Make the Best with What You Have

It's no secret that I don't like our house. Since we're not quite in a position to up and move, we make the best of what we have. Our latest project is something that I have wanted to do for years.

Our mailbox stands in a 4 x 5 ft. space that was not attractive in the slightest.

I'm sure the family who lived here before had it looking all kind of spiffy. That black plastic sticking out was covered with dirt and rocks at one point. There were green border pieces left behind that just sat there for years.

One day I was scrolling through Pinterest and came across an ideas for making a garden. One pin in particular used cinder blocks as a border. Flowers were planted in the holes of the blocks and the height of the blocks meant more dirt could be added to the space between. I showed this pin to Little Dude, who loves yard work (he's an odd child). He wanted to run to the store that very minute. But we had some work to do first.

Little Dude and I spent an afternoon clearing out our little future garden. We raked out as many rocks as we could. I thought about pulling up that black plastic but ended up taking the lazy route. The dirt below is mostly clay, which I had no desire to dig into, and the plastic could help keep weeds at bay. We talked about what plants to get and what kind of border we wanted. Knowing my mom had a white fence border hiding in her shed, we decided against the cinder blocks.

Even though it was a bit chilly outside last weekend, it looked gorgeous. Little Dude and I took that opportunity to make our purchases and start digging in. When we returned from the store, GG was excited about our garden plans and decided to jump in and help.

I cut open each of the 5 bags of soil and the kids spread it out. Little Dude insisted on keeping the mysterious yellow volunteer flowers so I had to help them spread the dirt around those without burying them.

We each took a turn digging holes and plopping in tiny plants. While the kids made sure we did a good job with each plant, I tied our hanging basket pole to the porch (it's old and tends to lean from the weight of a plant). Little Dude decided which basket would go where - one for the back yard and one for our garden.

We stepped back and took a look at our new garden.

The kids are excited to hopefully have fresh tomatoes and green peppers this summer. As much as I am looking forward to that as well, I think I am more excited at how much better this little space in our yard looks.

Until next time....