal Veil.

Lemon Fusilli with Arugula

I love arugula and enjoyed Ina Garten's other pasta salad recipes that I thought I would try this one out. I'm growing lots of arugula this summer, so I'll have plenty of it. If you like the bitter bite that arugula has then you should definitely try to grow it yourself. It's super easy and it's a perennial that grows back each year.

Lemon Fusilli recipe



In the same episode she makes a Green Goddess dressing made of basil, lemon and scallions! That sounds divine!



Can't wait to try this in the summer!

Here's a few for safe keeping. I freakin' love Barefoot Contessa!
Oven Fried Chicken
Warm Duck Salad

Weekend Update

We continued taping and spackling the corners where the wall meets the ceiling. It's important that this area is smooth and straight since the paint would go along this line as well.



We also worked a lot in the yard today. Keith helped me turn over the soil using a tiller we got for Christmas. The garden looks so nice after he did that.


I would like to add more flowers to accentuate the curve here.


I raked as much debris out possibly. I am so sore now.


I also began "thinning" my seedlings, but I was too heart broken to get rid of them, so I put the extras in cups to give them more room to grow and develop.


Some other things I did today included: sowing the snow peas and sugar snap peas. I also sowed some sweet peas and planted 2 rose bushes.