The New Flower Garden, Part 2

 Yikes! Has it really been almost a month since I last posted? Please excuse my blogging absence as I have been hard at work actually doing things to blog about! Well...mostly! It is summer after all, and we have been super busy lately with all kinds of fun outdoor activities such as yard work, grad parties, and of course, lounging by the lake!

My Fourth of July was spent completing the border on my new flower garden on the side of my garage. Although I was planning on waiting to finish the border of the garden until Fall or maybe even next year, Menards had the landscaping blocks I wanted on sale/rebate for almost half off! I couldn't pass that up!

As usual, the laying/straightening/leveling of the retaining blocks ended up being a lot more work that I had originally planned. Isn't that always the way? But, my husband and I finished the job in a few hours and amazingly, the garden now looks exactly how I pictured it would in my head! I love it when that happens!

I still have a lot of flowers to add to the garden, and that will come bit by bit. I can't afford to buy all the plants at once, they are super expensive! Plus, shopping for plants is my fave and I just love coming across new flowers! I am still debating exactly what I want to do with it, but I am really leaning towards more of a cottage garden vibe.

We laid out the retaining blocks in a vague border before leveling and setting them. I'll spare you the boring pictures of us actually laying the blocks out, plus I didn't take any. :)

An almost perfect (half) circle! Next up, getting a load of dirt to fill in the garden area! The ground in this new garden is so rocky! It was almost impossible to dig a decent hole.

Here's the garden so far. I can't wait to fill it up! I've been eyeing some Echinacea and Black Eyed Susans to put in here to make it more cottage garden-y.

I've been dying to grow Sweet Peas ever since I fell in love with them on my favorite blog, The Bon Savant. I finally had a spot for them this year and am trying to train them to grow on this upside down tomato cage. It's a cheap alternative to a trellis!

Plenty of room for more plants!

My favorite of the new flowers all planted. The blue are Delphinium and the pink are Phlox. They are perennials that will (hopefully) come back year after year. They should get a lot taller too.

I've already got some tulips planted in the back end

Now, what to plant here? I guess we'll see!

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Planting the garden!

For once, I finally got my garden in on time!

Last weekend we rented a tiller and got to work. In Northern Indiana, you're supposed to wait until Mother's Day to plant any type of vegetable garden or flowers. Mother's Day is supposedly the last time it will frost here, although, back in the 1960's it did frost at the very end of May. Let's hope that never happens again! 

Normally, I don't seem to be able to get my garden in until June or even July, so I am super psyched that I can look forward to a long and hopefully, productive growing season.

Last year, my vegetable garden did not do well at all. For starters, I tried to save money and hand tilled it. Big mistake! It took forever and was so difficult. My soil is full of clay so it was almost impossible to do it by hand and do a good job. I even got a Ganglion cyst on my hand from it! 

As a result, the garden ended up being about half the size as normal, which meant my veggies were super crowded. It also got really weedy and I was unable to weed it properly since it was so crowded. My pickles barely grew and even my sunflowers didn't really do that well. We almost decided not to even put in a garden this year, but...I just had to!

I've actually had my "vegetable" garden planned out since January! The second those seed packets start showing up in the stores my mind starts churning! As of right now, I am only doing a few things. Most everything I'm doing is very viney, so it will have a lot of room to spread out!  

I love pumpkins and I found some cute mini harvest pumpkin seeds so I had to plant those. I seem to have better luck with the mini pumpkins as opposed to the jack-o-lantern size. My husband wanted to give honey dew and cantaloupe a try too, and of course, I had to plant some sunflowers! 

You never know though, I still may add to it if I find just the right thing!

This was the garden before we started. You can't even tell where it was last year! It gets taken over by grass and weeds so quickly!

This tiller made quick work for my husband! I had planned on being the one that did the tilling, but it was so heavy and impossible for me to handle. So, ladies, you may need to get some help tilling your garden if you're a wimp like me!

After tilling the garden with the tiller, I went over it with a garden rake to get anything that was missed. Anything that looked like it had a root structure got ripped out! I'm not going to use any chemical weed preventer this year due to the fact that I noticed the one I had used previously states that it causes cancer. Uh, no thank you! I'm going to be researching some alternatives! I know it looks super shady right now, but this garden actually gets full sun in the afternoon.

This stuff is the bane of my existence. I have no idea what it is, but if anyone out there does or knows how to eradicate it, let me know! It's all over my yard and it's always trying to take over my gardens.

All ready for planting! I'm going to wait until I see sprouts to put up my fence.

I'm really hoping these work out this year ~ especially my pumpkins! It's so gratifying to grow your own garden! Give it a try!

grey is the new neutral

My master bedroom is getting a makeover! I am painting it grey!

My husband and I chose the color "Solitary State" by Pittsburgh Paints, which is a very light and airy grey.

 Our room was two different shades of purple. We had an accent wall painted a darker, dusty purple and the other three walls were painted a lighter, more lavenderish purple. This definitely limited things decor/accent wise.  

I really wanted more of a neutral wall color this time. That way, we could change up the accents, such as the comforter or curtains, more easily. Everything goes with grey - the possibilities are endless! Navy blue, pink, coral, turquoise, purple, yellow - just to name a few!

Now that the day is here, I have to admit that I am a little sad to be leaving behind the purples. I mean, I did want those colors at one time, but the room never fully came to fruition the way I had imagined it and I just grew to despise it. 

Let me tell you, nothing transforms a room more than a fresh coat of paint!

 

Edging and fixing some nail pops. It really makes the two purples stand out more than ever! I never really thought there was much of a contrast before.

The new grey! I love it!!! It's so light and bright! I do wish we had white trim, but there are some things you just have to live with!

Next up, new carpet to finally replace this hideous green!

Testing 1,2,3

It has begun!

We started painting test swatches on the walls of our master bedroom. 

This is "Solitary State." A light, airy grey.

I think this is the one! First one we picked out!

I highly recommend getting those little tester cans of paint to try before you buy. This is the first time we have done it and it really gives you a sense of what the color will look like "in real life." Last time we painted our bedroom the color was not what we had expected and we ended up having to take it back to the store and get it lightened up. This will (hopefully) prevent that from happening this time!

 

#painting

Spent most of yesterday painting my closet and noticed something.

I want to start a twitter account just to tweet this:

#painting

 

A Busy and Wonderful Weekend!

This was one of those busy weekends when you get a ton of stuff done - some unexpected, some you've been meaning to do forever and just hadn't gotten around to. And, to top it all off, we still had time to celebrate! It was wonderful!

My husband called and asked me on Friday how I felt about putting down some new flooring in our bathroom this weekend. Uh, yeah! The best part was that it was free! This set off a chain reaction of fixing some paint spots on the ceiling and repainting some areas of the walls that needed it. Then it spilled over into some other rooms in the house. Once I start I just can't stop!

Much better than the old! We've been eyeing this sample of flooring ever since he got it in his shop and it was just the perfect size for our bathroom! I'll do a true before and after pic when it's completely finished (and clean!)

While we were at Menards getting some supplies to finish our floor I ran across these real wreaths on sale for only $2.00! I've been wanting one of these so I was super excited!

I got my stockings hung by my staircase with care.

And still had time to make some of my famous spritz tree cookies! I decided to "branch" out this year and try making some wreaths. I like the trees best.

Tonight we went to Takaoka, a Japanese Steakhouse (and the best restaurant EVER!) for a very special celebration!

Where they sing a Japanese version of Happy Birthday to you! It was a wonderful weekend!