Backyard bliss

Oh Monday, how I loathe thee.  I especially loathe thee when you're ringing in another six day workweek like you are today.  And particularly when that week is leading up to conversion weekend for one of our new acquisitions.  I have a feeling the crazy around here is going to hit critical mass very soon.

Until then, I'm taking advantage of the relative quiet to tell you about my backyard projects.  You lucky ducks, you.

I'm proud to annouce that Hubs and I are officially farmers now!  Check out our fields - expanding all the way out to the distant horizon:

Okay so it's only a 4'x8' veggie garden, but if you look at it head-on while lying on the ground it goes on as far as the eye can see! 

We followed these instructions by Sunset magazine except for the part where they suggest buying individual bags of soil; instead we went to our local garden shop and got a truckbed full of bulk soil for much cheaper.  You can barely see them in this photo, but there are four holes to attach two arched PVC pipes over the width of the bed, which we then drape with a net to keep the birds and cats out.  We also went a step further and added screws that stick out about 1/4" all around the base to secure the netting. 

With any luck we'll be harvesting our crops in about 2-3 months!  I've been daydreaming about hosting a backyard dinner party featuring veggies from our garden, so hopefully at least some of them will take.  We planted butter lettuce, zucchini, cucumbers, green onions, and carrots, and next weekend we're adding a tomato plant.  Should make for a really delicious salad!

For my next trick I'm going to try to get Hubs started on building a pergola to put over/near our fire pit.  Aside from farming and throwing a dinner party, my other backyard dream is to have a sort of outdoor living room complete with pretty furniture and drapes for some privacy.  Ahh... well, a gal can dream, right?  The furniture will probably have to wait since it can be pretty pricey, but building the bones shouldn't be too expensive and we're loving Sunset's straightforward instructions on all these projects we've been wanting to do.

Most of our weekend was spent outside, and in addition to completing the veggie garden I also cleared a boatload of grass from one of my planters.  Super exciting and I discovered what happens after I spend an entire afternoon kneeling on the ground digging in the dirt.  Answer:  I spend the entire evening sitting in the recliner unable to move.  The planter looks about a thousand times better though so I guess in the end it was worth the pain. 

All these backyard projects are making me really excited about warmer weather.  I'm in a little bit of denial that it's still only early April; I keep thinking that by now it should be consistently warmer out than it is!  I'm ready for summer NOW; why can't it just cooperate and show up already?