I have this planter box on my deck, right up against the wall so it would get lots of afternoon sunshine.

My basil loves the heat and the controlled amount of water.  I started the tomatoes inside, with my Miracle Grow Aero Garden and then moved them outside to my new planter.

I’m not sure what it is with my big garden this year, but the tomatoes and basil aren’t looking too great.  They look kind of scraggly, so I’m happy to have my new planter.  I now have tomatoes and basil to cook with!

Thanks for my planter, Kenny!

The post Tomato and Basil Planter Box appeared first on home is where my story begins....

One booth that caught my eye had art work that had been transferred onto wood planks. They also had these cute little garden markers that I fell in love with.

I don’t have too much art out in the garden, so these were a nice addition.

They add a little more color and give you something else to look at.

We were there on the last day of the festival, so they only had a few garden markers left.  I bought a couple of markers, but I wish they had more of the items I had planted.

I think they are pretty cute additions and I had forgotten how much I love a good arts and crafts festival!  You never know where you’ll find fun things to add to the garden!

The post The Story of the Garden – June 24th appeared first on home is where my story begins....

For the first few photos I took the screen off of my bathroom window, upstairs in my house, just so I could take pictures from a different point of view.  You can’t see the whole yard, but this is my main “garden” area.  We have an L-shaped house, and therefore have an L-shaped yard, but this is the bigger side of the space.  When we bought the house, 10 years ago, the big Rhododendron was the only plant in the yard and the two large Maples anchored the space.  The brick was there, but there was just dirt in the area.  The kids helped add pathways so we could divide up the space and make it easier to reach when planting herbs and veggies.  In the back, where the red chairs are, we used to have a swingset.  Now it’s just a cute little sitting area and another space for gardening.

There’s more grass to the left of my garden and I have a few things growing over there.  There are two apple trees but they have never produced a single apple.  It’s just too shady.  We keep them because they are nice trees.  I’ve also planted some hydrangeas and a lilac.

Back to my favorite part of the yard…

I planted lots of herbs, lettuce, peas, zucchini, and spinach on the left.

On the right, I have potatoes, tomatoes, and my square foot garden.

I divided up this small space and planted something different in each spot.  There is a mix between herbs, veggies, and flowers here.  There are a few squares that didn’t work out.  My sunflowers NEVER make it past the seed stage.

There’s a reason my sunflowers never make it.  See that bird feeder? Well, it doesn’t really feed the birds too often.

We have lots of squirrels in our yard. They are the reason the birds don’t come to my bird feeder and they are also the reason my sunflower seeds disappear before they even get a chance to germinate.

They are awfully cute little guys, but not a gardeners best friend.

**Side story:  See the little guy below?  He’s laying on his side.  He does walk, but he’s constantly falling over. He takes a few steps and then tumbles, and then gets back up again.  Well, I know exactly why he can’t walk well and it’s one of those stories I wouldn’t believe if I didn’t see it with my own eyes.  I was looking out the window one afternoon and saw something fall from the tallest tree in our yard.  Then, I saw a medium-sized bird dive bombing the thing that fell.  It was the squirrel!  The squirrel ran and hid under a bush and when it started to walk you could tell that something was not right.  He’d walk and then fall over.  It’s like one side is paralyzed, but he still gets around ok. I really can’t believe he’s alive after falling from a huge tree onto the rocks below.**

The squirrels really love my bird feeder.

They spend so much time clinging to the side that the birds rarely get a chance for a nibble.

The squirrels are super cute, but the hummingbirds are my favorite to watch.

They are just so dainty and they love this fushia-type plant that I have.

I only had to sit outside with my camera for about a minute before seeing a hummingbird stop by for a drink.  They are constant visitors in my yard.

That’s the garden tour for today!  I guess animals in the garden was the theme of the day.  I’ve been home recovering from surgery and I haven’t been able to do much.  I guess sitting and watching the animals has been a good source of entertainment for me.

Happy gardening!

The post The Story of the Garden – June 15th appeared first on home is where my story begins....

I don’t have too many flowers right now, but everything is lush and green with flowers right around the corner.

I had back surgery a few weeks ago.  I tried to get as much gardening done before surgery as possible, so I could just sit back and watch things grow as I was recovering.  It’s been killing me to not go out and pull weeds and not be physically able to lift a bag of compost, but I’m trying to be patient.

I am doing lettuce from seed this year because my bunny likes it when I thin the tiny lettuce leaves.

I went with a multi-color nasturtium  around the border of the garden.

I’m trying my hand at a square foot garden in one space this year and I have a variety of flowers for cutting here.

I added about 3 new varieties of hydrangeas to my yard this year.  Yes, I may be a bit addicted to hydrangeas.

The butterflies and hummingbirds like this plant.  I wish I could remember what it’s called.

