Gardening Getting Into Full Swing

I just snapped these photos really quick since I was more concerned with washing all the mud off me so they're not that great. Let's just say we have some drainage issues to deal with in the yard. But I wanted to show off how much our yard has changed in the past six months.

As a point of reference, here was the house back when it had a million boxwoods from hell:

With the boxwoods gone, I planted blueberry bushes and bulbs on the left side of the house:

The bulbs went a little cray cray so I'm going to have work to do in the fall making them more manageable. Some of those bulbs are garlic so they'd be getting harvested anyway. The rest I'm not so sure what to do with.

On the right side of the house are our raised beds of glory:

We're really proud of how these turned out considering a guy down the street from us used the same stones for a raised area in his yard and it looks like total crap. It took a lot of blood, swear, tears, trips to Home Depot, and swearing to get the foundation level and everything in place. I'm sure our little Subaru hates us right now but it's been earning its keep. In the fall we're going to finish these up with capstones and make a final raised bed that will go to the sidewalk.

Yay herbs! Where you see the markers I threw in some heirloom tomato and pepper seeds. I had started most of these seeds indoors and not a single one sprouted. Not. One. I would say I just fail at starting seeds except other seeds I started indoors sprouted just fine. Clearly these heirloom vegetables are lazy bums. So either these will grow outside and the seeds weren't a complete waste of time (and money) or they don't and I can just throw something else in those sections.

I'm debating what to put in the lower raised bed. I'm thinking maybe asparagus in part of it but I'm not sure. Maybe this year I'll just do some squash and melons in it while I give myself time to think about what to use it for. And by maybe I'll do some squash and melons I mean maybe the squash borers will eat everything and make me hate growing squash once again.

And David put together this rain barrel today. Too bad we didn't have it for all the rain we've been getting the past week! You can also see some of my monster garlic, sunflowers, and more peas.

And for fun, here is a picture taken almost exactly a month ago.

It's amazing we've gone from snow to summer weather in 30 days.

The House is Finally Painted!

After waiting forever for the HOA to do their thing, a couple of false starts due to rain, and the holidays creeping in, the house has finally been painted.

For a refresher, here is the before:

I still can't decide why in the world they chose to paint the house three different shades of brown. Everyone else in the neighborhood was perplexed about this as well from what we've heard. And since the house hadn't been painted in 20 some odd years, it took well over 20 gallons of paint to cover the house! It was only supposed to take 15 gallons. That was some thirsty wood!

And here's the after:

I can't get over how much better it looks! We've been getting lots of compliments from the neighbors as well. I can't wait until the spring when the purples and pinks and yellows of the flowers I planted pop against the backdrop of the house. I say big success!

Our New Home

We finally bought a house!







This funky little home was built in the late-70s and one of the few homes in our area that's in a walkable community. Trader Joe's, Starbucks, Goodberry's, restaurants and more are all about a five minute walk from our house. And the neighborhood maintains a series of walking trails that connect with the greenways of the town. How cool is that?







Despite it's age, this home thankfully doesn't suffer too severely from Brady Bunch Decorating Syndrome. Still, it obviously hasn't been updated over the decades and we slowly plan on putting our own personal touch on the place. Our first project should probably be scrubbing all that soot off the fireplace.







Probably the worst room in the house is the kitchen. What's up with those cabinets? You have to hunch over to look out from the island. And the shelves in the cabinets are so short you can't fit any bottles or pots inside them. And why is the fridge smashed up against the wall so you can't open the door fully? And why is the dishwasher not next to the sink? So many unsolved mysteries.







Another unsolved mystery: why are there no windows in the front entryway? It's like walking into a lightless cave when coming home. One day we'll swap out the doors for ones with windows.







The bathrooms are your standard fare. I kind of hate how the master bathroom doesn't have a bathtub but I don't think I've ever seen a house from the 70s that did have a tub in the master.







And the bedrooms are pretty normal as well. We figure slapping up some colorful paint will help brighten up these rooms a lot.







I think our favorite house features are the garage and the GIGANTIC deck we have in the back. The deck spans the entire back of the garage and connects to the living room. It's insane! Why is all of our stuff inside the garage in this pic? A long story involving a late Friday evening closing and only being able to get the garage door opening the weekend we had the movers scheduled. Now the garage is stuff clean and ready to have the concrete cleaned and refinished.



And that's the abbreviated tour of our humble abode!