And we're back.....in the garden

Howdy folks,

I know, I know, it's been awhile.  But it's finally been long enough since a major house project that the memories of the exhaustion, filth, and level of insanity to which it can drive you have faded just enough that I can see myself getting back into it.  While I'm dying to take down some more popcorn ceilings, first we had to tackle the garden.  The nice thing about gardens is that once you put them in, the little seeds do all the hard work themselves, leaving you time to, say, gut your kitchen and hopefully put it back together in time to harvest.

So, last weekend we put in the garden.  It was a touch late, but it rained for pretty much the whole month of May, and then on Memorial Day weekend we went to two weddings, the first of which necessitated a very large cake made by moi.  So there went a week right there.  I'd say we're doing pretty well considering.

I'll hold off on the vegetable garden update because right now it still looks like a patch of dirt, this year with a little augmentation from some barnyard animals, if you smell my drift.  But there is other exciting news on the garden front.  I don't want to jinx it, but my mom is *this close* to selling her house, the one I grew up in, after years of trying. My mom used to be a professional landscaper and greenhouse manager, so you can imagine how awesome the gardens are.  They're pretty wild now since she hasn't really lived there in three years, but that just means there are plenty of huge, mature, beautiful perennials for me to steal before she hands over the keys.  Here's the first truckload:

And here was a spot of patchy grass that has struggled to grow in since we rerouted our driveway away from this general area (that was pre-blog.)

Being careful to allow a buffer zone large enough to accommodate future snowbanks, I carved out a triangle to mimic the angle of the corner of the driveway and the road.

I dug out some ripe, juicy compost from our bin to augment the sandy soil.  Much of this was leftovers from our wedding last August, so it included such delights as lobster claws and Champagne corks.  Our biodegradable plates definitely need more time but they are progressing towards being dumped in a garden eventually. I was slightly tickled about planting the Champagne corks.  I hope they grow something good.

I tried to vary the colors - I had some purples, some silvers, and of course, many shades of green.  I added tall stuff in the back for visual interest. 

And I found this lovely artifact in the basement...

I've been wondering what to do with that for a long time.  One sunburn and many bug bites later, we had...

The new view from the kitchen window:

Not bad, not bad!  After purchasing a couple bags of mulch and a few perennials at the library plant sale, the total cost of this garden was oh, about $12. Thanks Mom!