New Impatiens

I bought these:

Because I killed these:

Note to self: Stop over loving your plants by giving them too much fertilizer. They don't like it.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

My Grandma's Rose is Back

My biggest fear through this whole remodel was that I was going to lose my Grandma's rose. For 50 years, it was at the home in which I grew up. When my sister-in-law didn't want it anymore, I moved it to my house. It was there for 3 years and was doing well. Then, the contractor said that they had to dig out our foundation. So, I moved it to my veggie garden over the winter. I transplanted it again to its final resting place (I hope) in front of the new trellis this spring. I crossed my fingers that it would live. Not only did it live but it bloomed!!!

I now believe that this rose will survive a nuclear war:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Before and After

We are FINALLY done with our walkway. It looks spectacular!!! It was exactly how I envisioned it and I love it.

Here is how it looked last year:

And here it is now:

The roses will be bigger next year and it will be even better!

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Gravel Walkway

We got as far as getting the gravel in for our brick walkway before the rains came:

Damned weather! Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Digging the Walkway

We spent the weekend starting our sidewalk project. We bought the bricks, measured out the area and got 3/4 of it dug out before we had to leave for a piano recital.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

New Irrigation System

This weekend, I worked on installing my new irrigation system for my newly remodeled gardens. Now, my wonderful plants will get all the water they need this season:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Mulch

This weekend, we tackled getting mulch on our new gardens. Since I have a lot of gardens, this was a HUGE accomplishment.

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Spring Cleaning Gardens

I tackled spring cleaning my gardens. Here are my veggies:

My radishes are doing awesome and so are my greens except for my spinach. My spinach is really made at me. So are the bunnies on my property. I found two babies in my peony garden. I hope their mommy comes and gets them soon. You don't need to go home but you can't stay here.
Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Trellis Trio

As part of my quest to rebuild my gardens from the destruction that the remodel caused, I needed some trellises to support my roses in the summer and create interest in the winter. I wanted them to be round on the top to echo the arch that was already present on the property. Everything I found was $200 a piece and since I needed 4 (3 here and 1 in another area), that was way over my budget. After searching all off season, I found some perfect metal trellis for $50/each at Stein's. The only problem, they were green. I wanted cream to match the accent colors on the house. Solution? I painted them and now, they match perfectly! Check them out:

I can't wait to get those roses out there!!

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Canning Cabinet

This week, I tackled organizing my canning cabinet. Here is what it look like before with all the dirty glasses and all disorganized:

And here is what it looks like now all shiny and labeled:

Now, I am ready to keep going and can up the rest of summer:-)

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Irrigation System

This week, I finished up my irrigation system for my veggie garden.

Just in time because it is looking pretty sorry:-(

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Getting the Yard Ready

I hope everyone had a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend! We did! Other than watching my youngest in her first parade and a little thing called my birthday, we did A LOT of yardwork. This work included getting our yard ready for summer. The triumphant return of our pool!!!

Playing along with Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

Tackling a Pergola That is Done

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . That's right! It is finally done and here it is:

Whew! That was a huge undertaking but now, I have to get to work on moving the grapes over:-)

Tackling a Pergola

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . This weekend was erected this:

So, it will be the new home to my grapes:-)

Tackling a New Indoor Garden

It's time for Tackle It Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom . It's time for me to start my indoor garden again. If I start it now, we will have lettuce and herbs for the winter:-) The light table took quite a hit this year so, we needed to rebuild it. I didn't take before pictures but here are some afters:

And this table is all ready for the summer plants to come in when they are ready. I have 4 ferns, 5 impatiens and one marigold to bring in. My seedlings will be big enough to come out by then:-)

Tackling Tree Trimming

It's time for Tackle it Tuesday with 5 Minutes for Mom .

This week, we tackled tree trimming. Although the apple tree produced apples this year, they were really small. The tree itself hadn't been tamed in years so, we decided to lob the top off and hope for bigger apples next year.

I don't have before pictures (our server has my older pictures held captive:-) but, here is what we cut off:



And here is what is left of the tree:

It's kind of hard to tell from these pictures but the goal is to make it short and fat. We have achieved short and in spring, hopefully, it will fill out to fat:-)

Tackling Indoor Gardening

We tackled our basement this weekend to go along with 5-Minutes for Mom Tackle It Tuesday . We cleaned out all of our storage shelves because my husband bought me a grow light for my birthday (back in May). So, we finally got around to setting it up and here it is:

I can't wait to get started. The shelving unit with the reflective paper is for seedlings and I have used this for 2 years to feed my outdoor garden. The success of this set up lead to the grow light. Now, I can plant seedlings year round and bring plants to maturity under the new light. I am so excited!!! I haven't decided what I am going to plant yet but, I will be sure to blog about it when I do:-)

I Tackled My Garden This Weekend!!

Welcome to Tackle It Tuesday...sponsored by 5 Minutes for Mom .

With all the baking and entertaining and blogging and swimming I have been doing this summer, two things have fallen to the wayside: Cleaning and Gardening. This weekend, I tackled the garden.

I am almost embarrassed to show the before pictures but I feel it is cathartic to do so:-) Here is my vegetable garden before:

And here it is after:

Now, I feel better. Yeah me:-) And...here is the fruits of my labor (check out the alien looking carrots):

I am also going to start posting garden things on Thursday. I find that if I dedicate a specific day to a specific topic, I can plan my posts better. You have all ready met my vegetable garden. On Thursday, I will introduce you to my other gardens. See you then:-)