The Nifty Foodie's Life

Spring always gets me in an excited mood to pretty things up around the house. The bright colors, fresh air, sunny skies…I wish all four seasons were Spring! Our garden is one of the larger projects that we work on when Spring starts, and man, this year was our biggest year to date!

In the past, we didn’t really make a budget. I just bought some 6 pack annuals, a few bags of mulch, some veggies and called it a day! However, when June would hit, those annuals would fizzle, our garden was just a nightmare to take on with the weeds, and the veggies…oh, don’t get me started on the veggies.

This year, we made a budget and a plan, which included plants that would come back year after year and could easily take on our crazy summer heat! Our house has three main gardens: the front yard, the side of the house and the back yard (if you even consider what we have a back yard lol).

Our front garden is the typical “pretty” garden. Flowers, pretty bushes, a fountain…gotta have curb appeal.  I blogged about our struggle with one area of the front garden. Sago palms + doggie? No…

Our side garden became a huge project that me, Joey and my Mom took on right after Hurricane Gustav hit a few years ago. We ended up losing power for over a week, so the house was very uncomfortable to stay in, but ironically, outdoors was much more pleasant for the first few days, so we took on this project. Before, the old homeowners filled it with dirt and landscape rocks (the large ones). When we started digging things up, we actually discovered they tried to put a pond in there, left a few random knick-knacks and all sorts of weird stuff….ugh. We decided this garden was just a huge undertaking, so we ended up filling in the dirt, completely mulching it and place plants in large pots on top of the mulch. Luckily for us, the old homeowners left a few rustic looking freebie pots, so, we used those for this garden!

I think it looks spectacular, and it’s a fun place to put a few random garden signs.

Our back garden is primarily a veggie garden. I’ve learned a good bit the past two years with having a veggie garden. The biggest change this year is that there will be no ‘maters in our veggie garden. I’m willing to pay regular price for those precious creole ‘maters or steal a few from my Dad, who is a ‘mater growing pro! Those bugs were disgusting, and I never want to deal with them again! Instead, I’m planting pickle cucumbers, along with bell, poblano and jalapeno peppers. This is my first time growing cucumbers, and peppers have done really well in our gardens, especially in the summer, so I’m very optimistic about what this harvest will bring!

We also have our baby meyer lemon tree. I got the tree last year for my birthday, and man, that thing is flowering like crazy! I’m super excited to see what this winter’s harvest will bring!

Also, just for kicks…here’s the dog who thinks fresh mulch is the coolest thing since Beggin’ Strips. I literally have to take mulch out of her mouth every time we go outside. She seriously wants to eat it. Agh..oh well, she’s cute.

What do you love about Spring?

November has been an awesome month as far as days off go. My office had off for Election Day, Veterans’ Day and we’ll also have off for Turkey Day, as well as Black Friday!

I decided since the weather was so gorgeous on Veterans’ Day, it was time to dig in the dirt a little bit and revamp our front yard garden.

And no, there are no before pictures. Just imagine LOTS of weeds leftover from the end of the Summer and dying Spring annuals.

Yes, I’m 5’10″ and have size small hands. I’m all out of whack.

I decided to plant some perennials in front of our azaleas this time around. The annuals I bought were getting on my nerves and they weren’t tall enough to see from the road. However, I couldn’t avoid these bouquet dianthus when I saw them in the nursery. Aren’t they so cute?

The perennials I decided upon? Lantanas! They are so pretty and will attract butterflies in years to come!

As for these little flowers (more dianthus)? These are going to go perfectly in the pots by the front door.

Have you done any Fall gardening?

I have been having a blast with this holiday series. This one is dedicated to my Mom. She’s a horticulturist by profession and has always had a bright green thumb that made the neighbors jealous. While I sort of have an idea of what I’m making her this year, I thought I’d help y’all out if you have garden lovers in your life.

Image Sources: From top left, going clockwise.
1, 2, 3, 4

Sparkle Peach’s shop – This shop has SUPER cute jewelry items. Very cute vintage style, in my opinion.

VisuaLingual’s shop – This shop mainly carries seed bombs in different plant combinations, but also sells cute prints and ceramics.

Hammermann’s shop - This shop features antiques, vintage items, garden marker spoons, ornaments and much more! Very cute shop!

DressGreen’s shop - This is a cute bath/body shop that features bath/body products made from scratch with many scents for those with sensitive skin.

Don’t you think the gardener in your life would love one of these items? I’m especially in love with the spoons. What’s your favorite?

I woke up this morning with a clock saying “7:55″. Part of me panicked. Millie had a groomer’s appointment at 8am. Thank you daylight savings time. Seriously..I had another hour to get my happy pup ready!

While she was at the groomer, I got some things done this morning….

I’m sure you can guess what those are.

My baby meyer lemons are ready to be picked. I wonder what I should make with them.

I also decided that our gardens look terrible, so a visit to Lowe’s and a few 6 packs of dianthus later, my garden is looking better. At least the backyard one is…front yard is for another day; more specifically, Veterans’ Day since I’m off!

Of course, it’s Sunday. I have to stalk my Fantasy team. The Saints’ defense is KILLING it so far. Can the rest of my players step up? I’m seriously going to lose to Geek In Heels today.

How is your Sunday going?

I still have to go grocery shopping, since tonight is steak and potatoes night. I also need to return some library books and on the way home, ::hope:: that TCBY has their pumpkin pie yogurt. YUM!

I remember in March, when I scoured the local nursery for my beloved ‘maters. They were little babies and I was so excited to see them grow and make full-blown ‘maters for me to enjoy.

I was so giddy when I saw the first ‘maters on the vine. So perfect and organic too!

After fighting squash bugs and stink bugs, most of these ‘maters got infested. Organic gardening was making me impatient, cranky and worrysome. I only ended up with 5 good ‘maters out of the crop of 7 ‘mater plants.

And now, in the heat of July, the ‘mater plants are dead. Full of flowers, but nothing happening. I knew it was their time. I’m fairly sure after this season, I need to brainstorm ways to keep things organic without the bug fuss. I’m not a bug person, and definitely lost to the bugs this year.

I am, however, very hopeful for the future. The future of the peppers.

Perhaps this plant will make me lots of jalapenos to make lots of happy jalapeno jelly with. It will take me out of the garden fail that was my beloved ‘maters.

How has your vegetable garden been this year?