Courtyard Entrance {part 3}

I had a long-time dream of a U-shaped house with a courtyard in the center of the U. I don't have the U-shaped house but I do have a courtyard. And I love, love it! It's an easy-care space with my very, very favorite perennials and annuals planted in it.

It was a lot of work and heavy lifting but I also had a lot of live-in help. And I learned how to run a Bobcat that saved me a lot of time and energy. I was in my element!

It started with this: a piece of plywood, a few pots and a dream.

The dream included old brick, recycled wrought iron and stone walls.

After the concrete for the porch was poured I started with the first stone wall, which was a backward way to start. I ended up taking it back down again later because it wasn't lined up with the porch. (Lesson learned...start from the house out instead of the other way.) And this was AFTER everything else was in place!

I back-filled in with good dirt and composted horse manure as the wall was built. The ground here is stones, rock, clay, shale and is hard. My mantra is when you get lemons, make lemon aid!

My helpers! After watching me do the first brick column J wanted to learn how to do it as well. P got in on it too, then it was brother teaching brother. As the dry-stacked brick columns were built, the recycled wrought iron was put in place and the clematis' were planted.

Wayne dug the other side loose enough for me to work with it. I literally hacked it out of the hill but, again, it was worth the work.

I wasn't sure how this was going to look like and designed it as I was building it. It turned out well. Today it looks like this.

I LOVE lavender! Out of the twenty-six plants I bought this spring only one died...not a bad record for the type of soil that's here. I was told it also keeps ticks away...yay for that!

The finished bones of my long-time dream courtyard. 

Wayne was on the look-out for brick and got some from a friend/employee. The brick will be used as a walkway from the arbor to the porch. It really doesn't take much to make me happy!

Last but not least...the porch!

~ Esther

I Love My Garden! {part 2}

The veggies I'm getting from my garden are so good! The heirloom pineapple tomatoes are so large one filled my two hands. The onions were replanted twice; I left the purple onions re-root to grow again and whether they'll amount to much, time will tell.

Top left: free pot-bound banana peppers that are producing madly. Top right: heirloom purple tomatoes though I haven't seen the purple and will not bother with them again.

Bottom left: heirloom pineapple tomatoes that will definitely be on my list again.

 

Bottom center: my summer crop of onions. I know, I know, pitiful but they were still good. Bottom right: purple onions re-rooted and growing again.

And the cotton plant? It's a monster at 8ft tall with one pitiful opened cotton cluster and lots of unopened seed pods. Suffice it to say it is an interesting plant. I'm ready to lop it off.

I hope you won't weary of my garden posts because it will need to be broken down into four posts instead of two.

Coming next: the creation of the garden courtyard.

~ Esther