Growing Growing, But Not Grown Yet

While we were in England for two weeks, our vegetable garden was busy. I was so happy to come home and see all the growth! I honestly walk out into the front yard twice everyday to check on my plants, to pull whatever weeds I missed the day before, and to check that nothing is thirsty. The kids love to come outside with me too, for some reason, Juliette loves to pull on the onion tops, and to swat the vines that drape over the side of the half barrels. I love to see the plant flowering and then setting fruit!

Edward has been working on the fence project that he started in March. I didn't know I could love a fence so much. We've been discussing this fence for about a year, and it's nice to see it going up. Edward decided to split 2x6x16s redwood boards, so that the boards could flex and span two posts, and to cut the total cost of the fence nearly in half.

After the fence is done, the next big front yard project will probably be irrigation and landscaping.

Signs of Growth

I planted 5 sticks a couple weeks ago, two cherry sticks, one asian pear 2 in 1 stick, one nectarine stick, and one apricot stick. They really were just sticks with bare roots, my sister made fun of them. Well hopefully next summer, I'll be laughing at her while I harvest all my fruit. They're all dwarf or semi-dwarf and I'm so excited about my mini orchard!

The sticks have leaves!
This light fixture used to have a dead something in it. Some sort of plant grew up into the interior of it, who knows how long ago, and we cut out all the dead wood. It was harder than it seemed. Anyways, it has a glass ball that goes on top, I really need to clean it and get it back out there, but I did manage to transplant some poppies that I had been trying kind of hard to kill, and I transplanted some sweet peas as well. I want the sweet peas to grow up and around the post, at least for now. Next year I'll plant something more permanent, some jasmine maybe.
Two weeks ago I transplanted everything into the raised garden bed. Unfortunately we had a massive wind storm a few days later, and my seedlings didn't fare very well. I had 12 strawberry plants, I've left them out there, hoping for a miracle, but only one looks like it's going to survive. I think I'm going to give up on strawberries, every plant I've ever had has died, I don't have a green thumb when it comes to strawberries. The onions are all doing well, and two of the tomatoes I started from seed might survive. The squash and zucchini might make it, and the two pepper plants seem to have disappeared completely. I'm going to pull the strawberries and plant some garlic, and I'm going to buy a few pepper plants to replace what the wind killed.

Painting With my Helpers

We finally decided on what color to paint the garage. The kids wanted to help, so I gave them paint brushes and let them paint with water whatever they wanted to on the ground.




It worked well as a distraction.

Winning!

Actually, new windows, but new windows feels like winning.

Juliette really likes them!

Edward is about halfway thru installing them, these are going in the kitchen. I can't wait til they're all replaced, and the trim is all done. Then I can make roman blinds, I found a great tutorial on Pinterest.

I Love they way they look, and the house does seem to be quieter. We'll see if they make a difference in our cooling bill this summer, if they do, they'll pay for themselves in less than two years.

Spring

I know it's February.
February in Las Vegas means Spring! Two years ago (this week) I was in the hospital having Juliette, I remember noticing all the little buds on the trees on the drive home from the hospital.

Spring also means yard work, building, and planting.
Edward built me a huge planter bed, that also doubles as a child enclosure... at least until it's filled with dirt. He's also been setting the beams for the fence that's going around the front yard. And trimming the Silk Mimosa tree so that it doesn't completely shade my new planter.


There used to be a half wall right along where Edward is standing (above), he spent most of one afternoon knocking it down. Not only was it ugly, but the decorative top layer of block harbored some nasty little creatures, like poisonous spiders. Anyways, I'm glad that it, and it's inhabitants are gone.
Andrew has helped Edward quite a bit in the work outside. He stained the planter and some of the fence posts. Each day that he helps he ends up doing this (below) somewhere.
And here's our almost 2 year old. She's so cute and funny, mostly when she's "helping" in the yard, she just ends up filthy.

The French Doors

Edward made the awesome discovery that there is no insulation in the wall! Not awesome. Another not awesome discovery was finding out that the bottom 2x4 in the wall is not anchored to the foundation... so the wall is being held in place by the roof.

The new back door makes the whole room look and feel different. We're really happy with them!

Getting Ready

We are getting ready!


The kids love starting seeds, and I like growing things in the dirt. Only a few weeks til we can transplant them out in the yard. I'm giddy, and the kids love seeing each new sprouting plant! I'm planning on a couple of raised beds in the front yard, and a few fruit trees.