that's my excuse for not blogging the past few days. i've had dirt under my nails.
let me give you a little more explanation. walk with me, will you?
let's go out the back door. remember the guest house? look up.
yep, there it is. almost done, just a few finishing details left to do on the inside, then i'll give you a tour.
so just to the right of the guest house are the stairs that lead to the grassy area of the yard.
don't comment on the unfinished walls. its one of my "summer goals" to stucco it.
walk up the stairs with me. now stop! look left.
this is a newly planted bed. and can you see how great the little path up to the guest house turned out?! all those stepping stones were reused from the house's original hardscaping.
now look right.
another area filled. the trees have been here for a couple years (ornamental evergreen pears), and usually we have cala lillies planted beneath, but they die off in the warmer months because they get too much sun exposure.
now look further to your right. past the grass.
this is our new little vegetable garden. it used to be a smaller box that became neglected, so this year we decided to give it a bit more attention. we've been raising little veggie seedlings that have grown into tiny toddlers, just planted in the new bed. we added a couple little stone paths to the things my kids love the most: sweet 100 tomatoes, strawberries, and sugar snap peas. as this area grows and we finish planting it, i'll show you an update. looks a little pathetic now. and the stone retaining border along the grass? repurposed.
now look straight ahead.
this little teepee (an idea we stole from friends) will soon be covered with these vines and flowers (if silas will stop attacking them).
go ahead and walk over to the teepee, and turn around. look to your right.
now look down a little lower.
another new planting bed! filled with my favorites: hydrangeas! 3 of them are new, but the other 4 i've had from 1-3 years in another spot.
also under there are those calla lillies i mentioned, and some ferns for filler.
oh, you see the stairs? let'shead on up!
these cute little window boxes add just the right touch in front of the loft (or is it the guesthouse?).
now turn around at the top of the stairs.
don't slip, the stairs are wet! we just hosed them off to get some of the mud off we've been tracking everywhere.
there's an overall view of the top tier of the backyard. lots to do in the top part of the pic, as you can see. someday, i'd like to see a spa at the top of those stairs where the delapidated shoul-have-caution-tape-around-it gazebo is. gracie thinks we should look for a spa at a garage sale. hmmm...
so there's my excuse. now for giving credit where credit is due:
i'd like to thank my parents for making this all possible, for picking out the plants and letting me be opinionated, and doing pretty much all the work. for having more energy than i do when you're twice my age. for doing all the sprinklers and drip lines. for fertilizing the lawn, for setting up the timers, for tilling the rack hard, clay-ridden soil and for so much more.
next i'd like to thank my husband, for giving up his last free weekend for a couple months to garden with me. for completely rebuilding our veggie garden. for putting sunscreen on the kids and i when i know how much you hate to have it on your hands ;). for taking the kids for the day yesterday so i could help a bit i the yard and get a couple hours of sewing in. you rock!
and last, i'd like to thank my kids. i'd like to thank you in advance for not trampling on the newly planted beds, for joyfully weeding all these areas, for tending to our garden, and for NOT PICKING THE HYDRANGEAS!!! love you!
-lindsey
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