This spring, we've been working hard on our back yard garden. It's my happy place right now. I've been getting a lot of questions about it, so I thought I'd offer a little photo tour.
Pictured above is the patio just outside our sunroom. John laid the patio himself, just after we moved into the house ten years ago. We've always had containers on the patio, but this year, we added an herb bed along the edge of the patio. It has added so much character to this part of our space.
In the bed & pots, we have sage, oregano, thyme, chives, lavender, chamomile, cat mint, rue, rainbow swiss chard, sungold tomatoes, dill, and sweet peppers. We also have a good mix of flowers, including mums, gooseneck loosestrife, echinacea, zinnias, poppies, and pink evening primrose. The large shrubs at the end of the patio are two of our beloved hydrangeas. To add some extra color, we also have a good number of annual flowers in pots.
Leaning against the far wall is a simple trellis I made from wood and some old fencing. There are nasturtium growing it pots that will hopefully fill up the trellis, and a few more annual flowers potted in painted upcycled coffee cans. Her small table & chairs are from Ikea. The wood bench was hand made by my father, and we've had the other table and chairs for ages (though I recently painted the chairs yellow).
In the bed & pots, we have sage, oregano, thyme, chives, lavender, chamomile, cat mint, rue, rainbow swiss chard, sungold tomatoes, dill, and sweet peppers. We also have a good mix of flowers, including mums, gooseneck loosestrife, echinacea, zinnias, poppies, and pink evening primrose. The large shrubs at the end of the patio are two of our beloved hydrangeas. To add some extra color, we also have a good number of annual flowers in pots.
Leaning against the far wall is a simple trellis I made from wood and some old fencing. There are nasturtium growing it pots that will hopefully fill up the trellis, and a few more annual flowers potted in painted upcycled coffee cans. Her small table & chairs are from Ikea. The wood bench was hand made by my father, and we've had the other table and chairs for ages (though I recently painted the chairs yellow).
We've had a vegetable garden since we moved into the house, but last year, we built 5 new raised beds. We used to plant directly into the ground, but the weeds were fierce. The beds have really made the weeds so much easier to manage. This year, I've been diligent about weeding, and for even more weed control, I spread straw around the beds. This summer, we'll have to have a good bit of tree work done on our property, and I plan to spread the wood chips around the garden beds.
Each year, Thea helps us with the garden, and it has been so fun to teach her new things each year. Her favorite thing is picking peas. Often, they don't even make it inside the house!
This year, we're growing spinach, swiss chard, kale, broccoli, carrots, peas, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, and watermelon. We also have blackberries and raspberries growing beside the vegetable garden, along with mums, daisies, and more gooseneck loosestrife.
We eat a tremendous amount of greens, and they fill up about half of the space. I also scored an old horse trough for a song off of craigslist, and in it are zinnias, cosmos, nasturtium, and blushing susie black-eyed susan vines. You can see some older photos of our garden & harvests through rvanews's garden wars series from the past few years. The vegetable garden grows behind our shed in our yard's sunniest spot. We also have a simple compost pile in the same space.
This cedar play house (from Costco) was a gift to Thea on her 3rd birthday. Over the past couple years, it had really started to show some wear, so this year, we moved it, placed it on a wood platform, and I painted it in time for her 5th birthday party. She picked the colors. I'm pleased as punch that blue has now made it into her list of favorite colors. The bunting pictured above was a decoration I made for her 5th birthday party - it's made from vintage sheets and other vintage fabrics from my collection. Once it went up, we loved it so much that it has stayed!
Since giving our garden that extra bit of love this spring, it's become my favorite place to be. Thea loves being out there too - especially when our neighbors are out tending their garden. In the photo above, you catch a glimpse of our shed and the roses climbing along it's side. We also have three peonies growing there and a sweet yellow rose bush that my mister and Thea gave me for mother's day.
My favorite times to be in the garden are early in the morning and at evening's golden hour. Isn't that light lovely?
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That is about half of our backyard garden. I will try to take some photos of the rest to share next week. We have three more big sunny beds on the side of the house, and of lots of good stuff growing in the front garden too.
I hope you've enjoyed this little tour. Please let me know if I can answer any questions.
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