If you don’t have a green thumb, try growing mint.  It’s impossible to kill and simply takes off.  Plant mint in its own container because it will take over.  This is a variety of chocolate mint and it’s to die for.  I love sitting on my deck, running my hands through the mint.  It’s also great to add to ice cream and makes a fabulous addition to brownies.

I can’t wait for my honeysuckle to bloom!  It’s going to be beautiful this year!

We added a Lunchbox Pepper plant to the garden this year.  Please ignore the weeds because I can’t get down to pull them right now.

I bought a whole flat of marigolds this year, but they aren’t thriving as well as I’d hoped.  Maybe they just need a bit of flower fertilizer.

The highlight of my garden this year has been the addition of my new bird feeders…. ahem… squirrel feeder.  I bought these for the birds, but the squirrels have taken over.  They jump from the ground, up to the feeder, and then jump over to the pole and slide down when they are done feasting.  They are funny to watch, but I was really hoping to invite the birds, not the squirrels.

How about you?  How does your garden grow?

Happy gardening!

The post The Garden Coming To Life appeared first on home is where my story begins....

Just as you walk up to my house, I have always had a bench, two chairs, and a small table.  I’ve had these for about 16 years.  I got them when I earned my Master’s Degree in 2000.  They have always been perfect in the front of the house for sitting and enjoying the neighborhood or watching my family play basketball in the driveway.

Every year I would pressure wash the benches, sand the wood, and restain them.  You can tell that they need a little TLC by the end of the Summer.

One of the wood slats finally broke this past Summer and I decided that it was time to replace the 16 year old chairs and bench.

I’m thinking about white Adirondack chairs in the front of my house and some pretty white hydrangeas.  I saved all of my birthday money from last year so I could fund this little front yard adventure.

Let the shopping begin!

The post Front Yard Benches appeared first on home is where my story begins....

The displays were stunning!  I can’t even imagine the amount of work it takes to haul in rocks, dirt, and all of those plants.

My biggest take-away was that I NEED CHICKENS and I need an adorable chicken coop like this one.

Seriously, I left with plans to talk with our Home Owner’s Association and petition to get chickens.  My hubby claims that he is 100% sure there will be “someone” sitting at that meeting in the very front row making sure chickens are not allowed.  (Can you guess who that “someone” might be and how he is so sure?)

Another take-away is that I can totally make this:

I fell in love with is greenhouse.  It was amazing and not horribly expensive.  When my kids are grown and I have a bit more time, I think this needs to happen in my yard.

There were several speakers to choose from.  We decided to go to a class on landscaping with herbs.  Notice that I didn’t say “gardening” and instead said “landscaping”.  This speaker showed how to use tons of different herbs in your landscape rather that just putting herbs in a kitchen garden.  I learned a lot and wrote down several herbs that I’m going to grow this summer like Bee Balm, All Spice, and Calendula.

Diane has always wanted bees in her yard and when we found this display, I knew she was sold.  She bought Mason Bees for her yard and is storing them in her fridge right now.  In a few weeks, she’ll hand her bee hive outside and have her own little pollinators.  Her kids weren’t thrilled about the idea of bees but Mason Bees rarely sting and don’t even look like bees.  They look more like small flies.  She will have beautiful flowers and fruit this year thanks to these guys.  As much as I would love to add bees to my garden, I just couldn’t pull the trigger.  Maybe they’ll fly up to my house and pollinate once in a while.

There were tons of garden books.  Many were on clearance since it was the last day of the show and I bought a couple.  I even bought a book on backyard chickens for $4.98.  I didn’t buy the book below because it wasn’t on sale, but it’s on my wish list.

So, here’s what I learned from my day at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show:

*I need chickens.  I need them now.

*There are so many DIY garden crafts that I should be working on.

*Someday I will have a greenhouse.

*I’m going to try using herbs as landscape plants this summer and see how I like it.

*I need to buy herbs in bulk, rather than just 2 or 3 to put in a kitchen garden.  I need a whole border of parsley.

*I’m buying a 2-day pass for the garden show next year because I could spend an entire day in classes and listening to speakers.

Happy gardening!

The post Northwest Flower and Garden Show appeared first on home is where my story begins....

Are you ready for the garden tour?  Keep in mind that my yard looks nothing like this right now.  It’s currently in a muddy, mucky, can’t-imagine-anything-worse, kind of place.

Here we go:

Do you open your doors and have a backyard party at the drop of a hat? Are you the first person to invite friends over for a Bar-B-Que when the weather warms up? I love to watch shows like Landscape Smart and Landscapers Challenge. As the designers ask questions, the homeowners usually say things like, “Well, we love to entertain.” Do they really like to entertain? Or do they just like the idea of entertaining?

