green thumb

the 2014 Davis family container herbs have been planted! cannot wait for savory dishes throughout the coming months!!! 

first year for lavendar 

new addition of spearmint...one of my favorite flavors on the planet!  

part 2: name that plant

time to name this plant! this is a ground cover height plant that is purple. anyone know what it is?!?! 

spring on up!

guess this plant!

i need some help! i am the sketchy person who when walking the dog and loving on people's yards actually takes photos of things about them that i like. these plants i love...however i have no idea what they are. my trip to pike's won't happen until next week but i'd love to know what this is [or if anyone has any guesses]...

rehab

rehab for the boston ferns which i've managed to scorch! my goal is to see some substantial improvements by july 20th so i don't have to go buy new ones!

here are the befores...i'll show you the afters [if] when they make it!

visitors

look what i found in my ferns last week...

everything's gone!

look at the back & front yard...everything is gone! yay!!!! cannot wait for armando to plant the new things! 

armando to the rescue

so we had a pretty good guy who used to help us out with the big yard projects at our house...until lately he was quite reliable but just could never seem to get the job done. this past week we found armando...below are the before photos of the davis front yard. you can tell from my fence updates that our back yard is a jungle! 

so here are the before photos!

notice our overcrowding of plants here! cannot wait for ALL of them minus three to be gone and new encore azaleas to be planted in the background!

these plants wont be removed but will be pruned way back! 

sorry GA Power about the crepe myrtles in the power lines! those will be out in no time flat! the big green "mound" as i like to call it will be gone (finally!) 

all of these plants here will vanish as well! no more leggy oversized plants for this house on greenview avenue! 

who wants basil or pesto?!

i am now beyond the point of being able to make/freeze pesto and basil! almost every container we can find from gladware & tupperware to old sour cream containers is filled with pesto! this plant will not die! :-) happy to bring some to you atlanta peeps...maybe some needs to be delivered to people at girls weekend too!

we have produce!!!

my favorite things...

how to dry hydrangeas

from this month's Southern Living for those of us who live in Georgia highlighted how to dry hydrangeas. i feel like everyone has at least one hydrangea plant in their yard/garden and i always wondered how people maintained the color in the dried ones! 


tips:
-use water (to preserve color)...cut blooms off of plant shortly after they peak, remove leaves, and place in a container with water covering 1/2 or less of the stems. after a few days, the water evaporates, drying the flowers. 
-add Rit dye to your hydrangeas in denim blue or royal blue to give deeper color. add a few drops to the water and/or dab the petals with dye to enhance as well. 

garden update!

so i spent the whole day from 8am until 3 this afternoon in the yard raking leaves, pruning hydrangeas, and using the sid loaned gas blower to clean things up...i was determined to get things together before the snakes find a home this year! yikes!

i cant really move my arms but am going to tackle the linen closet and drawers/closet later today or tomorrow but as for the back yard, things are looking good!!!

here's an update of the baby lettuce we have growing!!!

garden update!

so my garden [dirt in pots right now] is started! so far i have sown some seeds to grow lettuce, spinach, parsley, carrots, scallions, and marigolds. starting in march after laney & ro's wedding i will start inside in my jiffy starter set, tomatoes, canary peppers, basil, cucumbers, and a few other fun things! after they start to germinate, those things will go outside but the little starter set is pretty cool. 


you take these indoor greenhouse sets basically and follow the directions (get the little seed pods wet and then put the seed on it, put the lid on the seeds to keep in humidity, and watch them grow until ready to transport outside)


cross your fingers i can do something right and at least one of my many seeds will sprout into a plant that will survive and produce some sort of flower or veggie! 

meet my green thumb!

yes, yes i know you can hardly believe it but as part of my upcoming quarter life crisis consisting of reading all my "be a better you" magazines like martha stewart and real simple...i have discovered [or am forcing...still can't figure it out] a green thumb! 

according to martha [in my head i'm saying this like i do sandra smoak] now is the time to plant! well now being march 2011 issue so that means in a few weeks! that being said i have bought my seeds, seed starter, peat pots, and planters and am ready to sow! this will be a MAJOR test of patience...something we all know i don't have!

the davis house will [hopefully] be successful in growing tomatoes, green onions, lettuce, carrots, and cucumbers as well as sunflowers, zinnias, snapdragons, basil, cilantro, and parsley! phew! just recapping all of that makes me feel insane.

starting this weekend on sunday i will be planting about half of my seeds and in march my little starter green house will be in full swing with the tomato plants and peppers...if all else fails, i guess i can go get a big head of lettuce from publix and try to pull a fast one on joe!

needless to say neither carrie or the lady at pike nursery had faith that i could grow lavender...maybe next year on that one!