Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

I remember many years ago when we first moved into our home, the front and back yard was littered with various trees, shrubs and bushes. The previous residents were renters and let's just say that yard maintenance was not a priority to them. My husband and I spent countless hours, weekend after weekend chopping, trimming, pruning and removing anything that was manageable for us to do ourselves. We were pretty certain that the yard trash collection guys hated us because there was always a pile of branches, bags of leaves or some time of yard debris for months on end. I think it took us a good 2 years to really get the yard under control. We did have some plum trees, one Bradford pear and a couple other big trees that up to this day, we really never knew what kind they were.

Of course when you have large trees so close to your house, there comes a lot of risk. Every storm that blew through, we would panic that a large branch would crash through our bedroom window or it would break and fall onto the roof. It finally came the point of letting it all go. In late December, we had our trees removed with the exception of the Bradford pear since it was not causing any problems. It was really hard watching the trees that our daughters used to climb and swing from the branches get cut down. They were just too overgrown and the roots were getting way out of control. We just couldn't risk keeping them anymore. When all of the trees were removed it looked and felt so strange outside. We no longer had shade and our back yard became overly plain and sad looking. I have hinted around to my husband for probably more than 7 years that I really wanted a willow tree in the back yard. Now that all of our trees were gone, it made him a bit more open to getting one planted for me. Of course, he complained that I wanted so badly to hire The Local Tree Experts to get rid of the other trees only to turn around to get more trees.

We were looking around our local Lowe's recently and noticed that all of their trees were on clearance. Although we were just browsing, we came across a willow tree. Even better, the clearance price was only $5.00! My husband did not hesitate to buy it for me. I'm pretty sure he was side-eyeing me just a pinch :)

So here she is, my lovely corkscrew willow! The branches are supposed to have a curvy shape as the tree grows and it is supposed to be pretty for all 4 seasons. I'm so happy to watch her grow and add some much needed beauty and shade (eventually) to my big, empty yard. My hubby even threw in a few evergreens on the fence line. We are planning to plant a poplar tree on the other side since we need a fast-growing tree to give some extra shade. I guess good things come to those who wait. Even better, on clearance!

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend xoxo

WORX GT 2.0 Trimmer & Edger As Seen on TV | Does it really work?

Do you ever get caught up in infomercials and think, "I NEED that!"? That happened to my husband when he saw the WORX GT 2.0 rechargeable grass trimmer and edger. When he found out that our neighbors both next door and behind us got one and highly recommended it, we went out and purchased one. I was so skeptical because of how light weight it was. How can this thing that even I can easily use do the job? 

It took under 10 minutes to complete the assembly and we let the battery charge overnight before testing it out. The trimmer is very quiet, very different from traditional gas powered ones. I couldn't believe how quickly my husband blew through our edges and how amazingly clean and beautiful it looked! He trimmed all along our garden beds, shrubs and fence line with ease.

He says that it is a powerful tool and is ridiculously easy to use. He found a new toy and I am not mad about this one at all! It cost us about $120 and is worth the investment. The best part? It is battery operated and you never have to mess with the gas can with that oil and fuel mixture. We are so pleased with our purchase and plan to buy the newest Worx power tool that came out called the Jaw Saw. If you need a new grass trimmer/egder, we highly recommend this one! You can order it online or do like we did and buy it at your local Lowe's store.

What I do with my homegrown garden cucumbers

One thing I have learned over the years is to not over-plant vegetables. In the past, we ended up with so many veggies that we couldn't even give it all away before they went bad. This time around, we planted only one or two plants of each vegetable we like and stuck to containers. One of the veggies my husband insists on each year is cucumbers. We went with pickling cukes since we prefer the crunch of them.

I love to pluck them right off the vine and give them a good rinse. I slice them up with the skin on and add sea salt, cracked pepper, vinegar and a squeeze of sriracha. Toss them up and you have a great side dish for your savory meals.

You can't get any better than eating something fresh that you grew yourself. Did you plant anything this year or do you plan to? Have you made anything yummy with your harvest?

Get inspired with Miracle-Gro's The Gro Project

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Miracle-Gro for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
We are in prime gardening season and everyone seems to be getting into it. Miracle-Gro is doing The Gro Project to help you get some fun ideas to make your garden project easy and enjoyable. After all, who want what should be a fun time to feel like a chore? I just love the fun garden projects on the Facebook page. The "toyranium" is something that you can do with your little ones and they will feel a part of growing their very own plants. They can learn how plants are good for the environment and hopefully grow to enjoy gardening for life. Check out the short video below:

With the cost of food constantly rising, it is a smart move to grow your own fruit and veggies. This year, we did a lot of outdoor containers for our fruits and veggies and did an in-ground garden bed with our ornamentals.  We made sure to start with Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Potting Mix for our containers. It is made to keep the right amount of moisture so you prevent over and under-watering.

So far we have strawberries, pickling cucumbers, green beans, hot peppers, Meyer lemons and herbs. We started our planting about 4 weeks ago and it is astonishing how much they have already grown! We have baby green beans rapidly popping up as well as many blooms on our cucumbers and peppers. I really think that I will check out an indoor garden project that my son can help with. He really enjoyed planting the strawberry plant for his daddy as you can see!

The strawberry plant has gotten so big and we can't wait for it to bare actual fruit! 

