Native Plant Sale and First Harvest

Last Friday I attended a native plant sale at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell. I used to work there so it was really fun to go back to my old stomping grounds. This was my first native plant sale and it was a blast! I definitely plan to go again next year. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the actual sale ( I was too busy trying to push a stroller, drink my coffee and carry my plants all at the same time!) but here are some photos of what I got at the sale!

I got some herbs to plant in my newly installed window box on the back deck. The proximity to the kitchen makes it ideal.  So far I've planted parsley, sage thyme and oregano.

A gorgeous Heuchera for my shade garden 

Another blueberry bush, this brings our count up to 6! It's quite a large plant and was only $5, what a great deal!

I other garden news I harvested the first of my radishes today. They're still a little small but have great flavor, so exciting!

Growing Growing Growing!

Spring is such an exciting time of year! I love watching the progress of my garden and this year has been especially fun because I get to watch my baby girl grow right along with my plants. It doesn't feel very springy this morning but here is what we have going on in the yard this season, maybe it will help you think of warmer times to come :-)

Tomato plants I started inside. I still won't be able to plant them outside for a while yet but hopefully they will be nice strong plants by then.

Trying growing carrots in pots this year, so far so good! Also a few radishes got in here somehow, weird!

My peas are getting bigger every day!

The fact that Echo can sit up on her own now makes my life so much easier! She can entertain her self a lot better now and I enjoy having her outside with me while I work in the garden. 

Of course she mostly just wants to eat grass and dead leafs 

My mixed bag of lettuce seeds are all coming up in beautiful different colors. 

Rows of radishes, the one thing I know I can grow!

Swiss Chard, a new crop for me this year. 

More peas growing in the front yard

And finally our azaleas are blooming! A sure sign of Spring!

 I'm so looking forward to my first harvest, the radishes shouldn't take too much longer. We also planted two new blueberry bushes and two raspberry vines this year but they weren't particularly picture worthy (at least not yet). This morning I am off to a native plant sale at the Chattahoochee Nature Center so maybe I will come back with some more great finds!

Catching Up After Vacation

You know that feeling when you get back from vacation and everything looks totally different to you? Even if you were just gone for a little while? Eric and I just got back from an amazing vacation to Puerto Rico and it's like seeing our house with all new eyes. There's a ton I could say about our trip but I try to keep this blog home focused so I will just say that one of my favorite things about traveling is coming home again. Maybe that's weird but there is definitely nothing like being away to make you appreciate all the wonderful things about your own home.

Ever since we have gotten back (after a brief recovery period that is) I have been in full on cleaning and organizing mode. Sometimes I get a little lazy with my housework (hey, it's a big house!)  and I was so busy before we left that I let a lot of things slide. Now that I'm back and have a little more time I noticed that a few of my house plants had died and the carpet desperately needed to be vacuumed. I've also been working some more on cleaning out and organizing baby Echo's room, maybe I am in nesting mode :-) I still have lots to do (as always) but I'm making progress. Today I replaced some of my dead house plants and tending to my garden (which suffered a bit while I was away). Here are some pics of what's new around here lately.

Things really took off in the garden while I was gone. The cucumbers are starting to get ripe and carrots are coming along but still small. There are also some baby tomatos growing and tons of peppers! My hand is in the picture as a size reference FYI.

This cucumber was the first one I've harvested but I have a TON more growing! It was tasty, all around a big success. 

working on filling out my strawberry pot succulent garden, I have a vision for this, it will be awesome when it fills in.

Bought this today to replace my spider plant that I somehow killed. I think I over watered it :-(

New succulent for a previously empty pot.

all my little house plants assembled to get a good watering after my trip

all my little house plants assembled to get a good watering after my trip

Last but not least here are some updated photos of the baby's room. It's gradually getting cleaned out

this is the previously unseen side of the room. I have my first baby shower next weekend so i am trying to make room for my new goodies :-) I already have most of the drawers filled with baby clothes and the desk will get a changing pad on top and serve as a changing table. Needless to say the art supplies and computer will be moving elsewhere.

