A Tour of the Fairy Garden

I mentioned the fairy garden but I wanted to show some of the little details of our fairy garden.

We have four little fairy houses... actually one is a gnome house.... let me show you.

This is the gnome house.  Its a fun planter that I picked up at Meijer.  

The pan is screwed into a log that was cut from our ash tree that we lost in the blizzard of '13.  

We've saved all of the logs for some strange reason, and using a couple in the garden seemed perfect!

I planted lots of succulents in this tray.

Hens and Chicks, and a couple different types of Sedum, and a shade version of the Vinca Vine.

Our little gnome is working in his side yard with a shovel.

He also has a little grill in his yard.....

And a little rabbit.

Our largest tray has the smallest house, but no residents yet.

 ( I bet we will always be adding to our fairy garden).  

I like the colorful pathway tiles that I found at Hobby Lobby, and I like the mossy yard.

I planted more Sedum and a Vinca Vine and those little purple flowers, which I have no clue what they were.

This yard does have a little dog house and dog.

So when we do find residents they will have a pet.

Our barrel planter has a rocky yard with some Irish Moss.  

I can't remember what that little flower is, but I hope it lives.

The glass tile walkway is so sparkly and I love it.

At the bottom of the barrel the glass walkway continues with a path to the river and a path to the big house.

The big house is on the ground level and has a little bridge crossing the river.  

There is a little fishing pole with the day's catch.. and asparagus ferns on each side of the house.

This house has a solar light and looks so fun at night when it is lit up.

The other two houses have pathways leading to the river also.

In the back between the stumps we have a little 'forest' of coleus.

The river flows along the village and ends in a little pool that has a beach..... that needs some work...

We made a little well.....

 We have lots of other fun things planned for our garden..... I'll keep you posted. 

Since We've Been Back

Oh what a busy busy life we came home to!  

Besides catching up on laundry and cleaning and dog lovin up.... 

....the yard was BANANAS when we got home.  

The first thing I saw when we pulled up to our house was this!!

The little returning rose bush that I had asked Dave to dig out (for the third time) was HUGE and had a zillion flowers! 

 It has never flowered before! 

I asked Dave why he hadn't told me! 

 He said so I would be surprised, but I have a feeling he actually didn't notice it!  

Good grief!  

I had to trim off all of the spent blossoms and get sticks to wrangle it in!

Everything in the yard needed watering big time!  

The vegetable garden, which I planted before I left, had hardly anything coming up and I could tell immediately it had not been watered enough.  

So, I replanted and started a religious watering schedule.... things are already popping up, beans, the missing zucchini plant, cucumbers, but I don't know if the peas will ever have a chance.  

They should be a foot tall, but instead I am waiting for them to emerge from the dirt. 

I'm trying not to be upset about it.  

Oh well.  

They are just snacking peas anyways.  

I shouldn't have left during planting time.

I made a trip to Jollylane for flowers for the beds.

And a trip to The Plantsmyth for tomato and pepper plants.

I grabbed some herbs too since mine had not grown, and got a little excited about the options!

I bought dwarf basil, which has smaller leaves, AND a cinnamon basil plant!!

I can't wait to see how that goes!

So around the yard things are looking better.

And some of the things I planted before I left are going well!  

Like this planter on the deck!

 We've spent a lot of time on the deck lately because we hung up fun lights...

And after four years we bought a table for the deck.

It feels like summer is in full swing around here!

Also, and most excitedly, we just changed the boring rock bed in the back yard that is under the bay window and off the deck.....

Into a not so boring fairy garden!

More on that SOON!

Second Grade

The Past Month

I can't recap everything we did while we were away in Michigan, but I can say that we had a great time and we got to catch up with so many family members!

Since we have been home we've been busting our humps around the yard.  I'll fill you in soon!

Outside Work Begins

Spring has been delightful lately!  The lilacs are blooming, my favorite outdoor scent!  I was mowing part of the yard for Dave while he finished something up, and I was so happy I ended up mowing near the lilacs because they sure do smell nice!

 We've started our first project.  We needed to replace the bottom two rows of siding on the west side of our house.  There was a learning curve to taking them off, so we ended up doing three rows!  But coming in around 100 bucks this project was a good DIY bargain!

We missed the chance to start tomatoes and peppers inside this year since we were gone for David's eye surgery.  That's no big deal I know a great place that sells organic plants.  Today I put all of the seeds in though!

It's always so exciting to get them in!  I can't wait to see how things grow!

The bleeding heart is making me super happy.

All sorts of things are popping up around the yard!

What an exciting time!

Moments

With the excitement of having Grandma and Grandpa McMath in town there are lots of moments this week!

We fit school into this busy week.  Now we have just ten days left of 2nd grade!

We have a robin sitting on eggs on our back deck.

We went to Reptile Gardens.  It was a fun visit.

 We made a visit to Crazy Horse!

Our first time!

 The Museum of Woodcarving was really neat!