Garden Makeover

I've had plans for a while to make some changes to my garden. The bark I had down on the path really needed to be replaced and I wanted to add an arbor for the morning glories that came up. Since we didn't have any plans for this weekend, I decided it was as good a time as any to put my plans into action.

After a trip to Lowe's, I got started with cleaning out the old mulch. My older daughter really wanted to help, so I raked while she scooped it up and then dumped it around the outside plants. Then, I put up a screen around the air conditioning unit, which sits next to the kids' sandbox and gets it's fair share of sand tossed inside. We're hoping the screen will stop that little game. I spread the new mulch over most of the path, and instead of using wood chips this time, I put down rubber mulch made from old tires that have been chopped up. My kids think it's the coolest thing and it should keep them from getting splinters in their feet when they head out to the sandbox.

My final task was to build the arbor, which turned out to be a lot easier than I had expected. It only took about an hour to put together and my girls were fascinated by the building process. I didn't have time to get it stabilized, but it was put together and standing up by last night. I took some time this afternoon to get the stakes in the ground and attach the legs to them, so it's pretty stable now. I still want to use a couple of L-brackets to attach the arbor to the planter boxes, but I don't think it will go anywhere before I can get to doing that.

I spread the last couple of bags of mulch and trained the morning glory over the side of the arbor (after trimming it way back - I had no choice since it was impossibly wrapped around the hook holding the hummingbird feeder). I also have a tomato heading up the opposite side of the arbor, which should keep it from being trampled as the kids go in and out.

I am so happy with how it all turned out. We have such a small yard that it's nice to have this little jungle where the kids can run in and out and play. The girls were already deep into a game of flower fairies by the time I was done, so I know I'm not the only one who will enjoy it.