The yard!

We've been trying to do a lot around the yard. We didn't have much to work with (except for the fabulous peony plants!) so we've been digging beds and gardens ourselves.

The window boxes and hanging baskets on our porch are always tricky. They only get about 10 mins of sun a day, so hardly anything will grow. This year I went with simple impatients in both, thinking that maybe simplicity is best. I also got self-watering hanging baskets where I can just fill up a reservoir once every couple years. Last year I had a lot of trouble reaching the watering can up to water the baskets! I may have put too many in each, but I had no idea...so this year is for learning!:)

Let's see how much they've grown...

May 3rd

May 19th. Good growth!

May 3rd

May 19th - Looking good!

The front steps planter. Only one pic of this. I had bought semi-shade plants, but then realized it the begonias were getting WAY too much sun. So I moved those to under a tree and bought some petunias and sweet potato vines. Hope they do well!

Last year we planted right in the earth with only a couple bags of organic fertilizer soil. The plants didn't do too well, and we were betting it was because of the clay soil, which neither of us had ever gardened in before. Y'know...New England has real soil!:) So this year we did raised beds. Kevy built them all buy himself!

Check out the toy snake - to scare those birds away from the seeds!

We got a ton of split perennials from a neighbor. The pics are pretty boring, but this is mostly what they look like. Some of them are actually doing very well and starting to bloom, but they'll make for much better pictures next year when they come up fresh.