Creating a Home

One of the most exciting parts of moving to Connecticut was the prospect of owning our own home. As a serial apartment renter having a large space with an actual yard was exciting and yet scary. The inside decorating came much easier than the outside. I have been decorating apartments for years, but gardening...well it is a new pursuit. 

One of my favorite parts of our home is the deck. It is large and container gardening much less intimidating then actually putting plants in the ground. I love cultivating my own herbs but this year I added several pepper plants to the mix as well as a few flowering containers. 

I have gotten so much out of my containers. I have used my basil countless times and the peppers have done so well this year. Pictured from left to right: dill, cilantro, russian sage, lavender, serrano peppers, jalapeno pepper, rosemary, basil, and a citronella plant.

We moved here in mid June but didn't really get settled until July so fairly late in the growing season but I really wanted to do some veggis. This year I did a small vegetable garden where I grew tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, and cucumbers.

The tomatoes and cucumbers especially have produced prodigiously. Next year I will actually construct large beds because I want to do different kinds of tomatoes as well as some other varieties of vegetables.

Here is the backyard...as you can see, there is a lot of space but I have no idea what to do with it. I have been toying with the idea of raking up the steep hill and creating a wild flower garden. I am tempted but it would be a ton of work but I imagine it would be worth it. I have been researching it and it seems like I would need to get it done before the end of the fall since the seeds would need to be "winterized" meaning they (similar to tulip bulbs) need to sit in the ground through the cold season to help their growth in the spring/summer.

The title of this blog is "Creating a Home" so obviously, I have made a small step to creating a home other than the small bits of gardening...
                                                       WE BOUGHT A TREE!

I love trees and although our backyard has tons, our front yard was sadly lacking. When we started thinking about tree choices we really wanted something that would grow fairly quickly, be low maintenance, and have fall foliage. Back in Oklahoma you see Bradford Pear trees everywhere so when we saw a hybrid of those called Aristocrat Pear we were so excited! It was not some puny twig we were planting, but a nice 10 ft baby tree that already looked like a piece of home.
                                                                     BEFORE

                                                                  AFTER

Logan proudly planting our baby tree (isn't he cute in his scrubs?)

Aristocrat Pear in its glory, also can kind of see Rose of Sharon and the beautiful butterfly attracter flowers near the mailbox.

We also have taken out this terrible bush that was on the far right of the house (you can see if in the before picture). It was nice looking but attracted hundreds of flies so our neighbor helped us and we ripped that sucker out. You can barely see it in the after picture but we plated a Rose of Sharon there that has purple/blue flowers which will look so nice next year next to our blue hydrangeas.

I have bought a couple books on gardening and although I still feel like I have no idea what I am doing, but there is something so nice about putting a plant in the ground and seeing it flourish. We bought this house and we are slowly but surely making it our home.

Happy Planting,
Steph