My Front Garden

I spent Mother's Day planting the pots for my little front garden and porch.

When we moved into our home 10 years ago this little patch was full of 

tree stumps and lava rock. 

Mr. B removed all of that, I added a double pot feature and began planting.

Over the years I have added perennials to the garden bed but I always use annuals in the pots.

I normally use a tall cordyline plant for the thriller of the top pot but this year I went with a salvia plant because Mr. B liked the purple. 

The rest of the pots were filled in with petunias.

I have also placed some features such as a ceramic snail named Sid and a frog we call Big Fat Bullfrog.

I also made a garden totem several years ago from thrift store glass and flat sided marbles.

I purchased the pots about ten years ago from a local furniture store in a set of three.

The third, medium sized pot, sits on the front porch. 

I again used a salvia and filled it in with marigolds and petunias.

Along the front of the porch, where we like to sit in the evening and talk over the days events, we have two long pots along the railing (only one shown here). The planters were a terra cotta color but 

I whipped out a can of brown spray paint for plastic 

and painted them so that they blended better and the plants stand out more. 

A geranium an each end with white petunias in the center really pop!

I still need to plant up some hanging baskets but I usually wait to do those until Memorial Day weekend as those dang birds love to make nests in them if I put them up too soon!

I hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my front gardens. 

I will share more of the front of our home once the perennials start blooming.

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My Gardening Bench

Last year I had shared with you our "move the shed" project and you caught a glimpse of my gardening bench.  

At that time I had promised to talk more about it at a later date.

Well here we are, it's later lol!

Several years ago Mr. B made me this bench with my 

explicit wants and needs in mind.

It is about 6 feet long, giving me plenty of room to set up plants for potting and transplanting.

He added this grate that I set my pots on when adding dirt.

Underneath the grate sits this lidded container. 

When I am potting the plants, I just remove the lid from the plastic container, place the grate back on it and, the loose potting soil is captured and none is wasted.

I just love the two shelves above for storage as well as the taller shelf below.

Mr. B, as you know, makes some pretty good quality shelves!

I have two lidded containers below, one for potting soil 

and one for my homemade compost. 

I forgot to take a photo but, there are hooks on the right side 

that hold my smaller gardening tools. 

Mr. B really did think of everything! 

We stained it all with a sage green wood stain. 

It looks like I may need to do some touch ups this year.

I love my custom gardening bench so much! It is the perfect size lengthwise and not too tall for me.  

Come Mother's Day weekend you will find me right here, 

a happy smile on my face and up to my elbows in flowers and potting soil!

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