During the summer months, we spend a lot of our time at home in our backyard. We grill dinner, roast marshmallows, entertain friends and neighbors, and catch fireflies all summer long.
This past weekend, my husband and I finally had some free time for yard work…about 2 months behind schedule. We like to have the yard cleaned up by early April, but April & May were extremely busy months for us this year with no time to hammer out yard work.
But it’s done and I thought it would be fun to take you to the place where my family spends most of its time during the summer–our backyard.
My husband and I had a patio installed 5 years ago. The project was way beyond our skill level, so we hired a contractor to complete the project and we were really thrilled with the patio. It is almost 600 square feet and we use every inch of it.
We have a sitting area where we read the paper on Sunday mornings and relax in the evenings.
I have perennials planted all the way around the edge of the patio. It looks a little anemic in the middle because the bunnies and squirrels consider it fine dining. I’m hoping the new plant will be something that they hate this year.
I bought this peony on clearance about 5 years ago. Every year, it gets more beautiful. And it’s one plant the bunnies don’t touch.
The bees love it though!
We have a fire pit that gets a lot of use. My husband fires it up almost every weekend and s’mores are a favorite summer treat.
My gardening table, hose, and rain barrel are just over the wall from our grill/dining area and you can see my vegetable garden on the far right.
Unfortunately, this 30 foot pine tree has died and we are having it cut down this week. Bye bye squirrels’ nest…your penthouse suite it coming down!
My herb & vegetable garden boxes are off to the side of the house and I have more new perennials planted right along the house.
I moved the herbs to their own box to make more room for the vegetables. This year, I planted pineapple sage, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oregano, and lemon verbena.
In my vegetable box, I planted 1 cantaloupe and 1 butternut squash on the vertical trellis, 3 tomato plants, 1 sweet pepper, green beans and for the first time, I planted sweet potatoes. Every year, I like to try something new and I’ve never planted potatoes before–I thought it would be fun for the girls.
And that’s our little oasis in the world. We spend a lot of time as a family in our backyard. The only thing that is missing is some color. I didn’t get time to plant any containers of annuals, but I will do that next weekend. Do you spend a lot of time relaxing in your yard? Tell us about your backyard oasis in the comments!
