Our first harvest

Might need squash recipes soon!

Backyard Update

The backyard is looking pretty good! You might notice the new fence. We had a very large rainstorm about a month ago that came with high winds, and our fence we share with the east neighbor fell over.

Columbine my mom gave me about a year ago. Finally blooming!

Our little Japanese maple finally leafed out. 

The hydrangea survived! It even has a flower coming. Maybe I will get another?

G enjoying his play area. Last year we often did weekend yard work once we put G down in the afternoons. We would let him sit at his picnic table and give him his snack after he woke up from a nap so we could keep going for a little longer. It is where he first realized he likes berries a lot! It was a really nice day last weekend so I was out weeding and Andrew was getting the grill going. G had been playing with his ball, but then he stood up, walked over to his table, and said "BERRIES." 

Luckily Andrew had purchased blackberries at the grocery store that morning, so I went to get them and so here he is!

Community Garden

We joined our community garden (new this spring!) and are growing peppers, tomatoes, tomatillos, and squash. So far so good!

The sign - new this week.

There is a kid's play area with this little bee hive house. I think it is so neat!

More of the kids play area- the sandbox (G's favorite part) and the tree stump jump.

Our plot. The squash are going bananas!

Here's a little baby squash- hopefully the first of many

Tomatoes - looking good

Here's the garden just a few weeks ago- it's really made a lot of progress.

G loves the butterfly. It doesn't stick up straight anymore because he loves to pull on it and play with it

Front yard 2013

The front yard is in pretty good shape this spring. I tried planting snap dragons last fall, and they've done really well so far! They are pink and yellow and all of them are loving the front at the moment. It's something I will definitely repeat since it gives such an early color to the front.

You can see the front door- I really like the blue. I'm also trying to grow lemongrass next to the door to keep those mosquitoes away. Last year with G being old enough to want to play outdoors we really struggled to keep him (and us) from getting bitten all the time, so I've made it my mission this year to be inhospitable to the little creatures.

Grass has been fertilized and gardens have been mulched. I planted a bunch of daffodil bulbs, but they seem to just be coming up which is probably a little late so we might not get any flowers from them this year.

More backyard 2013

Over the winter we (Andrew) pulled out the burning bush in the back triangle. We (Andrew) did a lot of work to transplant them last year, and they survived and even thrived. They have some positives going for them: they do really well in Texas and they have flowers on them until almost November. However, we just don't like them. They get really big and out of control, they are just sticks until May, and they seem to attract ants. So we now have none of them on our property, down from 5 or 6 when we moved in.

Last year I learned a lot back here about what worked well and what didn't. Hopefully I learned from my mistakes. I'm trying to not block the sprinkers, have fewer types of plants but more of them, and plan so that I have color more of the time. Pretty lofty goals if you ask me.

I'm sticking to reds and yellows back here. I planted two verbena in the very front. They should stay pretty low, which is good. Last year I planted some Zinnias and they got huge and blocked the sprinkler in the front. Whoops. The only problem with verbena is that Andrew thinks they look messy. I love them though.

You can see two salvias, which lasted from last year, and in between them I put pinks. Hopefully they do okay here- my mom said they do well for her! Along the back I moved all the bulbs I could find from last years gladiolus, and then I also just planted some sunflower seeds. In between the pinks and the sunflowers I spred some seeds for zinnias. Hopefully things grow!

Almost everything lasted over the winter here so this hasn't changed much. I did add three coreopsis because my one out front did really well.

This is by the shed. We added a hammock. It it super comfy - the company that makes them is in South Padre, and although we didn't buy it when we were there in April, it still can be a reminder of our visit!

I had some impatiens left over from the ones outside the dining room window so I added them to the shed window box for some color.

For the veggie garden, we've got two types of tomatoes (cherries and bigger ones), two basil plants, 1 cilantro plant, and some corn. The neighborhood is also starting a community garden and we've requested a plot in there, so hopefully I can try some squash and some peppers this year also. Andrew wants okra- we'll see!

This was a surprise- my dad was coming down and my mom called the day before and offered their purple martin house. Their trees are too big now, so they won't get any purple martins anymore. I had looked into getting one before, so I was excited. It's open and awaiting the scouts now, so hopefully we'll get some! They eat mosquitoes and bugs, so I'd be thrilled if we had a family in our condo.

Little Town

Last fall, my mom and dad made Grayson some little houses and office buildings for his outside "village."  After all the cars need a place to go!

They look great, and they are G's favorite part of the backyard play area. He primarily stacks them. That isn't what I thought he would do with them, but in retrospect, it makes sense. He stacks anything and everything! Last winter he didn't really get the road part, but this spring he's been driving his cars along it, so I'm a happy camper.

Backyard Spring 2013

I'm back! There's not much to say on an outdoor blog in the winter, but we are officially past the last freeze date for Austin, and we've done a lot of work in the yard already!

For Christmas my parents gave us a Japanese Maple and a bird bath. They both went in the backyard under the trees in the center. I bought some rings you put in the bird bath to keep mosquitos from being able to breed in it, and I've officially seen birds drinking from it. Chuy also likes to stand up on the rock next to it and take a sip.

The maple we've been babying, and hope to see some signs of life soon. I bought liquid seaweed to fertilize it on the advice of our local gardening store. On the outside of the bottle it says that trees love it and that it stains concrete and stone. I spilled a little and can attest to the staining part, so I hope the other half is true too.

I saw that little airplane at Target and thought it was super cute. G's really into airplanes at the moment, so he likes it too. He tried to pull it out the first time he saw it, but I told him that it needs to stay in and he seems to be okay with that. I could pretty easily tell when it was windy before, but now I know for sure! I also got a little rain gauge. I really like it - I know we got 1/2" last night!

We are hosting a baby shower at our house in a few weeks and although the new mom and dad will be the stars of the show, we've been trying to get the yard in shape too. I planted 4 flats of begonias under the trees. They are a little subtle right now, but hopefully they get a little bigger. They look really pretty I think.

You can see the grass hasn't come all the way back yet. Andrew fertilized it yesterday so hopefully that kicks in soon.

On the side I put impatiens in the pots. I like how they look. I also tried something new and put a ziploc bag in each one that I cut a small hole in it and put them in with the dirt to try and hold in more water so that the pots don't dry out as fast.

As you can tell, at this point in the picture taking process Chuy is wondering why I'm walking around so much but not doing anything so she is giving me a funny look. Here's my other experiment for the year. We had a problem with mosquitoes last year, and so I bought two citronella plants. Supposedly mosquitoes don't like them and will stay away. I'm not sure if it will work, but I do know I had to roll down the windows on the way home because they smelled so strongly. They aren't super pretty but if they are effective, that is a-ok with me.