{ Seasons } In the cold of winter, …dream of spring.

Spring is in full bloom at the Gap already. There were several colors and style of these “wellies/galoshes”.

 

We have had an incredibly mild winter so far in the Carolinas.  So much so that I am still harvesting things from the garden. Radishes, carrots, lettuce, cilantro, are still growing and hanging in there despite some dips into the 30s at night.  I took advantage of a free afternoon and the last of the warm weather to put the neglected pomegranate and blueberry bushes into the ground.  I will say a little prayer that it wasn’t too late for them. I need the next few quiet months of winter to figure out all I want to accomplish in the garden this spring.  With our new fence, the possibilities are endless for our little oasis of a backyard.  The goal is finding a way to organize my ideas and make them a reality.

So even though Spring is appearing in the retail stores, I am happy its a few months away! I always enjoying the “nesting” that happens in January and February.

Pulled from the garden this weekend.

{ Gardening } Good fences make good neighbors… and…

Plenty of wonderful spaces to plant things!!I am thrilled to have this huge outdoor space to “decorate”.  I realized once the fence went in that I have some sunny areas I didn’t know we had that can be planted with veggies, so I am estatic.  The kitties have already enjoyed a few wanderings out there.  Once today because I didn’t get the screen door closed right and they let themselves out.  No climbers yet which is great.

So, not only do I have house to decorate but probably 1500-2000 sqft of outdoor space … such a dilemma to be in! (grin).

{ Gardening } The pepper motherload has been struck

Some friends of ours gifted us with a bunch of pepper plants this spring. All summer long and even now in September the bounty from these plants has been incredible. I have had to freeze them we have so many.  Been trying to gift them to friends, but super hot peppers aren’t always the easiest sell!

{ Gardening } Luncheon from the garden

With the cooler weather in NC, we were able to put some Romaine and lettuce seeds back into the garden.  I had planted some lettuce seeds a few weeks back and one day I looked and there they were, a light green ruffly type I have no idea what its called.  We got some more of the Romaine from Lowes and here soon we will have spinach from seeds again.  This spring was the first time I  grew spinach and it was amazing to not have to buy any greens. (Oh, my husband also had me grab some more kale plants, so we will soon have a whole bed of just yummy salad stuff.) This was my lunch today with a few pearly pink tomatoes and some basil.  I just got a new salad spinner (yes, I realize I am last one to the party on this great invention, though I had one in my 20s and don’t think I realized how awesome it was).   Needless to say, I love it, just take the bowl out to the garden, filler’ up, wash it, and spin away.  I also later added some cucumbers from the garden and some chives.  The only thing store bought was the cheddar cheese and salad dressing.  Yummy and cheap!

{ gardening } Harvesting the garlic

 

I am the first to admit, I have no idea what I am doing in the garden half of the time.  If it wasn’t for Youtube videos, I would be completely lost.  I had been watching them for days trying to figure out when to pull up our garlic and then, how to cure it.  This is my attempt at a drying rack.  Its 90s here, so they are now drying in the garage. I am excited to try some in a recipe in a few weeks.

{ Gardening } New garden crush site …

Photo:  GardenPhotos.com

My newest favorite place for garden inspiration is the site GardenPhotos.com.  Its a stock photography site that is simply overflowing with amazing gardening ideas, shot beautifully.

My current favorite is this boxwood hedge with the wisteria and alliums jutting up from it.  So cool.

The site allows you to put in keywords so you can search just about anything your heart desires for photo inspiration.

{ Gardening } What’s happening in the garden this weekend …

Over this long weekend I am hoping that we can make a dent in the boxwood/pea gravel patio that I am planning for the southeast side of the house by the existing wood deck.  We had purchased these wintergreen boxwoods on sale at Lowes for $3.33 a piece and originally had other plans for them, but decided to use them to surround an about 12 x 13 ft. patio.

Normally, I would do the gravel inlay part of the area first and then add the plants, but we have had them for a while and I knew I had to get them in the ground ASAP and we don’t have the time to tackle the gravel part yet.

Yesterday and today I started with the smallest section of the area.  Our new home came with sod, so the first thing was to take an edger and cut out the section of yard that I wanted to put the plants in.  Time consuming since I also have to avoid hitting the irrigation system, which the person who put it in did not give us a schematic of.

Before putting the boxwoods in, I amended our horrible clay soil with some good organic topsoil, and some peat moss to loosen it up a bit. I also added a bit of plantone plant food and mixed it all up, trying to break up the soil down about 6 inches or so and mixing all the dirt up before digging the final holes.

The edger shown above has to be my favorite purchase for the garden. Its a Radius Garden steel edger. I got it from amazon and it has done an amazing job keeping the sides of my beds tidy and keeping the sod and weeds from encroaching in. LOVE IT.

I got the black mulch on the area right as the rain started pouring, so no pictures of that section complete.  I am thinking of adding some sort of white flower around the outside edge facing the yard.    I am definitely not looking forward to tearing out the additional 150+ sqft of sod to finally work on the graveled in part.  Its in bad need of leveling/sloping too as right now that area just pools water, (which is part of the reason I wanted to add a patio there since the grass was not doing well).

{ Anthropologie Love } Adorable ceramic farmer’s market baskets

Photos:  Anthropologie 

I was so excited to see Anthro carrying this ceramic produce holder this year and even more excited to see that the small one is in an aqua blue.  The white one is larger, and sells for $20, while the smaller blue one is $14.

How fun will it be to take these out to the garden and hand pick the blueberries, blackberries and raspberries in these?  And they are equally functional allowing you to both rinse and serve the berries in them!  I definitely will be making a run to Anthro this weekend to pick these up.

{ Anthropologie Love } A vibrant Afternoon in a Hammock

All photos Anthropologie – Vibrant Afternoon Hammock

I am absolutely in love with the blue version of this hammock from anthropologie.  At only $98, I am wanting to plant two trees, just so I have somewhere to hang this hammock in our yard.  Its so boho-retro looking.

And when you are done lounging for the day in the hammock …

You can just fold it away in its cute little sac! I am definitely putting this on my birthday wish list!

{ Gardening } Salad from your backyard …

For the first time this year, I bought some lettuce from Home Depot to give lettuce/romaine a try and I am so excited with the results of these plants.  We have now eaten salads from the garden only (instead of buying the Earthbound Organic salad boxes which we love — 3.99) for about 3 weeks.  Its a little bit of a transition to different kind of green than you get in the stores, but its so exciting to just be able to go into the yard anytime we want a salad. I have not the foggiest idea why the heads are places so randomly, but I think it was because we still had the winter kale in when I put them in.  Each time I got out I pull off the outer leaves and I am just astounded by how fast new ones replace them.  I think, from my reading, that since the stems are getting taller that the romaine might be ready to bolt here soon, but I hope we can get a few more weeks before it gets bitter.

I have some kale and cimmaron lettuce seedings in there, but not sure if they will make it to full growth.

This week we finally started harvested our first bunch of spinach.  I am not sure how much longer it will grow well before the NC heat gets going. I will definitely be sure and get it in the ground sooner this year.  The best tip I got about growing spinach was that when it first comes up from seed, it will look like grass before it gets its first two round, spinach-like leaves.  I know I was probably pulling out all my spinach seedlings last summer thinking it was grass in my raised beds.  Live and learn!!