It's weird but while I was on vacation I almost forgot about being pregnant. Not that I could really ever forget but I was so distracted by new sights, not to mentions tastes, that I just didn't focus on it as much as I do at home. When I got back it really hit me that this baby will be here in 4 months! I already love spending time in her room, it's so warm and comforting to me.

Anyway, that's what's new around our house. Hope everyone has a great long weekend!

A Garden For Me!

I swear I don't even recognize myself. My whole life I have had pretty much zero interest in gardening, especially in growing my own fruits and veggies. My interest in plants kind of gradually snuck up on me, starting when I was in grad school when I began to acquire a few house plants. Well, since getting married and buying a house my gardening interest has exploded and I am super excited about my new raised bed garden that Eric built for me! I had limited success growing some veggies and herbs in containers on my back deck last year, probably because they didn't get enough sun. This year Eric helped me build a 4 foot by 6 foot raised bed in the front yard. I'm hop[ing everything will get plenty of sun there although we'll have to see how it goes once all out tress leaf out. I have big plans to plant all kinds of things in this garden but I am trying to keep it to things that I know are easy to grow like peppers and carrots. So far I moved my mint and rosemary from their pots on the back deck to the new front garden (this should give them lots of room to grow) and planted some radish seeds. Here are some pics of the new garden, I'm pretty stoked about it :-)

Garden in progress

Finished garden!

Mint freshly transplanted to the new garden. It's just starting to come back from the winter. 

Rosemary transplanted to the garden, hope it will grow bigger now that it has some space!

And last but not least, a new blueberry bush that my mom picked up for me at the half off sale Pikes had yesterday. This won't be going in my new garden but we will be planting it out front somewhere

close up of blueberries, so cute!

Spring-A-Ling

Oh goodness, such beautiful weather we are having today! I was inspired by the Springy weather to get outside and work in the yard this morning. I finally broke down and bought a leaf blower which I was totally opposed to until I moved in to this house and realized the MASSIVE amounts of leaves we had to deal with. Today I broke out the new leaf blower and actually uncovered a lot of little sproutlings that are coming up for Spring, so exciting! I am usually more of a Fall/Winter person but I have to admit that I am pretty excited about Spring this year. Here are some pictures of the Spring time happenings around the yard.

Little hosta starting to sprout, and a random mushroom

More hostas sprouting

Azaleas

Our vinca is starting to bloom and put out new leaves like crazy 

Autumn sedum coming back with a vengance

Daffodils in full bloom, they make me so happy :-) 

Lovely

More azaleas

Store Review- Burgurs Market

I usually have Wednesdays off from work and I have to say it is just lovely to have a day off in the middle of the week. I like to use these days to take care of errands and generally enjoy my town while it isn't crowded as it often is on weekends. Today I grabbed some lunch with my parents on Marietta Square at Vineyard Cafe (which was delicious but I'll save that for another post). I can't tell you how much I love Marietta. Having grown up here and then moving back as an adult I find that my affection for the city has only grown over time and I am so proud to watch it grow and develop.

I didn't have my camera with me today so i had to steal this picture from the internet.

One of my favorite spots in Marietta is Burgur's Market (1395 Canton Rd Marietta, GA 30066) and we were able to stop by there on our way back from lunch today. The market has a great selection of fresh local produce and plants as well as local honey, preserves and relishes. Apparently this is another of Alton Brown's favorite spots, the man has good taste :-) The quality of the plants I have bought there in the past has always been excellent and they have always been healthy and hearty (important for me since I don't have much of a green thumb and need all the help I can get). Today was my first time buy fresh produce there and I was impressed by the prices and the quality of the fruit I bought. Here is a picture of my haul from today, all told about $4.

I got a selection of apples and a few California navel oranges. 

