We have been working hard the past few weeks on our backyard. We put in a fence, deck, and sodded down the yard, as well as installing a clothesline and planting numerous flowerbeds and a vegetable garden. I love going out each day to check on the status of all my flowers, so I was quite happy to finally get them all dug and planted this weekend, with the help of my grandma who came up and stayed with us for a couple days.
First though, I want to share Makenna's "fairy garden", the idea for which I found on Pinterest. We used a big galvanized tub that we found at Carlow Mercantile. She designed it and chose all the flowers for it herself.
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| The picture was the right way when I uploaded it, honest. |
She then placed a snail in it, hoping it would make its new home there.
And really, why wouldn't it want to live there?...there was a movie theatre...
and plenty of beverages too!
Once "Sammy Snail" seemed comfortable, Makenna read up on snails a bit...keeping a close eye all the while.
Here is one of the flower beds my Grandma and I did. All of these are perennials, the majority came from her house, a few I purchased, and the daylilies on each end are from my friend Brenda.
Once this bed fills in, it will be quite full and I will likely need to spilt some of them up. But I am excited to see what happens over the summer. Just a few of the plants included here are bees balm, white daisies, lamb's ear, coral bells, night lilies, prim roses and hens and chicks.
And on the other side: columbines and a white bleeding heart(you can't really see them), delphinium, lupins, and more of what's on the other side. The wagon wheel we had from before; it was in our old front flower bed - we have since moved it out back, and the fire hydrant is another Carlow Mercantile find. Thanks Lynn!
Beside that flower bed is our vegetable garden, busy growing cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, radishes, carrots and even a blueberry bush!
Along the back fence we planted this perennial flower bed, home to some ornamental grasses, a bush I don't now the name of, 2 pink bleeding hearts, a hosta, more daylilies, and some marigolds for colour. We also hung some baskets with petunias and geraniums along the back fence, and I really like them there.
Peeking out of that little piece of driftwood is cactus. My grandma brought it up, wanted to see what it would do. So there it is.
All the kids wanted was a swingset. That went up last weekend and we separated the slide from the swings and bolted the swings to shed. It gives us more room this way with the two pieces separated.
In the corner between the shed and the fence on Christa's side, I planted a weigela. I had one before and was happy I replaced it as I really like these flowering shrubs. My grandma has had one at her house for years and it is huge.
Another idea inspired by Pinterest, an old window frame mounted to the fence, with a window box I got for free from Zehrs.
When we were at the greenhouse that morning, Makenna and Jack spotted the strawberry plants and begged to bring them home. They are hung off the deck, and I seriously doubt I will see very many, as they are both checking them constantly and eating them as quickly as they are ripening.
Jack made his own fairy garden too. He picked out everything for it himself, but he didn't want to sacrifice any of his own toys for it, so he used a bunch of his sister's.
The lower part of the deck. (The higher part was what the strawberries were hanging from).
Just so we're all clear here...insurance did not pay to put this deck in...we did.
The slide, as separated from the swing set. We plan to put a sand box in beside it too.
And yaaaaaaaay for a clothesline! The buckets hold the clothespins.
A gift...it says GFD Pumper 8 on it.
Looking out from our breezeway...
So, we are very happy with all we have accomplished back here. Not completely finished, but much further along than we were a week ago. The backyard is smaller than it was before, we moved the house 10 feet back on the lot when we rebuilt, but the trade off is our driveway out front is longer, which we really like come winter time as we will no longer have to park one of the vehicles on the grass. We have spent a lot of time back here this past weekend and it feels great to have the majority of it done.
:)
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