Birdy It's Cold Outside

Normally, I feed the birds year round.  

I love seeing all our feathered visitors throughout the year.  

We get so many different varieties of birds 

and I always think it's neat when we get a visit from a type of bird I've never seen.

Unfortunately, our old bird feeder broke months ago.

And, even though I bought a couple replacement feeders in October, 

we never got around to putting them up.

Since it's been getting pretty cold out now,
I really wanted to make sure we got it hung to provide for our local birds.

Today, I finally got the mister to install this pretty cedar one on our pergola.  :)

Let the visits begin! 

Mountain Chapel Bird Feeder - Amazon

Of course, Mr. Watson is super food motivated and thinks anything edible is for him.

Luckily,  I think this bird feeder is high enough out of his superior jumping range! :) 

Just the seed litter for Mr. Watson.

Pergola | Part 3 & Garden | Part 2

Hooray for progress!!! :)

We are FINALLY starting to finish our projects! haha

It's not that we have been taking extended breaks, 

but instead that we have been working on MANY different projects at once. 

When the weather started heating up, I just couldn't take the heat in our backyard. 

It bakes back there and I have found that I get overheated quickly. 

So, that limits work to the Pergola and Patio to mornings and evenings...

but to make matters more complicated, that is when it likes to RAIN! :)

Being the busy body that I am, we started projects inside the house, 

and have been doing whatever the weather and our time allows!

Here is the [nearly] finished pergola and patio!

Only staining/weather proofing the wood is left.

We added 4 more end cap/scrolls, 2 to each corner,

 it give the pergola a more balanced look. 

We also added  a thin layer of sand between the pavers 

and then added Sakrete Gray Polymeric Sand to the top 1/2 inch.

The polymeric sand is fantastic so far! 

It doesn't wash out during rain storms.

Doesn't stick to your bare feet.

And it looks great too!

Pippa has been enjoying it as well.  

While it was unfinished she wasn't quite sure how to walk on pavers 

without stepping in the cracks or getting sandy. haha

The backyard sure is looking green!

[although the nice grass we were growing this spring is being invaded by crab grass]

Our garden has been taking off recently.  

It had a late start this season, 

but overall we are thrilled with our first attempt at organic gardening. 

We do need to figure out the squash bugs, vine borers, and cucumber beetles!

Those critters are keeping me busy... and I hate squishing them!! 

In late June, we put in this flower garden and it is such a delight! 

I frequently see hummingbirds and many different varieties of butterflies visiting.

That is what a garden is all about! 

Enjoying nature in your backyard and giving the animals and insects a habitat.

We have seen a significant increase in wildlife in our back garden since we've started landscaping. 

Another nice addition to our back garden are these lovely glass bird feeders.  

My parents started making them this summer 

and I'm lucky enough to have a few to brighten up the backyard.

This one is my favorite, but I've yet to hang it up.

Once we finish staining the pergola, I think we'll find a place for it. 

Next on the outdoor list:

- Stain the Pergola / Weather proof

- Add the canvas curtains to pergola

- Plant more trees ( this fall)

- Get some good grass planted

Sunny Sunflower Summer

Sometimes surprises are BIG and BEAUTIFUL!

I didn't even plant these sunflowers! 

The birds did.. and now they are some of the most gorgeous plants growing in our garden.

We are not the only ones enjoying the beautiful blooms.

The birds and bees are actively enjoying them, too!

It was a bit difficult to get photos of the yellow finches without disturbing them.

Here were a couple of my photo attempts through our back door

of them enjoying the seeds from the spent sunflowers.

Garden | Part 1

This is our first attempt at growing our own garden.

We are pretty excited about the entire process 

and we've been working hard at building the boxes, preparing the soil, 

creating tomato cages, and putting up our trellis. 

Our peas, basil, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelons, and gourds are doing excellent!

We also have a herb garden we are starting from seed.  

(The bottom right shows the basil sprouts).

The tomatoes we bought from a heirloom garden store back in April.

They've been doing okay, but we've hoping that with some good fertilizer 

applied this weekend will perk them up. 

Despite their slow start, they do have some tomatoes starting to grow.

Stop to Plant the Flowers

Good morning!  It's June, my favorite month! :)

We have been covertly doing projects here and there, but not posting on them.

This is mainly because we've been busy with other tasks too, 

and also because I like to post our projects when they are mostly finished. 

BUT, this weekend we got back into our project groove and finished a few things!

I'll be getting up some (almost) finished Pergola pictures later this week, 

as well as some garden pictures!

To hold you over, here are some of the pictures of our flowers 

that are in bloom/ about to be in bloom in our garden.

Sherbert Dianthus, Marigolds (to protect the veggies), 

Lavender and Salvia, Sunflower, 

Privet, and some newly planted Knock out Roses.

The Marigolds, Lavender, Salvia, and Roses are all new additions to our garden this weekend.
Our yard is starting to resemble the sketch I put together when we moved in!

Aside from the ambitious terraced hill, large trees, fire pit, and water feature...
I'd say we're almost there! :)

Pergola | Part 1

We took our first steps this weekend building the pergola. 

We needed some deep holes.. and the Mister was just the right man for the task. 

