Front Yard

I'm getting ready for the winter and preparing for next spring. With the back yard being close to complete, I'm focusing on the front yard.


I moved 4 boxwoods that were in the back yard up to this corner. This corner is a trap for leaves and wasn't looking too appealing. These were crowding my peonies in the backyard so I didn't feel so bad about moving them. In the spring, I would like to plant a bunch of lilies here and get a large pedestal planter where I can change out annuals. Boxwoods are also evergreen.


On the right, I began carving out the garden bed. This is another thing I wanted to do for a while, but just didn't have the energy in me. The grass is so dry that it's easy to dig up. I'm still deciding what to do with the hydrangea back there. I was thinking about planting some knockout rose bushes along the house, but I don't know if there is enough sun here. Also, I want to plant some shrubs that are evergreen. All this other stuff dies back during the winter.



At the store, I couldn't pass these up. Pink bearded irises.

Also, I cut back the roses, lamb's ear, trees, achillea, siberian iris, peonies, foxglove, lavendar and iries. I did a ton of weeding too.

Basil eats basil

Basil Eats Arugula

2010 Harvest

To see the photos up close, visit my flickr page for the Harvest 2010 Set.

To see progress photos from April through August 2010, visit Le Jardin on Shutterfly.

DIY Bruschetta

Bruschetta is a crowd pleaser, but I admit that it's been of a pain to prep whether you are hosting or if you're bringing it to a party. How do you keep the bread from getting soggy? Or what if someone doesn't want cheese? Here's how I decided to do it and it saves time.


In a tray, I put sliced fresh mozzerella, toasted italian bread, pesto and tomatoes.


I got the idea from Better Home and Garden to bake the tomatoes in a pan with olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs. Roasting/baking them tends to make them sweeter too.


You can dip your bread right into this, but I wanted to chop it up a bit. I spooned it all into a food processor and gave it a quick pulse.

I sliced up some italian bread, drizzled it with olive oil and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

Serve warm!

Harvests

8.8.10


8.13.10

Caprese Salad

Here are two ways I used up some of my tomatoes and basil.

Caprese salad - layers of tomatoes, fresh mozz and basil which I then topped with homemade pesto.


I did something similar here except I laid it on a bed of lettuce. Instead of pesto, I just did lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil. There's a little thinly sliced red onion and black berries.