Perfect Weekend, Part 2 (SUNDAY)

Sunday we somehow managed to sleep in until 9 (how decadent! Especially since I was up before 7 on Saturday) and once we had some breakfast, we headed to Lowe's. Our plan was to find a Dogwood tree to plant in the backyard. There was already an existing hole in the middle of the backyard... someone somewhere along the way had dug something up there (a small tree or shrub, I assume. Nothing exciting, like BURIED TREASURE or anything).

When we got there, we browsed the trees... No Dogwoods! I thought they'd be everywhere and easy to find since they are currently in bloom. We nosed around the garden center and Josh pointed out to me a 4x4 pre-made raised garden bed. Exactly what I wanted for our first garden. I thought we'd have to make the box ourselves, but we didn't. Thanks, Lowe's! Making a garden was one of our tentative plans for next weekend, but it ended up happening yesterday instead, thanks to that chance find.

We picked out some plants, and even bought a fig tree (more like a fig twig; we let a fellow customer talk us into buying the smallest one. He said they grow fast and that we'd want one that wasn't too acclimated to 'life in the bucket', so to speak.

Luckily, Home Depot is right across the street from Lowe's so we headed there next. I still had hope of finding a Dogwood, and there were a few plants I couldn't find at Lowe's that I wanted (in my experience, Home Depot always has a much better plant selection). We did find a few things there, and a Dogwood (yay!), but the most important thing we got there was lots of topsoil for about $2 a bag. Unfortunately, I was unable to find leaf lettuce, and that's the one thing I was REALLY looking forward to growing this year. Perhaps we'll find another way to go about it this year. I don't want to wait until next year!

We brought all of our goodies home and into the backyard.

First up, we planted our beautiful little Dogwood.

Below you can see where the tree is in relation to the house... I love my little house and I love my big yard. We have lots of plans for both, but they're still pretty cute as is. My sweet little house makes me smile!

Next we planted our Fig Twig in the back right corner of the yard. We plan to add a couple more fruit trees and/or bushes in the same corner. Our own little orchard! Maybe we can add them this spring, but if not, next year for sure. We want to add a privacy fence within the next couple of years and also a second fence from the back of the garage to the back of the yard. That way, our garden/fruit tree area will be it's own little separate sweet place.

Next, we moved on to the main event. The Garden! Here's where Josh and I differ. I would have just set the box up, raked up/broke up the existing grass at the bottom, dumped in the dirt and got to planting! Lucky for me, the Bip likes to do things the correct way. That means, trenches were dug, grass was removed, THEN the garden bed was set up and we got to do the fun stuff.

Here she is in all her glory!

There are blank spots on the sides - that's where we planted asparagus and some little white 'lumina' pumpkins. The other ends are herbs - basil, rosemary, thyme, dill, tarragon, lavender. The middle is veggies - zucchini, squash, broccoli and jalapenos. We may have planted too much, but we'll just see what happens and thin plants out if need be. This is our first time having a 'real' garden in our adult lives, and we're pumped! Next year, we plan to add three more of these 4x4 plots, making an 8x8 square. The current plot we have will grow asparagus (since it's already planted and comes up every year) and herbs (since some of them are perrenials). We'll also have two plots of veggies and one plot of perrenials (daisies, hydrangeas, etc) to use as a cutting garden.

We also planted some sunflower seeds along the garage... we'll see if they take. They are the big kind! 8"-10" blooms - dinner plate sized!

We also have a mystery plant by our bird feeder. I am not sure if some rogue, quick-growing seed fell out of the feeder and turned into this or if it is something else. It has tons of buds on it, but nothing has bloomed yet. We're not going to get rid of it until we see what it is... just in case it is something pretty.

Believe it or not, we were done with our gardening adventures by 1:30! That left us plenty of time to get cleaned up and have some more Rita's!

Josh got strawberry ice this time, I once again had the mango. It was a refreshing reward for all of our hard work.

We then visited two open houses in our neighborhood. It's always fun to look for inspiration, and seeing other houses at their best makes us even more determined to make our home the best it can be... a true 'dream home'. Josh even stopped at a house a few streets away from us that has the same floor plan (just reversed), and asked the owner (she was outside) if he could go in and look at where her stairway was located. See, we live in a one-story house, but many people with the same house have converted their attics into additional living space. I was thinking about putting the stairs in the third (smallest) bedroom (soon to be library) when we do that, to keep the basic layout of the house the same. I have great respect for old homes, and the homes in my neighborhood specifically, and I don't want to do too much to them to destroy the original charm.

Anyway, she let Josh in (he's just that charming - I'd never let a stranger in my house, but I'd probably make an exception for him if he were a stranger to me... he's just that dang handsome!), and sure enough, the stairway was located in the third bedroom! So we're on the right track with our thinking there.

We relaxed for a little bit, I went to the grocery store, and that was the end of our (very enjoyable!) weekend. Can't wait for the next one... hoping to tackle the garage a bit more!

I just have to include this picture of Julio because it makes me smile.