Author: Allie Zottola

Our Garden 2018

One of my most favorite times of the year is here: gardening time! As per usual, Jimmy and I planted our garden on Memorial Day. This seems to be a safe planting time frost-wise for the Pittsburgh area.

A few days before planting, the garden was weeded, tilled, and compost was added. We then picked out our seedlings, put down landscaping fabric, and planted!

Guy and cocker spaniel puppy outsideGarden with wood and steel fence and landscaping fabric

Here’s what we planted this year:

  • Two “sweet 100” cherry tomato plants
  • One “early girl” tomato plant
  • Five green bean plants
  • Four “yum yum” sweet multicolored bell pepper plants
  • Three “keystone resistant giant” green pepper plants
  • Three green swiss chard plants
  • Three “candy” onion plants
  • Two “aristocrat” zucchini plants
  • One cucumber plant

Remember how I said we were going back and forth on whether or not we would plant a garden this year, and how we ultimately decided to plant one, but smaller? LOL. We went all out. I think we’re just hooked on gardening and can’t help ourselves 🙂

Vegetable garden with steel and wood fence and landscaping fabricVegetable garden with fence and landscaping fabric

We added some bamboo stakes for the green beans and peppers after I took this picture, and will put in tomato cages once the plants mature a little more.

We still haven’t finished our fence from last year, and we have paid for that because some rabbits (we think) have already nibbled on our green beans and swiss chard. Sad! One morning at like 6:00 I saw a rabbit in the garden and ran out in my pajamas like a crazy woman to shoo it out. It worked and the rabbit hopped away 😉

We put down some small animal repellant after we noticed the damage to the green beans and swiss chard in hopes that we don’t fully lose any of our plants. I’ll be sure to post some updates on the garden as the season goes on!

Cocker spaniel puppy in vegetable garden with zucchini plant

This is our second year using landscaping fabric to prevent weeds, and so far so good! If we hadn’t figured out this little trick, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep up with weeding and all the other projects we have around the house. Landscaping fabric is truly a game changer and I highly recommend it.

I think that’s all for our first gardening post of 2018. Yay! I can’t wait to start harvesting vegetables.

Do you like to garden?

What’s your favorite vegetable?

Currently: June 2018

Current book Recently finished The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines and already want to read it again! Also reading the book of Genesis in the Bible.

Current craving A trip to Hobby Lobby. I’ve been wanting to do some crafting. Maybe I’ll make a trip out this week. I love that store!

Current confession I had to walk about a mile or two to pet sitting one day this week because my truck wouldn’t start and it was such a dumb move on my part. I was walking up this windy hill (with Mavis, lol) where the speed limit is like 40 and the temperature was above 80. I made it safely, but it definitely wasn’t my smartest moment 😉

Cocker spaniel laying in grass with tongue out

Current blessing Jimmy, as always. He fixed the fuel pump in my truck and it is now back in working order. He has saved us so much money over the years with his handiness and knowledge of all things car-related.

Current beauty product NuSkin SPF 50 Sunscreen. Jimmy and I got a few bottles of this before we went to the beach last month and I also use it while I pet sit, mow, and work in the garden. It works well, smells great, and doesn’t feel like it just sits on my skin, if that makes sense.

Current obsession Get togethers! We had Jimmy and Josh’s birthday cookout over Memorial Day weekend, and then we had Jimmy’s mom and siblings over this weekend to grill celebrate his birthday. I am just loving spending time with family and firing up the grill. We even set up our little lighted pop up canopy!

Lighted pop up canopy at night

Current need More hours in a day. I feel like summer is so amazing and busy and I’d like about ten more hours per day to get everything done and enjoy this beautiful season.

Current goal Getting started on our daughter’s room. We have all sorts of ideas, we just need to get to work!

Current food Dark chocolate almond butter. Also loving all the seasonal produce this time of year like corn, watermelon, and tomatoes!

Simply Balanced Dark Chocolate Almond Butter from Targer

Current procrastination Organizing our spice cabinet. Currently, we have these magnetic spice tins on our fridge and have other spices in a cabinet and it just feels disorganized. We’ve had the magnetic tins for a few years and they’re starting to show signs of wear. I don’t know if I should replace them or just keep everything in a cabinet. Any ideas?

Current excitement Jimmy finished making our bed and we are loving it! Would anyone want to read a post about it with progress pictures from along the way?

Industrial wood and steel bed with shiplap and gray quilt

Tell me something current in your life!