The weeds have been plucked and the plants are in the ground. Our garden is on its way to greatness. Or mediocrity. Time will tell.
Here’s the view from the front.
That huge bush is the neighbor’s red twig dogwood. While we don’t mind ‘sharing’ it in our garden, we aren’t all that fond of the abandoned compost heap at the front of their yard. Eventually (in oh, 10 years or so?) the boxwood should grow big enough to hide it.
Our iron sphere from Pot-Ted is as amazing as I had hoped. Brandon and I both love it. Even my sister, who thought it was incredibly stupid for us to spend money on a “big metal ball”, admitted to liking it.
Right now it’s the largest thing in the garden, but it will look great once everything else grows and catches up in size and scale.
I made a border at the edge out of bricks we had found in the dirt as we prepared the area.
Now I need to have patience. Everything looks so tiny right now. I put the mulch down to discourage the weeds from returning aggressively, but hopefully the little plants will still be able to grow and spread out a bit.
I hope the flowers make it! It still seems so strange to me that we will have plants growing in our garden. THAT I PUT THERE. And they may even flower for me. How odd.
Laura
June 27, 2008 at 12:18 amIt looks great Nicole…great idea with the bricks :)
Silvia
June 27, 2008 at 12:52 amWow your garden is becoming a heaven..that iron ball is fantastic !! absoloutely gorgeous!
Silvia
Kitt
June 27, 2008 at 1:11 amLooks great! Your labor and patience will be well-rewarded, I’m sure.
molly
June 27, 2008 at 5:33 amWow, you did a lot of work, Nicole! I love the sphere!
alivicwil
June 27, 2008 at 5:33 amlovely!!
Floor Fountain
June 27, 2008 at 6:53 amThe pictures are really great.
jill
June 27, 2008 at 7:04 amwe planted boxwoods last spring and they’ve practically doubled in size this year. so you might not have to wait too long!
SuzyQ
June 27, 2008 at 8:57 amWow! You’ve done a lot -it is lovely and will definitely pay off with lots of blooms I am sure!
Vivian
June 27, 2008 at 9:12 amI *love* that big metal ball.
It’s dangerous to come read your blog because I always come away with expensive ideas for my house…
Julia
June 27, 2008 at 9:53 amI can’t wait till everything starts to expand :) It’ll be lovely!
jane
June 27, 2008 at 10:09 amWow, really nice job! That sphere cracks me up because it reminds me of a giant ball of yarn for your cats to play with…
Have you heard the gardening saying “The first year they sleep, the second they creep, the third they leap”? That seems to be true of many plants, so don’t worry if they stay small the first year. But with all this rain, who knows, they might “leap” right away!
Ileana
June 27, 2008 at 10:14 amWow, you’ve made a lot of progress so far. It looks great!
LeeAnn
June 27, 2008 at 11:09 amIt will be so rewarding to see your garden mature! Love the sculpture ball!
Emily
June 27, 2008 at 11:48 amYou will be amazed at how fast the plants will grow — and how big they will be in a couple of years. I love the mulch color, too — Fantastic job!
naturehills
June 27, 2008 at 11:48 amYour garden is going to be eye-popping in a couple of years. I believe in the Sleep, Creep and Leap theory regarding newly planted perennials.
Erin
June 27, 2008 at 12:11 pmI love your brick border! Good job! If the mulch isn’t enough to keep the weeds at bay, you can weed, layer wet newspaper down and then put down mulch.
katelynjane
June 27, 2008 at 2:32 pmAhhh! Now I see what that ball thing was in the sketch! I was wondering… (: Your garden looks great! I really need to get out and weed mine. Again. It’s never ending.
amy purple
June 27, 2008 at 4:36 pmIt’s looking great! It looks like your neighbors even have toys under that bush!
Making it Lovely
June 27, 2008 at 4:38 pmUm, yeah. They do. We’ve met her ‘little’ boy… and his roomate. Those toys have been out there so long they’re all rusted!
Grow little garden, grow. ;)
RobinCO
June 27, 2008 at 5:46 pmIt looks great! What do you think about a little of this (http://www.naturalfencing.com/level4.asp?id1=7&id2=3) to hide the toy/compost heap just that much faster? I’ve got to get one of those spheres!
Chrstina
June 28, 2008 at 10:34 pmLove your flickr stream and visit your blog periodically too to see your lovely things.
Just something I wanted to suggest…
The metal sphere is amazing! I’m not sure how crime is in your neighbourhood but if it’s anything like it is here in Vancouver, BC, you might want to hold off putting that sphere out until it’s a little more “protected” by the plants. I can see that getting lifted fairly quickly by some sticky fingered hooligans. Unless of course it’s cemeted in or some such.
Nice job on the garden. I know that’s a lot of work.
Making it Lovely
June 28, 2008 at 10:44 pmWe’re going to chain it to the fence! We’ll just bury the chain under the mulch to hide it. Our neighborhood’s pretty good, but c’mon. It’s a big BALL. It’s practically screaming “COME ROLL ME AWAY!”
M&Co
June 29, 2008 at 1:10 amI’m so liking what you’ve done! ITs starting to look really nice! And that metal “thing” is just super cool, I want one of those for my own garden now ;-)!!
Juliana
June 29, 2008 at 9:29 amI’ve been reading your blog for a while now, but finally had to write. The house & garden look great! I’m a native Oak Parker who has been living in L.A. for 11 years, but when I saw the garden sphere from Pot-Ted, my favorite local garden shop, I was once again struck by what a small world it is….Keep up all the good work!
Meg
June 30, 2008 at 12:42 pmIt looks gorgeous and it just keeps getting better! :)
About your neighbor’s waste being in plain sight, did you maybe consider getting a different kind of fence that would maybe “hide” it?
Either way, it looks fabulous!
Amanda
June 30, 2008 at 3:44 pmI recently used this product to screen away my neighbor’s derelict yard: http://www.gardeners.com/Split-Bamboo%20Fencing/Landscaping_Fences,36-292RS,default,cp.html
It is AMAZING how much better my own flower bed looks without the competing weeds behind the chain link fence. Very cost effective.. the only thing you need is pack of zip-ties.
Love what you’ve done so far… good luck with the patio!
Chrstina
July 1, 2008 at 10:33 pmYou are on it! Glad to hear it.
Stacy
July 10, 2008 at 4:43 pmMiracle Grow always works for my plants. :) The sphere is amazing! Definitely a conversation-starter.
teresa
July 17, 2008 at 8:42 amOh I love that sphere! It’s perfect!! I would be so happy to have neighbors like you. Everything is looking so wonderful.
Those plants are going to fill out in no time. Can’t wait to see how things turn out.