Category Archives: Gardening

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Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!: The Front Porch

It’s Thursday, so time again for Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!

I had to laugh when I saw this week’s prompt. She read my mind! My front porch definitely needed some attention. The front of our house faces the road, and we never really even go out there. So the front porch was looking neglected.

First, it just needed a little TLC – specifically, a good sweeping. Next, I wanted to focus on those brass numbers (which can’t be seen from the road and are therefore useless) and adding a little curb appeal. I also dislike the brass light fixture outside, but I didn’t have time to address that for this little project.

Please note: I have edited my  house number for safety reasons. While it looks like it’s just the number 7, there are more numbers. I just wanted to clarify so there is  no confusion when I write “numbers” but it looks like there’s only one.

Without further ado, here is my mini-makeover of my front porch!

First I swept, although I don’t have any fancy pictures of that. Then I took off the old numbers. Here’s a shot of the old number 7 and the new number 7 side by side. Which one do you think will be visible from the road?

Then I potted a friendly hosta from my yard. I just wanted something with a little color before I switch to a mum for the fall. Don’t worry – this guy is going in one of the beds bordering the house. Better than his previous spot, randomly in the yard.

Last, I quickly made a wreath. This is also a place holder for a couple of weeks until I feel like it’s appropriate to put up a fall/harvest wreath. My goal for this one was just to make it bright so that, again, it could be seen from the road.

So there it is: my little front porch makeover. I paid about $10 for all of the numbers; everything else, I found around the house. It’s definitely not winning any HGTV awards, but for me, this is a definite improvement.

Gussy

So there it is! Have you done any small projects that have a big impact? Share!

P.S. Welcome, folks from Gussy Sews!

P.P.S. Happy Thursday everyone! The weekend’s almost here.

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Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!: Gardening

When I saw this week’s topic for the Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!, I was excited. I love gardens. I am not a particularly good gardener (yet), but I enjoy a beautiful garden as much as anyone.

Initially, I intended to take pictures of our CSA farm for this post, but I wasn’t able to get there before I needed to post this.

Instead, here are pictures from the area near my job where at knit at lunchtime:

It’s my little secret garden. I have taken a couple of pictures from here and posted them on the blog before. This one is from last week’s post:

And these yarn photos:

I find the green space to be calming and inspiring, and it’s a great way to break up the workday. I love my secret garden.

Gussy

Where do you go to get away? Do you have a spot that inspires your creativity?

P.S. Welcome, folks from Gussy Sews!

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To garden or not to garden

When the Man and I bought a house two years ago, we had grand plans for the yard. We have about 3/4 of an acre. We learned pretty quickly that our yard would never look like a lush, suburban golf course.

Here are some of the contributing factors:

1) Shade from lots of beautiful trees

2) Pine needles from the aforementioned beautiful trees, which make the soil acidic

3) Lots of moisture on the ground, which never really evaporates, because of the beautiful trees

Someone suggested that we cut down some trees, but we aren’t prepared to do that. First, they are beautiful, and they make our house feel secluded. Second, tree removal costs a lot of $$$, and we would rather spend that money in other ways.

Taking into consideration all of those factors, I assumed that we would never have much of a garden. It would take too energy, and probably a lot of chemicals, to grow our own produce.

A little while ago I became aware of raised bed gardens, specifically square-foot gardening. It’s a neat idea – build the dirt up over the ground, using healthy soil, to create a small garden. The square-foot gardening method advocates planting certain friendly plants together and staggering harvesting seasons. Brilliant! The small footprint for a raised bed garden also means that I could be selective about where I build it, optimizing the sun exposure and water evaporation (so the plants don’t rot in the ground).

But I was still hesitant to take on ONE MORE PROJECT when I’m already feeling overwhelmed with everything I have going on right now.

Imagine my surprise when the Man told me yesterday that he wants to build a raised garden. That he might do it this weekend.

Hooray! I think this will be a lot of fun, and I am excited to be a part of it without feeling responsible for the whole thing.

Okay, so all of you gardeners out there. Any advice for some enthusiastic newbies?