the 2012 spring garden: additions

Every year, we seem to make a few more changes to our house and garden. Some day - hopefully - we'll be finished. But this year I'm excited to say we FINALLY fixed up the front patio. It had been all empty, ugly dirt planters and a poorly-executed plywood wall (enclosing the garage) for the past 4 1/2 years, and I was always embarrassed when people came to the door.

But NO MORE.

First, we removed the plywood wall and replaced it with block to match the other walls. Then, we filled in two of the dirt planters so I could actually put furniture out there. The remaining planters became my new herb garden and my husband's mini-pond. We also put in a watering system and plants along the front of the house. A mesquite tree installed last fall is not looking so hot - time will tell if he survives. The last task will be to clean up/replace the existing gravel, but that will probably be a project for next spring.

Here are some photos:





Oh, I almost forgot another important addition: a fence for my garden - complete with gate! No more stepping over the doggy barrier and falling into broccoli plants for me!


And, lastly, a small berry planter on the east side:


As always, I'm trying to enjoy these garden additions as much as possible before the weather shoots up to 100 degrees. Given our nation-wide crazy warm winter, I expect that to be any day now.