Another Day In The Garden

Things have been a little crazy around here for the past few weeks. We live up on the east bluff so all the flooding in the St. Louis area has not affected us, but that's not to say we do not care. It has been a trying week for many in the area, & for those who have family near by. Here is a video I found via YouTube that sums it up pretty well in under minute. (VIDEO LINK) As long as the rain stays away we should be okay and this will be gone soon.

On the casa front we have been busy in the garden and getting into a routine of mowing every few days to keep all the grass under control.

We have had some luck with the front flower bed that has several perennials blooming with no effort at all! I'd like to think I helped, but really they just popped up and keep on blooming. For those who remember, while my friend Summer was in town she prevented me from pulling some of these, as I thought they where weeds. Glad I listened, and waited it out. Such beauty.

The lavender is just about to bloom, and the "mystery" pink flowers are so pretty.

What kind are these?

My garden staple. Daisies. I love them all.

I think the lilies are my favorite - they just glow with beauty

Well summer is underway ~ more changes and updates on the rise...

Jump In!

Happy Summer Solstice! My flowers have been getting scorched. It's been so hot & humid here all I can think about is jumping in a pool. I don't have one but if I did - I would want it to look like one of these refreshing amenities. So serene.

flickr: user unknow

flickr: chris the gardener

flickr: mariysha

Scott Cohen - HGTV


Designer Unknown- HGTV


Designer Unknow - HGTV


Pamela Berstler - HGTV

I love them all! Our backyard is coming along but with the heat, it's just been a lost cause for now. We have the room for a pool (see here), and would love have one. I guess I will just lust after them for today.

Mulch City

What do you get when you add:

35 over grown perennials from the previous owner $0.00
29 bags of mulch $92.91
3 bags of pea pebbles $10.52
1 bag of large gravel $4.26
2 gallons of spray weed killer $49.30

2 twenty something kids who have not a clue how to fix up a yard...


A crazy mess. It is out-of-hand. And this is only 1/8 of our 1 acre lot.

So we got ourselves ready for the fight and we battled one on one. We where not going to give up.



So we fought our little hearts out with that dirt. And we may have a winner. His name is Mulchy. See we figured that instead of "fixing it" we would just cover it up. By the time we had this plan lined up we where exhausted, and ready to call it a day. But we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It was made out of glass, and was filled with beer.

So the next morning we bucked up and tried again, sore, out of cash, and wishing we had never begun this stinkin project.

casahusband hand spreading the mulch around to make things look pretty

We used red mulch on this side of the house to contrast with the bushes, and because I thought it looked nice against the bricks. We are going to use light brown mulch in the other flower beds in the back and other side of the house. I just hope it doesn't look too tacky with two diff. colors going on. guess we will see in the coming weeks...



Before 3:00p.m. it was like brand new again.
ta-da!

We even lucked out and found several old bricks buried under the dirt so we decided to put them to good use. It was interesting because many of the bricks had inscriptions on them like "Laclede's", and older street names from downtown Saint Louis. We think that the previous owner must have bought them and never used them, so we will recycle them and make them part of the landscape path.

The path leads down to our back deck, and massive backyard (seen here)

We even created an area on the side of the house for our hose, recycle bin, and trash can out of scrap brick pieces. Recycling isn't always perfect, but I like it that way.

The last thing we did was to fix our rain run off - It's not the greatest but it works for now.

So now you have it. We covered it up, and walked away feeling accomplished. Next are the flower beds and back hill. For now I will enjoy our lillie's that have started to bloom!

Baring all, for all to see...

So you will all now know the truth. The nitty-gritty truth about just how we rate on this planet with our "carbon footprint". Sorta. The term carbon footprint is a highly talked about subject on TV and in many magazines, but have you actually looked to see if any of the changes you and your house have made are really helping Mother Earth? Well I got a little curious...and I was in for a bit of a surprise. Our house is old, has no insulation, and heats horribly. Recently Kim over at FourBedsTwoBaths got really curious and had an energy expert come to her house, she is very brave. I am too much of a sissy for that, and stuck to a safe, short, simple online quiz. As if these quizzes are really accurate...

Yep, I know my house is bad. But we do try: All or most of our lights are using compact fluorescent bulbs; we have hardwood floors with rugs instead of carpet in half of the house; most of our windows are newer and Energy Star certified.

The online quiz rated us as a “Medium Footprint”:
Nice job, green queen -- you're definitely doing your part, and it's appreciated by future generations! Now think about how you can make even more improvements. Is there one area where you scored particularly low -- for instance, water conservation or driving? Consider how you can do better.

So I guess we are not that bad...according to an all knowing online quiz. But if you ask me we have a lot to work on.

Here is my TO DO GREEN list for the summer:

-remove the old carpet from the guest room & replace with a enviro. friendly hard surface like bamboo or cork
-purchase an energy efficient refrigerator and dishwasher
-create and plant a raingarden at the bottom of our hill - like this one
-start conserving rain water for outside plants with a rain barrel
-purchase a bicycle so that if I wanted to ride vs. drive I could (from here)
-use our local free cycle program to get rid all the unused stuff in our basement - freecycle.org
-utilize our land for growing our rabbit’s food instead of buying it at the local pet store

Well I think this is a good start. This is just in time as my childhood friend Summer – and organic landscaper by trade is on her way up from Florida to see us, and give us a hand on our yard. She is very good at things like plants, flowers & dirt…as I am better at picking out a new color palette for my family room.

(Summer and I back in June06' right after Rob and I tied the knot)

We had a very productive weekend! We stained our back deck & deck furniture! A much larger project than we expected but well worth the effort.

Then Marie so nicley weeded the front flower beds and played with the butterflies - or more or less they played with her...and John helped Rob organized the storage garage so that we can now move around in the there and maybe get some work done...maybe...

And Luke got a sun tan.

The Dead tree is gone!!! Rob and John cut it down on Saturday afternoon. It looks so much better back there now. It looks bigger - as if we needed it to look bigger right.

I am having a hard time finding a good picture of the dead tree before we cut it down...but this sums it up pretty well...it's the tree with nothing on top of it with the faint red circle around it:

Only 6 more days until we get the have the keys to our new home! I can't wait and time will not move fast enough. The house is great with all kinds of room for us to play and have people over. I am so excited I can't get any work done today.

I love this house...

Well Only a few more days and we have sit out back and enjoy the view. Can't wait. tick, tock, tick, tock, tick, tock.