Ardent Garden / a creative blog

I was browsing the internet this morning looking for vegetable plants online and came across a neat website called Blooming Direct. Normally when I come across an online shop based in the UK I move on, but this one is so darn cute! Makes me wish I could order from them! They have tons of veggie plants, and lots of other plants too! They even have gardening doo dads and gifts! I came across a “Choco Mocca” gift set that included Chocolate cosmos and chocolate truffles. Could you put together a more perfect thing? I don’t think so!

My daughter found this little guy out munching on the pigweed in the yard last week. He’s a Common Sooty Wing Moth caterpillar. Hopefully we’ll get to see him change into his mothy self….d

So here’s the grass again. 3 weeks out now from when we planted it. I’m amazed at how fast it’s gotten so nice and thick! I told hubby “It’s like instant grass!” He didn’t really agree though since he had to do all the work.
Here’s a reminder of what the grass looked like after 1 weeks growth:

My grass (our grass) is totally awesome! I’m just excited to have grass really. It’s grown so much in the last week I just have to share a picture!

This is after only 2 weeks growth. I’m very proud.
Here it was last Monday:

And the Monday before:

We’ve (by we I mean my husband) have started working on the deck and should have it completed in a couple of weekends. I took before pictures and will share when it’s all done! This coming weekend there’s an Iris sale up at Blue Lake Ranch and I’m excited to go check that out. I’ve also got a bunch of Iris that should be arriving in the mail shortly that I ordered from a seller on Ebay and some from Blue J Iris. Woohoo!

Last time I posted I mentioned that hubby had finished the backyard. I decided to go ahead and share pictures. I was debating it for awhile because while I am madly in love with what he did to the yard, it still has a ways to go, and probably doesn’t look as fancy schmancy as a lot of other yards out there. Then I decided I’d share because I’m sure A LOT of people have backyards that aren’t fancy schmancy! (Or at least that’s what I am telling myself!)
Way Before:

This is what the yard looked like when we put the offer in on the house, back in December of 2006. It was a foreclosure, the entire thing inside and out was trashed.
After:


These 2 pictures were taken on Memorial Day after hubby removed a crap load of pea gravel and weed barrier, installed a sprinkler system, tilled up the yard, raked it, planted grass seed, and put in 2 new flower beds for me. Over the last 2 years in this house we have done other things to the yard, like take down a fence that was dividing the backyard, move the play fort, remove a dead tree, build a swing set, take down a crotchity old shed, plant roses in the raised bed against the house, install a invisible dog fence and plant 2 new trees.
After after:


These were taken this Monday, 1 week since planting the grass!! So much growth! I’m so excited, we haven’t had grass in 2.5 years. Once it comes in pretty good I can get back there and plant stuff in the flower beds. I’m hoping that by August it will be decent enough to have Dawson’s 1st Birthday party out back!!

Next project: deck overhaul!! Hubby will be putting outdoor carpet down on the deck, re-doing the steps, and installing all new (baby safe) steel railings complete with gate (thanks father-in-law for fabricating them)! I will share pictures of that when it’s complete!

I can’t tell you how thankful I am to hubby for doing all this hard work!! I haven’t been able to help much since Dawson was born, so I really appreciate him getting out there and getting it done!!

For those of you who ended up here hoping to find out how to grow grass, you can visit my dear friend Leanne over at intricateart.com for that! She has a pretty good method that she’s been using successfully over the years! All we did was till the yard, rake it, apply grass starter fertilizer, spread grass seed, rake again and water faithfully!

I have been thoroughly enjoying my iris this year. They are almost done blooming, maybe 1 more week left. I thought I’d share a few pics.

I’m pretty sure that’s Tennesee Woman.
Here’s one that’s blooming for the first time this year and I have NO CLUE what it is!

After they get done blooming I will be rearranging them all, I have 2 new flower beds in the back yard that are completely empty (the horror!!) and I will be enlarging one of my front beds. Also, I have ordered 12 new variety from Blue J Iris that should arrive mid July!! I’ve never ordered from them before so I’ll let you know how they are. I hear good things about them! And their prices are very reasonable!

In other happy happy news Hubby just finished the backyard today! He planted grass, made my new flower beds and installed a sprinkler system. It was so much hard work! I couldn’t be happier about it!

I got this list of toxic indoor plants in my email today and thought I’d share it. For those of you have little kiddos running around, or pets it’s need to know information!!

In gardening news I happily report that today we will be planting:
cilantro
jalapeno
watermelon
lavender
pink tidal wave petunias
yet another strawberry plant (i think we have a million by now!)

I have requested a topsy-turvy planter for Mother’s Day so hopefully we will be growing our maters upside down this year! I’ll let you know how that turns out.

Here are a few interesting posts from last year that I did about earth day:
Great Book For Earth Day
Earth Day Craft Ideas for Kids

So Happy Earth Day!

I have been trying to get ready for that juried show that I wanted to enter. I had one painting to go, and I came to the conclusion yesterday that I just couldn’t pull it together in time. Everyone here has been sick etc… so I haven’t gotten in much painting time. As much as I hated to admit it to myself, I had to admit defeat, and GET OVER IT. Now I have two paintings that I can put in my Etsy shop, but I love them too much! I’d have to price them pretty high to be able to part with them. I am hoping to get final pictures of them later to post.

This is painting number 2 that I’ve done with the intention of entering an upcoming juried show. I’m not completely finished with it yet, still need to work a bit on the water at the top of the canvas, and the froth on the right side. One more painting to go for that show!

Here’s the finished piece! Not sure if I will get up the nerve to enter it….
It’s a small painting, 6×6, done in acrylics on gallery wrap canvas.