A Little Work Around the House

I feel so much more settled knowing that we are going to be living in this house for another three years.  For the last two or three, we'd look periodically, and semi-seriously, through the real estate ads in our community and in and around Charlottetown.  We'd decide we really wanted a different house, and we'd be ready to make an offer.  We'd think about what we'd have to get done if we decided on the spur of the moment to put our house up for sale and move elsewhere.  And then the next morning, or the next time we went to see the house, we'd think, "No, that's not for us."  So for someone like me, who likes planning and security, it wasn't really the ideal way to live.  We didn't really invest ourselves and our desires and our personalities in our property because we were never sure how long it was going to be ours.

But now we know that we'll be staying here.  And it is a little squished, sometimes, and a little more space in the bathroom would be nice, and a little more sun in the backyard would mean better growing conditions.  But this home is ours, and we're staying for three more years, and we like it here.  This is the first house that we moved into together shortly after we were married, the home that we brought our two beautiful babies home to, the property that gave me a tough lesson in perennial gardening, the house that is about a seven-minute walk from my parents.

So little by little, over the last few weeks, we've been cultivating our pride in our property and we've been opening our hearts a little to it.  We've been accepting it for what it is and enhancing it in ways that we can manage, that serve our needs right now, and that will make it more attractive.  We've been ruthless in tearing out perennials in favour of native shrubs and (gasp!) more grass (and dandelions, and forget-me-nots, and stitchwort, and whatever else is growing in our lawn).  It was sad to see the poppies and coreopsis and pinks and especially the blanketflower go, but it feels so much better to know that our untended, wild, massive perennial beds will no longer be the shame of the street!  So to show you a few of the touches we've been making to our property as we progress through spring and as we find a few minutes here and there, here are some photos.

Those chives were in a container on my deck last year, and came back thicker than ever.  The oregano was divided from a friend's garden.  (Thanks Pam!)

Lovely Pam also gave me seven strawberry plants.

Here I planted a bunch of yellow bush beans.  The soil looks dark because of the compost I mixed in.

Freshly applied wood chips. :)

I raked up the old mulch that was here when there were shrubs in this bed to make a little path to stand on so I don't compress the soil every time I look at my little plant friends.

Overkill?  Maybe, but I love those happy marigolds (I have since moved them away from the beans, those of you who know that beans don't like marigolds--I didn't know that until later).

Sweet millions tomatoes on our deck.  They aren't looking as happy lately, though, so I hope they're ok.

I want to plant some sort of squash or melon here.  Cucumber? Loofah? Canteloupe?  More pumpkin?  We'll see what hasn't drowned in the seed starting tray left out in the rain. :S

I think everything looks better in the rain, at least when you get up close.

Hello, beautiful.

We bought this five years ago and never bothered with it.  This week, out of the blue, Craig started working on getting it set up for me.  He did a beautiful job and I think I fell just a little more in love with him.

Container-planted Swiss chard.  I love those red veins.

I've been randomly sneaking leaves here and there just to snack on when working in the yard, and I honestly think that this is the best spinach I've ever tasted.

Shared with Homestead Barn Hop #65.