Be sure to "like" Miracle-Gro on Facebook to join The Gro Project. If you want to share your own creations on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook, be sure to use the hashtag #MiracleGroProject

Wordless Wednesday

Planting strawberries for daddy.

Wordless Wednesday | Lemon tree update

My dwarf Meyer lemon tree is still alive and look at the ginormous lemon on it! I brought it on before the first frost and it has been sitting in my office, by the window. It has lost all of its leaves except for three and I will be picking my fresh lemon this week. Just had to share!

I have lemons! (okay just a lemon)

I am so thrilled that my dwarf Meyer lemon tree has a lemon on it! I was really sad that after all the blooms that it started with, all of them fell off except one. Thankfully there are some new blooms that started growing this week so I will keep my fingers crossed that we will get a couple more lemons before it's all said and done.

With all the rain we have been getting in the past few weeks, our flower garden has been doing very well. Just about everything has bloomed! The fuchsia lily (calla lily?) took 3 years to finally bloom. The orange lilies really did well this year for the first time since we planted them a couple years ago. We also have some Zinnias that are steady blooming bright pink and orange flowers. Our Lantanas always do well and if I can get my hands on the "fruit cocktail" colored one on clearance, I will buy one. 

We got some more flowers from my hubby's uncle that we need to get into the ground for next year. Almost all of our flowers in the garden came from second hand plants. You can't beat that! Maybe we should call it our bootleg garden :) At least we are helping out the honeybee population, right?

What is growing in your garden?

Meyer Lemon tree update one year later

I just had to share the latest update on my dwarf Meyer lemon tree that I planted last year. Thankfully it is thriving!! I was so afraid since over the winter months most of the leaves fell off and it looked kind of pathetic. I waited until the temperatures stayed above 55 degrees before taking it back outside. I added some more premium potting soil on top and fertilized it. After a few weeks and several rain showers later, I have a full bush that stands about 2 feet tall and it has actual blooms on it!

Do you see the little pink blooms? The tree is loaded with them! I will keep my fingers crossed that we will get some actual lemons this year. I am so excited and will be sure to post another update in a couple months. Hmm, I might have a little green hidden under my purple thumb after all!

I have been thinking about possibly planting a dwarf key lime tree. I guess I better see what happens with this one first and them go from there :)

My latest Pinterest find

I love Pinterest. I can sit on the computer all day and Pin all sorts of things. A lot of times I Pin "wish list" items. On occasion I find things that I actually make or try. My favorite one recently was this recycled watering can. I was just nagging... informing my husband last week that I really needed a watering can for all of my plants I have on my deck and inside the house. I was thrilled to find this DIY idea that took no thought and cost nothing!

There are my office houseplants. Now watering them is so much easier.

I took a milk jug and rinsed it out thoroughly. I pierced holes in the cap with a corn holder. Since they have 2 sharp points, it made the process fast and easy. The result is a FREE watering can that may not be pretty but is environmentally friendly and does the trick. I have one in a half gallon size for my indoor plants and one in a gallon size for the outdoor plants.

What things have you found on Pinterest lately that you have tried or plan to try?

Random bits

I have not been posting very much lately so I thought I would share a couple random photos I have taken over the past several days. This one would have been cuter if the kid had his eyes open and his feet on the ground. The moment he sees the camera coming he takes it as his cue to act a fool.
I started some hot pepper seeds in an egg carton and transferred them into my makeshift plant pots made from milk bottles (see I can be green sometimes). I am not sure how big I should let them get before planting them into big containers. Advice anyone? Kristin will probably know :)

We have been doing a whole lot of this. William has a new song called "read". I consists of only the word read and it goes to the tune of "Happy Birthday to you".... read read read, read read read... read read read, read read read (you get the idea)


So how's that for random bits? Please share something random with me...

I did not plant a garden this year

I learned a lesson from last year's garden. I lost money. I spent a small fortune to get what I wanted and in the end we did not even use what we planted. I think it was more novelty watching the plants grow, make blooms and eventually produce vegetables. Did we really need 50 cucumbers? Did we really need 100 squash? What about 1000 tomatoes? Nope. In actuality, Dwayne and I are the only ones that would even eat cucumbers and I am the only person who would eat squash. I tried giving some away and it seems like everyone planted the same things. So this year our garden bed is bare. I might just make it into a hot pepper garden so I can make my homemade pepper sauces or just plant some flowers. You can't go wrong with flowers. I saw that squash, cukes and peppers were 10 pounds for $10 in the grocery store this week. I think I will go that route ;-)

Flashback Friday before & after

This is what my garden looked like 5 weeks ago when it was originally planted.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I'm not sure if you can see our cute little squash. We are thrilled with it so far. Can't wait too see how much we harvest.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Garden update

Our veggie garden has been planted now for about 2 weeks and I am so impressed with the progress so far. I think everything has gotten about 8-10 times larger than they started out. I wanted so badly to fertilize everything but believe it or not Dwayne won't let me. He tells me that it goes against the whole idea of an organic garden and of course he brings up the fact that way back in the day there was no such thing as fertilizer. Fine, I will let him have it his way. I am hoping that the organic compost will prove to be a natural source of fertilizer and will provide a reasonable crop to harvest. I guess time will tell. I am so impressed with how serious Dwayne is about getting greener! Speaking of greener, look for an upcoming "green giveaway" later this week.

Question: If you planted a food garden, did you use fertilizer?