March 28, 2010

"Gardening is a matter of your enthusiasm holding up until your back gets used to it."
~ Author Unknown

We have an interesting little planting bed on the south side of our house that doesn't really get seen from anywhere inside the house, except that little piece of window you see which is in the breakfast room. And then you only see out that window if you're sitting in Jason's spot (which I never do since I need to be closest to the kitchen -- lucky me).

When we bought our home 11 years ago, the bed was filled entirely of star jasmine and was just plain boring. I let it stay for about a year before ripping it out to plant a perrenial and annual flower garden. I kept it this way for a few more years but it was more work than it was worth since you have to practically go outside and stand right in front of it to appreciate it. So when Sierra was about 5 or 6 years old, we decided to plant a vegetable garden there. A veggie garden (as we refer to it) isn't the prettiest to look at and they require full sun so this south facing bed with no view to speak of from the house was the perfect location. That year, we enjoyed carrots, radishes, squash, bell peppers and tomatoes. Fast forward a year...got pregnant and had Cameron. No more time for a veggie garden while preggers or with a baby in the house. So, we bought some river rock and filled in the dirt bed to keep down the weeds.

Fast forward to this year...Cameron's almost six years old and has shown a passion for gardening ever since he could hold a little shovel (he even has his own gardening gloves). For the past few years, he helps me outside whenever he gets that chance. He loves to dig holes for new plants, water, pull weeds, whatever. He even helped me clear all of the river rocks from the bed so we could prepare the soil for planting. Today, I finally purchased the plants and Cameron and I together put them in the ground. Here are some photos to show you what we did. I'm so looking forward to fresh organic veggies this summer!


Soaking the ground to get it ready for planting.



Cameron's digging a hole for the basil.



Here's the layout of our veggie garden. The brick thingy in the middle is our chimney.

April 4, 2009

This is Cameron's play area. A picnic table, a sand box, lots of dirt for digging and an umbrella for shade. What more could a boy want.

Just to the right of the play area is my rose garden. They're not in bloom yet but there are tons of buds just waiting to open.

This is the garden just a little further to the right: palm trees, more roses and some perennials. All the way to the right side of the yard is the pool. Cameron and I put our feet in the water today but it's still too cold for swimming.

This is a photo of our side yard. Left to right: hydrangrea, orange tree, lemon tree, and a bottle brush tree. Ferns, azaleas and a cute rabbit statue line the shady bed. For those of you unfamiliar with the layout of my yard, I was standing on the grass in front of the rose garden when I took this photo. (Cameron snuck in the shot when I snapped it)

This is a view showing the garden and the covered patio. I was standing in front of the lemon tree when I took this shot.

Thanks for taking a look at my garden. Once I prune the front boxwood hedge, I'll take photos of the front of the house.