I have been craving a lot of fruit at this stage in my pregnancy and I couldn't resist these beauties. They are quite a bit smaller than the monsters you find in the grocery store but in my mind this is good thing since they are a better snack size for me. I got some California navel oranges a big bag of Gala apples and the two dark apples in the middle are Arkansas Black apples which were advertised as tart but I found to be quite sweet with almost a vanilla flavor. I think they had a great flavor and are much more complex than your normal Red Delicious. It makes me want to try some more different varieties of apples, they have a lot kinds that I have never heard of at Burgur's and I will definitely sample some others next time I go back. 

I also got a really fun plant that I have no idea how to grow today, a pineapple! It was a gift from my Dad and I am pretty smitten with how adorable it is, now I have to look up how to care for it. It was about $10 at Burgur's. 

Next time you are in the neighborhood I highly recommend you check out Burgur's Market. Right now their plant selection is a little slim since it isn't quite planting season but if you go a little later this Spring you will find a great selection of beautiful quality plants. Even if you go now you will find some beautiful peppers, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh beans, apples and citrus. I promise that if you go once you will fall in love like I did and be back often.  

Happy Anniversary To Us!

It is just over a year since we closed on the house, my how time flys! I still can't believe that all that paperwork and all the headaches that go along with buying a home are so far behind us. It's a great feeling to be settled in to our own home and we have been working diligently to pay off our mortgage ahead of schedule. It will be another amazing milestone to pay off the house but that is still a long way off.

Needless to say a lot of my short term plans for home improvements have been put on hold because of the impending new arrival to our family. We are putting away as much money as possible to save up for baby so that has caused us to slow some of our bigger projects. On top of that I am totally wiped out and nauseous all the time which basically means I have no energy (or desire) to do home improvement projects. Apparently growing a baby is hard work because it has left me totally exhausted. Oh well, it's supposed to get better in the second trimester :-)

Eric was able to find time to put in a new light over the sink in the kitchen so I wanted to post a picture of that to share with everyone.

We got this nice little pendant light at World Market, it is a big improvement over the ugly florescent fixture that used hang above the sink.

Other changes around the house all have to do with the coming of Spring. We've had such a warm Winter and I know things are blooming early everywhere. Our yard is no exception although we do seem to be a little behind Atlanta proper since we are little higher altitude and it tends to be slightly colder here in Marietta. Here are some of the things that are starting to sprout and bloom around the yard.

Daffodils coming up but not quite in bloom yet. I planted about 25 of them last Fall, it's exciting to watch them come up.

Azaleas starting to bloom but not up to their full glory yet.

Close up of Azalea blossoms, my white Azaleas aren't blooming yet for some reason. 

Out With The Old, In With The New

There is something so refreshing and awesome about the start of a new year. As much as I love Christmas and everything that goes with it I am always starting to feel a little claustrophobic from all the extra Christmas decorations in the house by the time January rolls around. All of our Christmas decore is officially packed up and put away and the living room is feeling much brighter and cleaner now. We also have some new house plants so we won't miss the greenery too much. We are getting quite a collection of indoor plants by now, 27 at last count. Watering and keeping track of them is a bit of a chore but they are mostly really low maintenance, succulents and the like. Here are some pics of our latest greenery as well as some other developments around the house.

Three new plants we got recently, lime tree on the left, some kind of fir (not really sure what) that we got at ikea, and a new Christmas cactus on the right. The Christmas cactus didn't bloom this year but it will be yellow supposedly.

this is the aftermath of taking down our tree, so many needles!

a coffee plant I brought back for Eric from Orlando

This is s a trick I learned on Pinterest, I put the old ends of som green onions in a vase with water and let the green part grow back. Apparently you can do this indefinitely. 

Also found time to hang the new painting that our friend Joanna gave us for Christmas!

In other news my brother Logan is moving to DC as of tomorrow. It is crazy how much I will miss having him around! I'm really excited for him and know he will have a great career in DC though. Change is painful but necessary and good in the long run :-) Tonight Eric and I had the family over for a little farewell bonfire and in the process got to burn bits of our  Christmas tree :-)

Christmas tree bits, burning away

fire!

Good luck in your new adventures Logan! I'm going to miss you like crazy!