Spring Has Sprung!

I have the best husband ever.

Those of you who have met him already know this. Those who haven't will have to take my word for it. But what, you are likely all wondering, does that have to do with this post?

Spring has finally arrived in Northern Virginia. Less than two weeks ago we had 9" of snow in one day. Now it's in the fifties, and tomorrow might even reach seventy degrees. It's sunny and windy and bright and beautiful and SPRING!

You know what that means...garden time!

Which brings us to my point about my husband. A few weeks ago, I purchased about 8 cubic feet of pea pebbles to recover the garden walkways, as the stones from two years ago needed replacing. I bought them anticipating I'd be able to lay them out promptly, but between freezing cold weather and my back issues, that didn't happen. So they've been sitting piled in the garage. This morning, between bites of blueberry pancakes that he'd made from scratch, N outlined his plan for the day. "I'm laying out your pebbles," he said. "I want my garage back." This evolved into a more extended plan for the day, one that involved us taking advantage of the lovely weather to thoroughly clean up the garden. He laid out my pea pebbles while I weeded the beds and cleaned out the outdoor storage area.  We bought several large bags of compost and manure at the local garden store and N turned them into the beds to refresh them. He cleared out the strawberry barrels. He even took the 8-ft by 6-ft trellis that I used for peas in one bed last year, and cut it into a pair of 4-ft trellises that will serve as pea and pole bean trellises soon.

Best. Husband. Ever. Also incredibly tired and achy husband who may not be able to move tomorrow.

Did I mention he's also got a pork shoulder in the slow cooker to make pulled pork tonight? Seriously, I hit the jackpot.

But enough about us...check out the garden before and after! We are so excited!

Is Spring Here Yet?

Goodness, has is really been over two months since my last post? I suppose it has. Things have been fairly quiet around here for the last few months; my husband and I spent a couple weeks vacationing in Europe, and we were a bit slow to readjust to life back at home. However, I do have a few projects to share with you, so read on.

Last spring I posted this project, in which I swapped the ugly miniblinds in our kitchen window out for a homemade faux Roman blind. While I enjoyed it for a while, eventually the geometric pattern got to be a bit much, and I wanted to try a subtler, prettier fabric. Enter the fantastic Fabric Emporium here in town, which somehow had escaped my notice for the past two years. A yard of fabric and a few hours later, I had this:

Floral and elegant, it lets plenty of light in, and makes me smile every time I see it. I didn't bother with the Roman blind approach this time, and just hung a simple length of fabric. Simple is good!

On the gardening front, things are just getting started. Our weather has been exceedingly frigid, and the soil is frozen solid. However, it's time to start the earliest of transplant seeds, namely tomatoes, kale, spinach and lettuce. So the first weekend in February, I fired up the heat mats and overhead lights on our gardening bench, and officially kicked off gardening season! In addition to last year's seeds, we've got some gorgeous new ones this year, from my sister-in-law and from my cousin. Eventually I plan to have all sorts of fun produce, like Red Noodle Beans and Spotted Trout Lettuce.

Stay tuned for further updates - I'll do my best not to leave you hanging!