Through the Garden Gate

God Almighty first planted a garden.
And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.
- Francis Bacon

 

I cannot begin to describe how much I’ve been enjoying this spring! I cannot stop taking pictures of God’s beautiful creations that we are allowed to enjoy and will warn you that this post contains a large amount of photos and may take a while to load!

I will elaborate a bit on a few things, though I could go on and on about all the rest! First of all, I am so impressed with the sound of tree frogs directly behind the house. Being almost surrounded with woods we always hear a lot of frogs, crickets, toads, etc. in mid summer but I can’t ever remember hearing them so close to the house this time of the year. I want to do some research on what specie it is. It seems they possibly hatched in the backyard pond and their chorus can be heard all night and sometimes during the day if it’s cloudy. I like to think they came because they somehow realize how much I appreciate them.

I am also so grateful to find a nesting wood thrush not far from the house. Their song is a favorite of mine, one I always look forward to hear come spring time. There is no other sound quite like their warbling, haunting trill echoing through the woods!

 

 

 

Last fall I added this fence to the backyard and recently I have really been eyeing it, thinking it needs to be white washed…

 

 

 

There were also a few openings in the fence that I had been searching for the right gates for but hadn’t found…

 

 

Finally I gave up on finding any gates and decided to make them. I used old window frames and took the glass out. I then stapled twigs onto the frame.

Here’s how they turned out..

 

 

 

I used the original latch to keep the gate shut…

 

 

I did also white wash the fence then, mixing paint and water to make my “white wash.”

 

 

 

As I zoomed in to take this picture, a curious little Pebbles face appeared. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s not a lot of color in my gardens at this point with all perennials but I’ve come to really appreciate different shades of green too.

 

 

 

 

 

I wish I could somehow share the smell of this too!

 

 

 

I mulch all my flower beds with horse manure. I am my happiest with loads of manure on hand!

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the “walk” through the garden gate!

Happy gardening everyone!

 

-Mary

 

 

Thrifty Sun Filter

 

A few weeks ago I posted that I will share with you what I did to our back deck, and now finally I’m getting around to it!

I has a few issues with the deck.. one being the sun shining relentlessly around noon on the deck where I have garden parties and the other was we could not keep paint or stain on the floor boards, no matter how expensive the finish. Here is the before picture with the peeling paint..

 

 

After much debating (done mostly by me), I came up with a solution, for now. (with hubby’s approval, of course)

 

The floor issue was solved with outdoor carpet from Lowes. That was a little more pricey than what I would have liked but we thought probably cheaper than trying the stain method that doesn’t seem to work anyhow.

 

The sun issue was more fun to fix. I used the posts that were there already holding the rope and  some two by fours that hubby had brought home from work for me for free. (he knows I’m much more impressed with a box of screws and wood than roses or chocolate)

 

I built a structure over half of the deck and for the “roof” I used landscaping cloth. (preen cloth) I tried to get the heaviest, toughest kind at Walmart. It was $25.00 for a roll and I probably used only half which puts the expense at maybe $13.00 so far on the sun filter. Here’s a close up on the cover…

 

 

I should have gotten some pics as I was building this but I neglected to do so. After it was done, it just didn’t have the feel I wanted. It seemed too contemporary or modern. I knew it needed a warm, country look so I added wild grape vines that I tore off of a tree along the top. I also pinned branches and twigs along the one side and half the other. After adding some shabby chic charm I had pretty much the look I wanted for now. Although we dream of someday having an outdoor kitchen complete with a pergola out there, this will do for now..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bear with me as I share party pictures. The one I had the other day was so much fun to fix up and came complete with beautiful weather. I love hosting outdoors!

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the before picture of the cage…

 

 

 

I relocated my old red pump and painted it. Usually there’s water running through it but for some reason it wasn’t turned on when the pic was taken… love the sound it makes!

 

 

 

One can never have too many Forget me nots!

 

I’m enjoying the Dogwood tree growing beside the deck. I love how it contrasts with the Lilac beside it…

 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed my sun filter and took note of the fact that I only spent the $13.00 for the cloth and a little for paint..let’s make it $7.00, thus equaling $20.00 total for a structure that is far from anything fancy but sure serves it’s purpose!

 

I better close here since it’s well after midnight and I’m starting to almost doze off while writing. I don’t want to experience another “d” dilemma that happened to me awhile back. While writing a blog post, I fell asleep with my finger resting in the “d” key. Let’s just say I spent A LOT of time backspacing!

 

Good night morning everyone!

 

-Mary

 

About six months later I’m adding this to the post… After about three months of being in the weather, the black landscape cloth that I used for the “roof” part of the structure started wearing through. At first I was a little exasperated, but now I’m glad, since I love this look with burlap so much better. I fixed it so I can easily remove it. So far I haven’t had it long enough to tell how well it will hold out, but since I’m planning on keeping it out of the weather, I don’t think it should pose a problem…