Sitting Around

We've recently wrapped up a few fun little projects. They all have to do with a little bonfire / gathering area on the side of our house that we're working to make more comfortable. There's still some work to be done (adding some landscaping), but it's coming along nicely.

The first part was making some benches to provide a little more seating than our camp chairs alone can provide. I found some plans online and got to work making them out of cedar 2x4s. Once they were done we gave them a quick sand and then sealed them with a wood sealer to hopefully extend their lifespan. They look pretty great (if I do say so myself) and are very comfortable. They'll be perfect for gathering around a fire under our new...

...string lights! I got a couple strands of commercial grade string lights on Amazon and then attached some more 2x4s to fence posts to give them somewhere to hang from. I then strung a 1/8" cable along the long edges of the border to help support the lights and then attached them with zip-ties. They create a great effect in the evening and make for a fun space. We haven't gotten a chance to put the whole thing together (fire pit, benches, and lights) due to all the rain we've been having, but we'll hopefully get to soon.

Thanks for reading and we'll see you next time!

Green Thumbs, Hopefully

One of our goals has always been to have a bit of a garden and grow some things here at home. Well, this dream is finally a reality. We got some cedar lumber and built a 3' x 6' raised bed just north of the fence. This location gets plenty of sun (the fence is too far away to shade it at all), Leo can't get to it, and this part of the yard is really sloped and not exactly usable for much else anyway. The thought with this location is that we can keep adding beds if things go well and we decide we really like gardening. We opted for the square foot garden method. This approach is well-suited to raised beds like ours and is supposed to allow us to take full advantage of the space. So, at 3' x 6', we had 18 spaces to fill with tomatoes and chilies and all kinds of fun things.

In addition, we finished up our side yard project that we started last September. We finally planted the herbs we were planning on, along with a gutter garden containing spinach, Swiss chard, and Mesclun greens. We then planted some decorative perennials around the bed and mulched, which makes it look so much better (especially compared to what it was when we bought the house). We also threw in a sundial. Bill Nye would be proud.

Before...

...and after!

We didn't get started until after Jamaica, so it's only been a few weeks, but already things are looking good. The greens are the only things not doing so well, which isn't surprising since we got them started late. We've used some of the herbs already, which was so much nicer than having to pick stuff up at the store. We aren't planning on a huge yield this year, since we're just getting started, but hopefully we'll have a few tomatoes and chilies for making some salsa.

So wish us luck on our gardening adventures. And thanks for reading!