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The beginnings of my garden…

The beginnings of my garden…


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    Hello. I have been meaning to write about all the fun things happening in my yard but between the work outside and the work inside our home, I just haven’t sat down much at all! Our bathroom remodel is progressing and I am hopeful that it will all be finished in a few weeks. I will share photos once that is all completed. It’s exciting to feel like our house is becoming our own and I feel the same way about the yard.

    We are approaching the one year anniversary of being in our home. I spent most of last summer looking things over and making plans for what I wanted to change about the yard. I have previously talked about the initial intimidation that entails. Sometimes you just aren’t sure if it’s o.k. to rip out plants that have been there for so many years. Of course, you all know how I felt about the English ivy. I began ripping that out immediately. Much progress was made in the past month with the front garden. All the ivy was pulled and I cleared out several shrubs, relocating a few, recycling the others. I cut back all my sword ferns to show off the pretty new fronds. I planted artichokes, lavender, rosemary, several varieties of thyme, lupines, and a sedum. I am experimenting with what the deer will leave alone. They did not touch most of my new treasures but nibbled the sedum down pretty well. Not a bad ratio, so far. Once everything was planted, I brought in 7 yards of mulch to help with keeping weeds suppressed. I am going to slowly add more perennials to the landscape but it really is looking good. It’s a start and incredibly exciting to finally feel like I am taking control of my landscape and making it what I want. Here are the before and after photos of the front yard:

    frontbefore

    frontafter

    I started revamping the side yard last fall. Again, there was a bunch of stuff that I wasn’t a big fan of- hedged up azaleas, a sheared laurel, and a very old juniper. I pulled it all out and replaced the laurel with a coral bark maple and planted bulbs. Again, I cut back the ferns to give them a freshening up and added mulch. Here are the before and after pics:

    sideyardbefore

    sideyardafter

    sideyardafter2

    Kind of amazing to see the difference. The before picture is pretty blurry but you can see how overgrown everything was. Our house looked less inviting with those huge shrubs. I am aiming for a cottage garden feel and am excited to have room to plant a variety of plants.

    Another fun garden I added is a kitchen garden right off our back door. It isn’t a huge space so I am using containers to grow vegetables and herbs. I removed a bunch of shrubs and ferns to create the space. I did leave two ferns but I am thinking that I will likely remove them by next year so I have more room for vegetables, herbs, and maybe a potted fruit tree.

    kitchengarden

    Cute, right? This was totally spontaneous and I am just so pleased with it. Once you really start looking at your yard and thinking about what YOU want, it’s easy to take the plunge, pull things out, and change it up. So fun to have herbs, strawberries, lettuces, carrots, radishes and peas growing right off the back door. So there you have it- the beginnings of my garden. I started working on the backyard this week but that is a post for another day. Hope you all are enjoying these spring days as much as me.


    April 22nd, 2014 | girl has thyme | 1 Comment |

One Response and Counting...

  • Emily 04.22.2014

    Love love love your kitchen garden! Actually all your before and after pictures are amazing, quite an accomplishment in just a year. I just read a fun little garden tip (not sure how valid it is, but I’m going to give it a try): Water newly transplanted seedlings with 2 gallons of warm water combined with 1 package of dry yeast.

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