Gardening

Independence Day, first harvest, and other fun things

Happy Independence Day! I feel incredibly blessed to live in the United States of America. Sometimes I think about this country and just smile. It’s an amazing place to be. Americans have been blessed with so much freedom and so many opportunities. I never want to take this country for granted.

Fourth of July

Jimmy, Lola, and I will be marching in a parade with our church this morning. In the evening, we plan on watching fireworks.

Was anyone else deathly afraid of fireworks when they were little? Any time my family would watch fireworks, I would cover my ears, close my eyes, and be seriously freaked out. I’m glad things have changed, haha.

Jimmy and I harvested the first vegetables from our garden last week! Two zucchini and a cucumber. I’m making zucchini boats for dinner this week and plan on using the cucumber in salads. We’re way behind on weeding, so I’m hoping to squeeze in some garden time this week.

I have a thing for coffee mugs. I always gravitate towards them in stores. Before I went to Savannah, I bought Jimmy this mug and filled it with candy and notes for each day I was gone as a little care package. Once I got back to Pittsburgh you better believe I snatched his mug, even though it says “mine” and I gave it to him. I’m such a nice wife 😉

Coffee Mug

Whenever I walk Lola in the summer, we usually walk past this one house that has a ton of tiger lilies. The flowers poke through the fence, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I finally gathered up the courage to creepily stop and take a picture so I could share it with you guys.

Tiger Lily Fence

I wish you could see it in person because it’s just stunning.

Last but not least, I have to share a picture of my favorite chocolate lab, Haley. A post isn’t complete on my blog without a dog picture, right?

Pet Sitting

She’s such a sweet, happy girl!

Are you celebrating Independence Day?

Do you have a favorite coffee (or tea) mug?

Garden Update

It has been a few weeks since Jimmy and I planted our garden, so I wanted to post an update with a few pictures.

2016 Garden

I’m happy to report that everything is growing with gusto! Even though we put up a fence, something ate away at two of the swiss chard plants and nibbled on the eggplant. We’re pretty confident the garden bandits aren’t deer or rabbits. Jimmy’s guess is bugs, and mine is birds.

Garden Fencing

We had some issues with rabbits slipping through our single-layer fence last year, so we added a second layer of fencing. It seems to be working!

Tomato Cage

We also put up tomato cages. We’re growing San Marzano, red grape, and early girl tomatoes this year. There’s something special about garden fresh tomatoes in the summer.

Broccoli

We have three broccoli plants growing, and they seem to be doing great. This is our first time growing broccoli. I can’t wait to see how it turns out!

So, that’s the update! We’ve had some rain in Pittsburgh recently, so we didn’t have to water the garden for a few days. It was a nice break from dragging the hose across the yard, haha. We’ve been doing lots of weeding, too. I love getting out in the early morning or evening when the sun isn’t too hot, the birds are chirping, and Jimmy and I get our hands dirty digging away at the weeds.

It’s truly a labor of love ❤