The Potting Bench

About 7 years ago, I bought this potting bench from Target Online. I love it. It was the perfect size for my space (I wish I had bigger) and it is really handy. I use it EVERY DAY! I try to make it pretty, but at the same time useful.

Under that basket, the top of the bench is removeable and there is a tub. I store things in there and use it to plant or whatever. The little wire grid is perfect for keeping those things that you need often and you can just grab.

There is a little shelf on the side that pops up when needed and of course the great bottom shelf. I have no way of making this pretty. I've thought of putting a fabric curtain, but with the sun it would fade in no time and I'm afraid to stick my hand into a fabric covered dark space because of spiders. I really have to watch for black widows. I need that bottom shelf too much to store things. There is also a great little drawer.

This has been such a great little investment. (I think it was only $150.00 or less). I use it everyday and it has weathered the extreme sun and outdoor elements. Some of the best money I've ever spent.

Enjoying Spring!

Yesterday I took a quick spin around Roger's Gardens. It was beautiful as usual. They had some great urns jam packed with succulents. So it gave me an idea.

I bought 4 of these succulents and went home and gathered the gazing ball, some green glass rocks that I had and planted the bird bath. ( Don't feel sorry for the birds, the bird bath was too deep for them, they have a great time in our fountain.)

So I put the gazing ball in the middle instead of another plant, put the succulents around it and filled in the gaps with the glass rocks.

My snapdragons are growing like mad and the bunnies seem to leave them alone. My ranunculus on the other hand are being devastated by the bunnies and so are my fairy primroses.

The saga of the bunny is ridiculous. I put up chicken wire, he finds a way in. I plug the hole, he digs another. I've almost got the whole fence buttoned up - a hole at a time. The chicken wire did a great job for two years keeping the bunnies out, then the association made me take it down so they could paint the fence. I had a neighbor boy put it back up and it looked like it went all the way to the ground, but there was just enough space to give a bunny hope!

I recently planted this urn with succulents as well. They are popular right now and great for my backyard which faces west and gets the hot sun all day.

For my birthday, my friend Marlene gave me all these succulents in a beautiful little wire planter. I didn't hang it fast enough and our puppy Gus tore out the moss. So I planted them all in here. I like the way it turned out! You can see my fairy primrose in the background. Leaves growing like crazy, but no flowers. Bunnies eat them every night.

God is so creative in his design. No detail left undone!

Sweet Peas

I'm going to plant sweet pea seeds this weekend. It's been so warm, that I think they will be blooming by May! They are so fragrant, pretty and easy to grow.

Ready to Begin Vegetable Garden

Pepperoncinis

I'm pretty excited to begin planting my vegetable garden. My garden consists of large pots on the side of my house, so I don't have room to plant a lot of things. I buy already established plants and plant them in big wooden pots. This year I am trying Pepperoncinis. We love these on sandwiches and in salads.

Grape Tomatoes

These are my favorite tomatoes for salads and a quick snack. This will be a first for me also. They are slightly sweet and I like them better than regular cherry tomatoes.

Roma Tomatoes

This will be my third year growing Romas. They are great for cooking tomatoes, bruschetta and capreses salad. I will also grow a regular tomato for sandwiches, just not sure which one yet.

Red Bell Pepper

Last year I grew green and wished all year they were red. So I'm trying it out this year.

Basil

Couldn't cook without it. Easy to grow.

My oldest daughter has also planted some vegetables in pots on her deck. She has a great herb garden with oregano, basil, thyme and sage. She is growing a regular tomato and grape tomato, and a Jalepeno! So far they look great! She gets sun all day.

I so wish I had more room to really grow a big garden. They are a lot of work, but the vegetables taste so GOOD and it is so exciting to watch them grow!

1st Spring Bouquet from the Garden

A little freesia, iceberg roses and lavender. I don't know what the big purple flowers are. They sure are pretty. Lots of little star flowers making one big pom pom.

The fushia colored flowers are from my Sweet Pea shrub.

I love spring!

David Austin Roses

This is the a new David Austin Rose named Anne Boleyn that I just ordered. I love Peonies, but since they don't grow well here in So Cal, I've purchased this beautiful rose. I think it kind of looks like a Peonie. It has a slight fragrance too. I love to garden, but unfortunately, I'm not very good at it.
This is a David Austin rose called William Shakespeare that I have had in my back yard for at least 7 years. It does very well, blooms year round. I love the deep, rich color. I wish I had more space to plant all the beautiful flowers that I love. All the David Austin roses are so beautiful, it was so hard to pick just one.

The Farm

A couple of months ago (about mid May), I decided to try my luck growing some tomatoes, zucchini, basil and bell peppers. I didn't want to plant them into the ground because I have watering issues on the side of my house, so I bought these cheapy containers to plant the vegetables in. I'm so sick of getting vegetables at the grocery store that have NO FLAVOR! I had forgotten that vegetables actually tasted good, until I went to the mediterranean two years ago and had fresh veggies everywhere I went.
We no longer have real Farmers Markets here in Orange County. Nothing ripe and fresh, so I've started "the farm".
It is growing like mad! I've already gotten some zucchini and I have tomatoes galore! I have about 6 bell peppers and the fresh basil is to die for. I got these little boxes at Home Depot, they are a bit flimsy, so I lined them with a trash bag and kept the plastic on the outside to help keep the moisture in. The farm is so fun to visit each day and see what is new. I can't wait until the tomatoes ripen. I have a feeling it will be while we are on vacation!

Charleston

In Charleston, we stayed at this FABULOUS hotel. It is called the Vendue Inn. The staff was extra friendly, they had free breakfast that was made to order, ice cold water all day, wine and cheese at 5:00, cookies and milk at 9:00 and free beach cruisers to tour the city. We had a deluxe jr. suite for $169.00 a night. Great value! It was right by the ocean too.

This was our bedroom.

This was the living room in the suite, it had a fireplace and tv. The sun was coming in the other side of the suite so I couldn't get a good picture. It also had a full kitchen.

These beautiful wreaths were hung on all the hotel windows down the sidewalk.

We used these free beach cruisers to cruise the town and it was the highlight of the trip. We had so much fun. The town has hardly any traffic and it was totally safe.

The view from the dock by our hotel.

A local, he was fishing.

All the kids were playing in this fountain. You can't see them in this picture, but under the bottom tier, there were 4 kids swimming around. Kids were everywhere!

I found it fascinating that the trees grew right over the curb. It California, they would have taken this tree down.

They had some of the most beautiful, gigantic houses I have ever seen!

Some were 4 stories high and were incredibly beautiful.

Once again, they all had these amazing gardens behind their wrought iron fences. The more wrought iron a home had, the more wealth the family had.

Pretty little planters everywhere.

Wonderfully inviting doorways.

A lot of beautiful architecture.

Charleston is some times referred to as the "Holy City" because of all the church spires.

Unfortunately, we only spent one full day in Charleston. Had I know how beautiful it was, I would have stayed longer. We tried to cancel one day in Savannah, but the penalty was too high so we headed back. Charleston wasn't as hot and had cool breezes. I would have liked to visit a home or two, but there wasn't enough time. The shopping was way better than in Savannah and more restaurants to choose from.