Hi guys! Hope you all had a great weekend! We finally finished up on the bulk of our gardening. Yay! For the most part, my gardening goes as far as buying hanging baskets, cutting off the hangers and putting them in pots – two to flank my garage and one for my front porch.
I’m lucky enough that Kevin and Erin have started a father daughter tradition of planting the flats of flowers for the front of our house together. Love that tradition!!
However flower boxes are one of my favorite things, so I do break down and actually plant those myself because I HAVE TO HAVE THEM! The first few years I did them, my flowers would dry out so quickly that I couldn’t keep up and they would die halfway through the summer. I’m all about low maintenance, so watering more than once a day wasn’t an option. I barely manage once a day for crying out loud!
But last year I was determined to make them work and I’ve finally found the secret! My first problem was that my window box is south facing and would get blazing sun. Second, I use coconut liners and the water would leak out immediately, leaving the flowers dry and thirsty very quickly. I couldn’t do anything about my house facing south, but I could retain the water better.
So if you also use coconut liners too, here’s my little tip for you…save the plastic liners they give to keep your trunk clean when you buy your flowers. When you get home, line your window boxes with it, then put your dirt in. It helps retain the water, especially on those scorching days. I’ve come to discover they actually sell coconut liners with plastic already in them, but this is a cheaper alternative and hey, you’re giving another life to that plastic liner! Works perfectly and it’s free!
Inside the window boxes this year…two varieties of begonias and goldilocks to drape over the edge. Must have the draping!
We also have a small vegetable garden in our backyard. My son has decided it is his baby this year…he wants to have a farm stand and sell the food for profit. Hilarious, considering we really don’t reap that much from our garden and I want to eat some of it!
And before I go, I’ve got to share a no bake watermelon “cake” I made for my sister’s birthday yesterday. It turned out beautiful and is so easy to make! It would be great to take to any summer shin dig too. I discovered this awesome idea from Heather at Cupcake Love Affair and Rachel at Bubbly Nature Creations. Make sure to check theirs out too. Heather actually made cantaloupe butterflies to stick on the sides! The only fancy touch I did was putting a swirl of whipped cream in the center, which of course I forgot to take a picture of! Still beautiful though!
Don’t you just love it?!
Two more weeks and it’s officially summer for us.
No more packing lunches!
No more homework!
No more piles of papers!
YAY!
How pretty! I wondered what in the world watermelon cake was. Thanks for sharing your flower box idea. I am with you. Watering once a day is hard enough to find time to do!
ReplyDeleteThe watermelon cake is beautiful. And I wholeheartedly agree....must have draping in a window box. That's part of the charm. A window box is on my wish list. I love the whole family is involved in the gardening. That's what I admire most about you...your such a great mom and you do a great job of serving your family. I can tell in every post how much you love them.
ReplyDeleteSharon @ mrs. hines class