I really do love to entertain, but I will admit that it causes panic attacks and crabby mom syndrome in the days leading up to a party. I find that I hold off on inviting people over because my house or my yard isn’t “done”. Well, NEWS FLASH… it will probably never be “done”. There will always be something more I’d like to do or a messy project I’m right in the middle of.

So, here’s my yard. I’m throwing open my doors and inviting you to my backyard party. (If you all lived closer, I’d invite you over for real.) I didn’t mow the lawn for you. Heck, I didn’t even sweep off the deck.

Here’s the view as you come in the house. I love my little benches out front. I made the pillows this year, out of Sunbrella outdoor fabric. My hydrangeas are finally in bloom. I just added some True Blue to the soil, which will turn these into… well, true blue.

We spend quite a bit of time out on our deck. We bought the outdoor set at Target, a few years back. Our deck is fairly shady, so it makes a nice place to take a break on a hot summer day.

Our deck extends down the length of the backside of the house. Ahhh, this is one of my favorite spots to sit and watch the kids play in the yard.

Here’s the view from the deck.

When we moved in, this area inside the brick retaining wall was empty. I had no idea what to plant in this large space. After living with the empty space for a year, we decided this would be the perfect spot for a vegetable garden. We built a path out of rocks that were already in the yard. This space sits empty for a good portion of the year, but it makes us so happy in the summer. The kids loved digging the potatoes.

In addition to veggies, I have quite a few flowers in the garden as well.

These little guys don’t grow as well as my mom’s, but they give us a little summertime snack.

Here’s the inspiration from Country Gardens:

Thanks for hanging out in the backyard with me. Stop by anytime. If I don’t answer the door, you know where to find me. I’m probably out back.

Happy gardening.  It’s almost here!

The post Backyard Garden Tour appeared first on home is where my story begins....

When my son was about 2 years old, I decided I needed a hobby. Pre-baby, my life had been teaching, working on my Masters Degree, and reading A LOT of books about reading and literacy in early childhood. Post-baby, my life was all about my new bundle of joy, teaching, and learning to balance the two.

My son loved to be outside (still does), so I decided gardening might be a good hobby for me. I wasn’t new to gardening. We grew up with a very large vegetable garden, all-you-can-eat raspberry bushes, and many hours of cleaning beans to freeze for the winter. Many years ago my husband, 2 year old, and I started our own garden. We eventually moved to a new house with a bigger area for gardening. It brings so much joy every year.

Here’s the family picking berries in the yard, several Summers ago. (That’s my Riley Dog right there. He died of cancer not long after this picture was taken.)

Here’s my freshly planted garden, as it looks from my bedroom window.

The area that the vegetable garden is in was completely empty, other than one REALLY big rhody bush when we moved in. We saw the idea to make rock pathways in one of my Country Garden’s magazines. My son and one of his preschool buddies (he’s 15 now) moved rocks from other areas of the yard to build the paths.

I usually grow veggies from seed, but the year I took this picture, we bought starts. Our new puppy, Cooper (he’s now 6), didn’t really know the “rules of the garden” like Riley did. I thought starts might be a better option.

Since my mom has really been the one to inspire my love of gardening, I thought I’d share a picture of her vegetable garden in the beauty of the Summer sun. She always says that no one sees her garden, so let’s show it off.

We built the raised garden boxes when she moved into this house. Her vegetables always grow about twice the size of mine. Her yard looks fabulous and very park-like.

As you can see, I’m getting very excited about planting and gardening! On the garden list, this year, I’m planning to plant potatoes, Walla Walla Sweet onions, parsley, cilantro, basil, tomatoes, and I’m hoping a few more berries.

Happy gardening!

The post Dreaming of A Vegetable Garden appeared first on home is where my story begins....

My Annabelle hydrangeas are probably my favorite hydrangea in the yard.

The big white blooms make the watering and tending worth the time.

I don’t live working in my yard in the cold winter months. Yesterday was hydrangea deadheading day. Technically, this should be done right after the flowers are done blooming, but that also coincides with back to school craziness. So, most years Annabelle has to wait.

Here’s how she looks today. Yep, looks like a bunch of dead sticks to me! Notice how dark, gloomy, and mucky it looks?

In this same area of our yard, but along the fence, is the spot I planted my honeysuckle plants.  I wanted something to cover the ugly fence a bit. When I first bought them, I didn’t trellis them up because I wanted to see if they grew ok in that spot.

They seemed to be very happy there, so I worked on weaving the vines through trellises yesterday.

Vines are really not fun to untangle, but I know these honeysuckles will be much happier when they aren’t falling over and getting trampled by the dog.

Looks like it’s time to pressure wash that fence!

It was muddy and cold out there, but at least I can check honeysuckles and Annabelle hydrangeas off of my To Do list!

Happy gardening!

The post Honeysuckles and Hydrangeas appeared first on home is where my story begins....