Do you know what this is?
It’s our backyard that I haven’t shown you yet.
Because it’s a jungle! I mean, do you see those jungle vines high up in the trees?
The only thing that’s missing is Mogli.
And that is a plastic table, with a water-proof tablecloth, and three plastic chairs. I put stones on them recently when it was really windy and haven’t removed them yet.
They are sitting on four left-over pallets and an outdoor carpet that Landon and I pulled into the backyard a few weeks ago to make a temporary “deck.” Can you say frugal DIY?
Blue Cottage Backyard Jungle
This picture makes it look so idyllic, but check out what we look at every day from our kitchen window: tree stumps.
And overgrown greenery. But believe me — seeing it like this is a pure pleasure compared to seeing it all without leaves in the winter.
We have so much to do in our yard around the whole house, I break into nervous giggles just thinking about it.
This is so far from the English cottage garden I grew up in.
But on the other hand, it’s also a lot of fun to plan and work on.
So I decided to share this jungle with you to start blogging about little projects I’m going to tackle that will slowly make this into our dream garden — on a budget.
The one highlight in our backyard is this tree. Every time it blooms with those pretty white flowers, I’m so glad we didn’t get rid of it.
When we first bought the Blue Cottage, it was a little sad, half-cut down tree, but it has matures into a really pretty tree that gives us extra shade.
Anyone know what kind of tree this is? It looks especially pretty from Landon’s room, the big window on the second floor.
This is a picture I took of the Blue Cottage a few days ago, before we added the fab DIY porch curtains.
I’ve never started a garden or done any landscaping before, so doing it for our cottage is a first. I didn’t do much last year, just some container gardening.
Half of the plants on the side of the house are big weeds, but I don’t mind. As long as it’s not poison ivy, I don’t care — less plants for me to buy!
I’ve had these two wood chairs on the porch and must have covered them 50 times by now to keep them out of the rain, even though I want to get rid of them.
The Goodwill near us doesn’t accept furniture right now, they didn’t sell during my tag sale, so I finally put them on the side of the house, with a ferns and bird house on them.
I was inspired by my post about cottage gardens — they often incorporate weathered furniture. I don’t mind if they get destroyed out there, and they’ll add to our cottage decor until then.
This week, I plan to get rid of the extra pallet and gardening tools you see at the back of the house.
This is what our flower beds in front of the porch look like since I worked on them last weekend.
Some weeds, two trees I need to plant somewhere else, and you wouldn’t believe where these roses come from. I’m reserving that reveal for another blog posts.
I’m going to add more plants this weekend, and then mulch.
I also need to find a prettier trellis to cover the open space under the house. These pieces were just leftover from when the house was built, and I just stuck them there.
So. Much. To. Do.
Have you ever started a garden/backyard from scratch? How did it go, and how long did it take?
