August Fields

the raised bed garden. close to completion.

we’re so close to being done!  
this garden has truly been a family project.  from cutting the wood, to filling the beds with dirt, to planting the seeds.
tomorrow we will be installing the fencing that will prevent the little critters from getting in.
when we first looked into a design that would emulate my inspiration picture, we realized it would take forever to build! the 8 foot fence height was mandatory.  i loved the dramatic feel of it AND it is high enough to deter the deer.
my dad came up with this design that was a bit more simple yet still very aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
you can see the beginning of the process here.
this little guy would find water in a desert!  he always finds the puddles….

and as you can see here deanie was having quite the time in front of the camera while my dad and husband were hard at work!

these kids are hard workers!

my favorite part of this whole project is that my children are making memories with their opa.  i know they will always remember opa building the garden.

it’s all coming together!

i’m so happy with the way the gates turned out.  we put two swinging gates in the front end of the garden and two in the back.  for safety reasons.

we have twelve 4×12′ raised beds.  i will do a more detailed post on that very easy process.

and that’s it for now.  tomorrow it will be done.  well the “structure” of it will be done.  i will forever be working on the interior grass, adding flowers and making it look lovely.

building the garden – that will hopefully keep deer out.

the garden has been started!!  we had this truckload of wood and a pallet of cement delivered for the fence.

my husband stayed home and helped!  this was so great for so many reasons….1. it went way faster
2. he loves doing this kind of stuff and its a great stress reliever for him  3. our entire family participated and  made this memory together!  

i was so happy that evening, when the day was done, thinking about how our children will always remember building the garden with opa and mom and dad and their siblings…..

here is the first hole being drilled.  the men had to drill 26 holes for the posts.

 
setting the four corner posts was the most crucial.  it was great to see my dad and husband work so well together.  actually, there was one corner that they debated if it was square or not….but that was just funny! 🙂  sorry.
okay…this was my job.  i had to paint sticky, black tar on the bottoms of all the posts!  i also nailed eight nails into the bottom of the posts before i painted them.  i’m not sure what the nails were for but i just did what my dad said 🙂  he’s built more fences than me.
i am currently, as a result of this project,  sporting a lovely farmer’s tan that i must take care of before a family wedding…yikes!
 
twenty-six posts means twenty-six bags of 80 lbs. cement.  again, so glad my husband was around!  i carried two of these bags and retired from that job.
another funny.  at the very end of the project we realized the pallet of cement was short 1 bag.  by that point i was covered with black tar and looking very dirty and wearing a huge straw hat.  i was voted to go to the local hardware store, grace them with my presence, and purchase the needed bag of cement.  lovely.  
each post was set to precision.  dancy helped with the hose and was the “water girl” while boone was the “level man”.  here mr. daddy is pushing the water around in the cement.
dancy helped push the cement on several of the posts.

deanie helped pound nails in the bottom of each garden post.

these two little boys just took it all in.  they caught a toad, walked through a mud puddle to soak their socks, and road bikes around in the woods.  no, dubs can not ride a bike yet, but he wants to so bad!

this post hole digger attachment was the life saver of the day.

almost done with a days work.  storms are rolling through today so we’re hoping to get back at it on thursday.

we also finalized the size of the raised beds to go inside the garden.  there will be twelve 4×12 beds laid out in two rows.

to see the inspiration and early prep for the garden click HERE.

friday favorites: another video

i have another video of favorites for you!  i decided NOT to go with the sweaty headband look…..you’re welcome 🙂

1.  MiO liquid water enhancer – i found mine at the grocery store but i saw it at target today.

2.  Large Family Logistics by kim brenneman.  since making this video i’ve found that kim also has a blog. you can visit her HERE  

3.  Bible studies for each book of the Bible by Warren Wiersbe.  i am using the one on the book of daniel right now.

to view more of my favorite things click HERE

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i am heading to a homeschool convention this weekend with some girlfriends and i am SO excited!  this is where i purchase most of my curriculum for the next year.  a follow up post with what choices i made will come soon.

have a great weekend!

garden inspired by lisa bynon

this month’s issue of house beautiful showcased this gorgeous outdoor garden owned and designed by landscape extraordinaire, lisa bynon.

eight foot tall wooden fence with wire, enclosing raised bed gardens.  isn’t this garden amazing??

me and my big ideas.  my husband cleared the area and that pile has been burned.  my dad came over and scouted out the land.

my dad designed an awesome fence and gates inspired by the lisa bynon gardens……i’m so excited!!  we’re hoping to start the week of the 23rd.  i’ll keep you posted. 🙂

creating a charleston-like window box

i like my window boxes full of flowers, overflowing, abundant….well, you get the picture.

have you ever been to charleston, south carolina?  i haven’t.  yet.

but when i see pictures of charleston it never fails to include homes with window boxes that are spilling over with glorious color and full to the brim of floral goodness.

for my color scheme i stick with red, white and green.  it is very traditional (which fits the style of our home) and it makes my time in the flower greenhouses go much faster.  i go right to the red, whites and greens…..

this is how i filled our two window boxes this year.   i can’t wait to see them fill out and mound over!

back row left to right:  1. Calliope Dark Red Geranium 2. Cornerstone Phormium Spike Plant 3. Calliope Dark Red Geranium

front row left to right:  1. Lemon Licorice 2. Snowstorm Giant Snowflake 3. Fame White Petunia  4. Snow Princess 5. Fame White Petunia  6. Snowstorm Giant Snowflake  7. Lysimachia ‘Aurea’

 these window boxes are the nantucket window planters from Grandinroad.

for my soil i used a mix.  the bag on the left is a lighter weight, fertilized mixture from the garden shop.  the bag on the right is regular potting soil.

i layered the two soils until the planter was almost full

i also sprinkled osmocote slow release fertilizer throughout the soil.  

i always start from the middle and work my way out.

when all the plants are in i give it a good water and wait! 🙂