Weekend Update: Garden & Puppies for Sale

Thursday we had 7 yards of mulch delivered. Part of the reason we wanted to get our flower beds freshly mulched was because we are having a cookout next weekend and wanted the yard to look nice. I decided to start spreading it. This was after I had already been to Stroller Strides where the theme was muffin top and back fat. I was so sore by the time I got done mulching that we had to go out to dinner. lol



Friday I did make it to the gym though and did week 2, day 3 of ease into 5k.



Saturday I got up and went to Stroller Strides and Paul got up and started mulching. I was pretty sure it was going to be an entire weekend project, but by the time I got home at 10:30 he was almost done! I put baby goose down for a nap and went outside to help. To give you some idea why I thought it'd take the entire weekend take a look at how big our front yard flower beds are! Behold!









Saturday afternoon our friend/electrician Mike came over with his girlfriend whom we had never met before. Of course she was beautiful and of course I looked and smelled like I had been sleeping outside for a week. So we're all sitting around chatting and she says how she had driven down our road the other day and saw a baby outside in a dog pen while the mom worked outside. Hi, my name is Jenn and I used a dog pen as a play pen for my daughter. We laughed so hard when I told them it was me!

Puppy anyone?



So I had decided not to do a vegetable garden this year. The past three years have been epic failures in the vegetable garden department. I have 4 raised beds and 3 summers ago my tomatoes were out of control. Two summers ago I was in my first trimester and too sick to take care of my veggies. Last summer Paul was in Afghanistan and I was home alone with the baby. Paul asked me if I was going to do a garden this year because he wanted to rip the beds up as we're moving next year. I said give me two weeks and if I haven't gotten the beds planted then you can get rid of them. Initially I thought I'd just do 2 container gardens, one with a tomato plant and 1 with strawberries.



Two weeks came and went and I had done NOTHING in the vegetable garden. Well, today I went over to our neighbors and they were getting their garden ready for planting and of course now I want a garden. So while Emma napped I went outside and prepped 2 of the beds. Plus I washed our patio furniture and raked out under the table. I was en fuego!



I came back inside and told Paul to saddle up because we were heading to Home Depot (after we stopped for ice cream...I've never seen Em use the sign for "more" more than she did for ice cream lol). We get to Home Depot and we also wanted another plant to fill in an empty spot in the flower bed. Home Depot had these cool whiskey barrels so we ended up getting 2 of those instead. Then we had to pick out flowers to fill the containers and then I thought about how my bestie Cory is coming next weekend (along with our bestie Katie). Cory is an AMAZING gardener and her yard ALWAYS looks unbelievable. She just did a big veggie garden and I knew I needed to get my act in gear and get some stuff planted! One of the whiskey barrel containers.



I already had these 2 containers done, but think they were getting too much sun so I moved them to a more shady spot which also frames our basement door. Hopefully the flowers perk up before Cory gets here! I don't want to be embarrassed! Okay, maybe I should swap the one container and propane tank aka grill brush holder.





I also had these containers done by the mud room door. You can't see the pot in the back, but it used to belong to my grandfather. It's an old cauldron and my grandfather used to plant red and yellow flowers in it and then stack wood under it so it looked like a fire. Somehow a friend of my dad's ended up with the cauldron and then last year asked if I wanted it. I was so happy that he thought of me. My grandpa was an avid gardener. When I was a little girl my grandpa owned the lot across from their house and it was entirely vegetable garden. I can remember looking for worms with my grandpa for him to put in his garden.





I love love love hydrangeas and already had 1 from last year, but decided I wanted another one. So, here is a little area near our grill that now has 2 hydrangea, a new Guinea impatient, lavender, and hen & chicks.




I had some leftover flowers and a leftover hanging basket so I combined the two for a new hanging basket of flowers.

Our neighbor brought me over an avocado plant. I decided to leave it in the pot so we could bring it in in the winter and take it with us when we move next year. Please ignore the decripit and uneven staircase and bizarre concrete block wall the people before us did. Our plan is to redo that area with wood stairs and flower boxes. We really would like to do a deck, but aren't sure we want to spend the money.

And finally my vegetable garden. I planted some heirloom tomatoes and lettuce in one bed. I think there are some leftover strawberry plants from last summer in there, too. In the other bed...well, I desperately want to own a pumpkin patch some day so I planted pumpkins, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Ignore the fact that the grass is much too high and needs cut.

Last night we were in bed and asleep by 9pm. I wonder if we'll even make it till 9 tonight. Cory, eat your heart out! (okay, I really should post some pics of her yard because it still is way cooler than my yard. lol)