Out-of-Doors

We have been working like mad on the outside of our house. It's the part of our house we did not get ready before Ben was born and stupidly, it's the only part of our house the HOA can fine us for if it isn't up to their standards. So we've been weeding. We've been pruning. We've been tilling. We've been mowing. We've been planting. We've been watering. We've been mending (pipes). We've been buying. Lots of this has been left to Matt … earlier this month bending over or squatting was pretty much out of the question … but I am becoming more and more useful.

Out front, we cleaned things up, beat back our mint (the teeny tiny almost dead mint plant we stuck in the ground 3 years ago), weeded out the flower beds and planted them with a variety of bedding plants up front and a back border of … STRAWBERRIES. They're pretty AND useful. We just harvested our first berries today and they are DELICIOUS. Mmmm….

In the back it's been more of the same, but not quite as rough. Our raised beds, only a year old, were in much better shape. We got them all ready and planted one side with tomatoes and the other side with two zucchini …. and nothing else. We're waiting for divine inspiration on what else to put there, I guess. We've discussed a lot of things, but nothing has happened yet.

After our herbs got eclipsed by our other plants last year, we decided to move them into tiered self-watering planters which look cool and will hopefully serve their purpose well. We also replaced the wooden table that we got just after we moved in (and Loki subsequently CHEWED) with the one you see here. It was a pain in the butt to get and assemble, but we're happy with the results.

And we've been making good use of our newly revived outdoor space. Last week Tabby and Ben and I took our activities outside and this past Friday we fired up the fire pit and did our first marshmallow roast. Soon, the projector and outdoor movies will be back as well. I ♥ summer!