I've been busy digging in the dirt here in Minnesota because, well...because I can. There is no yard in Arizona to speak of other than my cactus gardens, so it's fun to putter around in the soil up here.
With our tree filled lot it's not easy to dig up a new garden bed. In fact it's often necessary to use a shovel, an ax and pruners to cut through enough roots to make a small hole.
It's hard to imagine that three years ago this was a creeping Charley infested mess with no grass to speak up. Just some sketchy dirt here and there among the weeds.
But some of my new projects involved raised beds so the soil is lovely. The hard part was buying it and carrying it home. Those bags are insanely heavy.
I had hoped to install a screen house this year, but there's just no space for it with the trees. Oh well, at least George & Gracie have a screen house.
Over the next few posts I'll share each new garden with you.
Long Live the Queen
The last part of the yard to get expanded was the addition of this little butterfly garden.
There was one day-lily here when we bought the lot and it looked really sad all alone.
So I started adding more plants and then digging up more area until I had a triangular shaped garden for more plants that butterflies enjoy.
It's tiny but fun to have near the golf cart parking area.
Long Live the Queen
Since I picked up two doors to play with the back of the trailer got a makeover as well.
This area had been really blah so first I created a rock garden to hide all the crappy grass that wouldn't grow. That made it a bit harder to install the door but we managed. What really made it hard to work with was all the nasty biting flies that plagued us as we worked.
This spot gets more sun than other parts of the yard so it's now a butterfly garden. I added some Joe-Pye week for food for the monarchs. The primary colors back here are purple and pinks.
I've always loved rock gardens and succulents are some of my favorite plants so this are tucked in all along the edges.
Long Live the Queen
This is the area I'm most excited about. The back of the shed had a small platform that I didn't know what to do with. So I had Left Brain build up the sides to create a raised bed and drill some holes in the base for drainage.
After hauling in seven bags of good soil I was ready to begin my new project.
My cousin, Anne, found the cool vintage sink on Craigslist for free and picked it up for me. Left Brain and I broke it during the initial installation but it's all glued back together and re-situated. She had a sink in her garden and I loved the look so had to copy it.
The door came from the ReStore and Left Brain painted them blue for me to use as a pop of color for this area. I planted the grasses on the sides to soften the edges.
It's fun to tuck in little surprises like this over-sized Jacks.
And this cute little metal flying piggy bank.
This garden area has been a lot of fun and has caused a steady parade of people driving by to take a look.
Long Live the Queen
This was the original garden in the forefront.
It has expanded down the yard and around the trees. This makes it easier for Left Brain to mow and I'm just that kind of considerate girl.
The bird bath is the same and I love the little faucet decoration I added.
The chandelier is new. I found this on Craigslist free and drove to Eden Prairie to fetch it. It was black but now is a cool burgundy shade of red.
This hosta is named Forbidden Fruit. How could I not buy that one?
This guy is called Guacamole and I love his big green leaves.
This is a view from the street in front of our place. I added the little additional garden on the left because there was a bit of space there. This also shows the side of the shed and the blue mailbox I added to hold my tools. I picked this up at the ReStore and painted it blue.
Long Live the Queen