We went about 3 feet down, set a concrete base, 

then placed about 4 inches of gravel down there for drainage.  

Which is very necessary in that very soggy part of our yard. 

We managed to set 3 out of 4 of our posts. 

Unfortunately the 4th post in the corner of our house will need to be mounted to a concrete base.

While digging we hit some solid concrete...not quite foundation, but more like extra random concrete.

Not too big of a deal, but just one more thing to figure out. 

We have definitely learned that projects are always a problem to solve!

It's Garden Season Y'all!

Things are getting GREEN around here

and we could not be more happy about it! :)

Our showy snowball bush is already pushing out flowers!

We had 2 beautiful days of weekend weather and used every moment 

to make the most of the arrival of Spring!

I started by building our 4 garden boxes.  

(2) 3x8ft boxes

(2) 2x4ft boxes

To build them we used 6ft cedar fence pickets.  

Below are the 2 finished 3x8 ft boxes.  

We plan to use the 2x4ft  boxes for tomatoes.

Once all the dirt we've been piling up from other projects gets leveled, 

we will put the 8ft boxes to the left of the tomatoes and place a trellis between them.

Take a look at this GORGEOUS GRASS!!! 

It's so green and lovely! :) 

We also planted our first bulbs! About 30 Gladiolus flower bulbs. 

I cannot wait to see them popping out of the ground!

They are going to be such a beautiful burst of color this summer. 

While the mister was digging some holes [Pergola: Part 1]

I managed to also get the front, side, and back lawn fertilized and over-seeded. 

Things are about to get much more GREEN around here!

Gluttons for Punishment? No way!

Last weekend we were able to make some good progress on a few projects. 

We finally had some grass growing!!!

It was just brand new baby grass last weekend, but we keep giving it TLC, 

and are very hopeful about having some grass by Summer! :-D

It did rain on Saturday, but the temperature was beautiful

and (in our minds) it was only a light drizzle.

Please note the lovely flooding that occurred:

We like to call it a rain garden.

Plus, the sun came out after we were finished 

and we were able to take a nice stroll around the neighborhood 

with a completely healthy Pippa!

Sunday on the other hand.... was sunny, but COLD!  

I might have been able to take the cold, but not the wind.  

It was too miserable for me to do much outside.  

So instead, we picked up our Pergola frame wood, 

cut our Garden Box pieces, and finished the 

last few touches to the Kitchen China Hutch!

While in the middle of our patio project, a nice neighbor pulled up along us, 

rolled down his window, and told us we "sure are gluttons for punishment!"  haha

Even though it was raining when he said that,

and we were shoveling a cubic yard of gravel into wheel burrow loads 

to spread out as a base to our patio... 

it didn't strike us as punishment at all!

All finished with the gravel.. next up, posts and sand!

Although some of our tasks might be difficult, 

they seem far from punishment! :) 

At the end of the day, our hard work is so rewarding that

 it feels pretty darn good to revel in our progress! 

One day soon, we'll be able to take more weekends off 

and enjoy everything we've been working so hard on! :)

March Project Madness

We have been working on a number of projects over the last few weekends.  

Most of the projects have been outside ones, but I am really close to finishing a couple inside ones too!

So far March has been spent planning out our vegetable garden, prepping our front garden bed, rearranging our current landscaping, relentlessly attempting to plant grass,
and preparing our new patio and pergola area. 

We have spent A LOT of time getting a portion of our back yard, just over 2,000 sq feet, re-tilled, fertilized, seeded, and covered with hay. Since then it has been nothing but watering and praying everyday. We really hope we don't have 5 more months of baked clay, or mud, depending on the weather!

Another finished project was relocating the horribly invasive Monkey Grass growing without purpose in our front garden to the length of our fence.  Once it gets established, it should dress up the side yard and help prevent any erosion.  Right now the surrounding fescue grass is so long that the Monkey Grass barely stands out, but some mulch will help define the space... it's on the to-do list. 

We did get about 1.5 cubic yards of mulch last weekend, but instead of along our fence, it was utilized in two other much needed areas: the front garden bed and around our trees.  Now these spaces look fresh and neat.  We get so much shade in this North facing garden, that I couldn't help but get some beautiful Hostas to brighten up the area.  I don't really know why, but I LOVE Hostas.  I think they remind me of New York and New England landscaping.  Maybe it is a way to bring a bit of that to my new home here in the South. The "Patriot" variety is a real favorite with the lovely contrasting white edges and vivid green leaves.

This weekend was spent leveling approximately 180 sq feet of lawn around
our current (10x8 ft) cement patio and laying the first inch of gravel.  

We still have 2 more inches of gravel to lay, another 1 inch of sand,
 and then will begin creating our paver patio.  

After the next 2 inches of gravel we will take a break from the patio for a couple weekends and begin constructing our pergola.  We have priced out our materials and created our building design...
most importantly we have written to our HOA to get approval.  

(Fingers crossed for approval so that we don't have to build it despite a rejection! haha)

Next weekend our goals are to:
1.) Set our corner pergola posts

2.) Build our cedar garden boxes

3.) Form our tomato cages made from cattle fence panels

4.) Erect our garden trellis for climbing squash, beans,etc.

5) Complete the refinishing of my China Hutch (already so close)