Our little garden...

I have mentioned before that I have a small garden, but I am prepared to squeeze out every inch of usable space from it. I certainly don't have a green thumb, but it isn't black, either. I love combing the garden centers for pretty flowers to plant in my garden, and I love the planning process each spring.

While I admire those who have a meticulously planned garden, I prefer cottage style planting for my own home. I love meandering paths through a garden that seems more lovingly planted than methodically planted. I guess there are two types of gardeners: those who turn around, throw tulip bulbs over their shoulder and plant them where they land, and those who lay them out, colour-coded of course, and plant them in planned clusters. Neither is right nor wrong - but they are inherently different.

I enjoy looking out my window and seeing lush plantings of "old-school" plants: peonies, stock, astilbe, black-eyed susans, sweet william, and, of course, daisies. I love tall plants intermingled with lower ones, and I don't want my garden to look like it was planted according to a map. I think I have achieved a more relaxed garden, and I look forward to adding to it, and cultivating its "free spirit".

What kind of gardener are you?

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This is the old buggy I "stole" from the dump on my "dump date" with my hubby a while back. It was rusty and dirty, so I painted it this lovely aqua shade using spray paint, of course. I planted it with flowers, and it sits outside Sophie's playhouse. Can you see where I am going with this?

Check out this sneak peek:

What do you see in the background? You guessed it: the playhouse!! I will finally post a picture tour of it on Monday. I hope you'll come back and see it!!

The little yard that could...

photo: Rodney Smith

I am in the process of stretching my yard to the max. As I have mentioned before, we live on a 60 x 100 lot, which in these parts, constitutes 3/4 of a regular building lot...at least in suburbia. We have already erected a large deck which surrounds our pool area, and it allows for plenty of outdoor lounging. That said, there is very little room left in our back yard to do much else. Or so it would seem...

I am in the process of testing that theory. In fact, I have decided that since my yard is too small to use for much of anything, I am going to cram as much "living" into the space as I possibly can. As I have hinted at, my hard-working husband has committed to building my daughter/me a sweet, little playhouse. Now, it won't be large by any stretch, but we are rational people: no little girl needs this:

In fact, we are quite content with whatever my husband decides to create and will be thrilled down to our toes just to have such a fun place to play. I say we because I am honest; and I am as excited as she is to have another pretty place to create memories. We have big plans for the inside of it, and Sophie even has her daddy excited to see just how much "living" he can cram into the rather tiny space. We are already planning a "sleepover" in it, tea parties, and craft sessions. I have been picking up furnishings and accessories for it for awhile now, and Sophie herself has drawn up the "design" of it along with her colour choices. We'll see about those colours... photo: Baby Goes Vintage

I also finally have a clothesline of my own to assuage the guilt of using my dryer for almost two years now. We finally decided that although we didn't have the perfect spot to put it, it was going up anyway. I love a good clothesline, and it just feels wrong to use my dryer when I really don't have to. I love the whole process of hanging laundry out on a line, and nothing beats the fresh scent of the clothes as you fold them afterwards. Hanging clothes out has other benefits besides saving on electricity: your clothes are actually sanitized by the sun, and the sun works to bleach out stains naturally.

My last project to impose on our tiny backyard is a vegetable garden. Now THAT will be small indeed, but I am determined to have some semblance of one. I plan to grow potatoes like this:

...and I will grow other veggies like tomatoes, lettuces, and cucumbers in pots on my deck. Strawberries are also in order, and I will also poke around for the perfect spot to grow some yellow beans - favourites amongst our family.

photo: Decorative Country Living

So that's it...in a nutshell. If I manage to achieve all of this, I will share the photographic evidence. I will not, however, be showing any photos of me making a fool of myself, perched on a too small for me child's chair, sipping warm lemonade out of dusty, plastic teapots. Some things have to stay in the vault!!