This post is long overdue, considering the events took place Mother’s Day weekend…but better late, than never right?!
I mentioned that when my mom was up here over Mother’s Day, that we did a little gardening so I wanted to share with you guys!
I am pretty clueless when it comes to gardening. I have a black thumb, a black hand, and a black forearm. I have no idea what flowers work best for where I live, I always forget to water them, and I never remember to pull my planters in before it freezes. But with the help of my gardening guru (my sweet mom), we were able to pick out a few nice flowers, and finally make sense of the landscaping in our front yard!
I don’t have a before picture for you guys (bad blogger, I know) but just trust that it was ugly. Picture overgrown plants and weeds EVERYWHERE. It was seriously out of control. The first thing we did was trim back the princess spirea bush that was already planted. It had basically taken over the entire section of our landscaping by our sidewalk and was choking out all the other plants that we already planted there. We trimmed it back by at least 35-40% and it still looks huge. Apparently, these things are growing monsters!
Lucy is our version of a garden gnome.
Then it was on to planting some new things! I bought two planters: one to sit on our front porch and one to put in the flower bed underneath our front window. For the one on the porch, we planted some pretty orange-y pink begonias. I’m in LOVE with the color! It makes me feel like a live in a tropical oasis 
For the flower bed below our front window, we put a planter filled with purple and yellow calibrachoa right in the middle and planted two hostas on the sides. The previous owners had some other grassy plant in this spot (which hubby had totally mowed over) so we also left those in their places, hoping they would grow back into something good. And I’m happy to report that they are! I have no clue what they are, but they have these really cute lilac colored flowers on then every now and then. Happy surprise!
So here’s a few tips I picked up during my first real gardening adventure:
1) Put a layer of rocks in the bottom of your planters. It helps with drainage, and you don’t have to buy as much potting soil. Double bonus!
2) Hedge clippers are your friend. I never cut back the princess spirea bush because I was afraid I would hurt it somehow. Turns out, you really can’t hurt it! So trim away, my friends. No, seriously..trim that thing or it will take over your life.
3) Read the tags! They offer helpful tips about how to care for your flowers (how much water, partial vs. full sunlight, etc).
4) Water, water, and water some more! This one’s kind of a no-brainer, but it was always the hardest part for me. So, for the first couple weeks, I set a reminder on my phone at the same time every day to go out and water the plants. And now it’s my after-work routine!
Anyone else been doing any gardening? Do you have any more tips for this novice gardener?
{Sidenote: Big thanks to Jenny at DIYNewlyweds for featuring the art I made with our wedding photo. Hop on over and check it out!}
