A Ray of Sunshine...

This morning, I went out to my garden to water and was surprised to see my sunflower had finally emerged!  It was a gift from my neighbor from their garden. :)

My Happy Place

As I tell my family..."I will be in my happy place."  

My garden area is such a nice place to have a cup of coffee and read my Bible. :) 

My Garden Project-Part 4

I am trying some new plants that I have never grown before.  Here is one of my strawberry plants with its first strawberry.

I planted sweet peas and these are when they first popped up!  So exciting! :)

The girls did a bean planting craft in junior church.  They planted bean seeds in a pot they decorated.  This is one of their plants that grew and I replanted in my raised bed. :)

Some of my flowers. :)  The girls picked out the purples and pinks.

This is one of four tomato plants that we raised from seed for our fundraising project.  I planted four of these in my garden.  I have a total of 7 tomato plants this year. :)

My Garden Project-Part 3

I decided to try adding some stepping stones for a walkway to define the garden area.  There are so many possibilities and I can change or add so much more as I go along. :)

I then painted them a bright red to make them pop.

This week, I am going to add our handprints to each stone to personalize them. :)

Makes it look a whole lot different. :)

Remember the picnic table before?  This is our "new" picnic table with its pretty red color. :)

My Garden Project-Part 2

So then I had this corner that had nothing yet.  Well, it had broken concrete, dirt and rocks. :)  So I dug it all out and leveled it.

This is also what the picnic table looked like before.

I also decided to paint the picnic table.  So this is the picnic table with its first coat of paint. :)  As well as my raised bed now full of soil.  You can also see the fence a little better that we installed.

As you can see, the corner has taken shape.  I added a hanging thing with a hummingbird feeder.  I also put in three small flower pots and a larger pot.  And I planted flowers in the tire.  Do you remember the very first picture with the broken fence?  This is the new fence. :)

The flower arrangement that I choose for the tire.

My Garden Project-Part 1

This is our home when we bought it 3 1/2 years ago.  The next couple of posts will tell you the story of "My Happy Place".  :)

Our home had sat vacant for a few years since the last owner owned it and then we bought it.  So the grass/lawn had died a sad death, weeds overtook the yard, the fence was broken in several places.

It has taken my husband and I the last three years to do what we have done.  We totally dug up and replanted the front yard and now we have nice, green grass.  We also have two red Japanese maples and three lilac bushes.  And no weeds anywhere.

That was the front yard.  The back yard however...for the main reason of having two dogs...we have not done anything with the back yard.  We keep it free of weeds but it is sadly all dirt.  You see, grass doesn't just grow here by itself. :)

Our first year, I tried planting a garden but it didn't work well with the dogs having free rein of the backyard.  So the next two years, I only planted tomatoes in a small patch on the side of our home in the front.

This year, I really had the urge to do more.  And I have.  It is truly a work-in-progress but I LOVE working on it every day and every week. :)  I want to share a few pictures with you of "My Happy Place". :)  (This is what it used to look like above where the broken fence was.)

So I decided to take one part of our backyard and make it my garden area.  It is the area to the right of our garage.  I knew I could fence it off from the dogs and it would receive shelter from the winds and sun for my plants' growth.

My husband helped me put up a simple wire fence.  I then tried to think of a border that I could create fairly inexpensively and quickly.  I didn't have time to search for free items on Craig's List and hope something showed up.  I didn't have time to build a stone border (which is one of my goals down the road).  I needed a quick fix.

So I came up with a straw bale border!  It was quick - the girls and I went to the local farm store and loaded up the truck with straw bales. :)  The border for my raised bed was made in minutes once I got home. :)  I simply put the bales down and filled up the bed with soil.  Then my husband was kind enough to take a Saturday morning to go to a local ranch and get a truckload of horse manure compost for my garden beds.  

Last summer, my husband and I built three raised beds as you can see to the left in the picture above.  I also used an old tire for a raised bed as well.

And we moved a picnic table that a neighbor had made for our daughters and moved it into "My Happy Place".

More pictures to come. :)

Garden Remedies That Cost Pennies

I have been doing many things creating a small garden space in our backyard that is my little haven...it can become very costly so I am grabbing all the free and low cost ideas I can!  Here is a great post that I came across and am happy to share with you. :)

With gardening season just around the corner, you probably have been perusing the plant care aisle at your local home store. I know I have! There are so many chemical solutions available to help with fertilizing, feeding, and protecting your garden plants. Plant food and fertilizers can sell for as much as $5.00 a pound! Not to mention the fact that the thought of dumping chemicals on your tomatoes and peppers is not very appealing.

So, are we destined to spend huge sums of money and mingle with nasty chemicals in order to have a beautiful garden? Nope! Here are a couple simple and inexpensive home remedies to help keep your garden looking (and tasting) its very best. Most of the ingredients can be found right in your kitchen!

Basic Plant Food:

• 1 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1 teaspoon epsom salts.
• 1 teaspoon ammonia.

Mix ingredients together in a gallon of room temperature water. Store the solution in an airtight, labeled container. Use it once every 4 to 6 weeks, or even less if your plants are happy!

Simple Pesticide:

• 1 minced garlic clove.
• 1 cup warm water.
• 3-4 drops of dish soap.

Mix the three ingredients together and pour into a labeled spray bottle. Spray generously on plants, both edible and non edible. Bugs will find this mixture repulsive and will leave your plants alone.

Safe and Effective Weed Killer:

• 1 gallon of distilled vinegar.
• 1 cup of salt.
• 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap.

Mix the ingredients and pour into a labeled spray bottle. Spray directly on weeds in the garden or pour directly into cracks of walks and driveways. Repeat as needed.

All of these mixtures are safe to use around children and pets and can be stored and used throughout the summer. To make larger batches of any of these recipes, just double the measurements! So this summer, skip the harsh chemicals and costly fertilizers. Mix up your own batches instead and save! Perhaps with all of the cash you save, you can invest in those fun tiki torches you have had your eyes on!

Happy gardening!

This has been a guest post by Katie from South Bend, IN