I'm sure I'm not the only one who has felt an array of feelings since quarantine began. Most of the time I fall somewhere between a complete lack of motivation, and sheer boredom. And then every once in awhile I'll get a sudden burst of energy and I'll do all ...

We’ve spent the better part of the last 4 months at the cabin. We head home from time-to-time to check the mail, check on the neighborhood and mow the lawn. I’ve been missing my garden in a major way. I look forward to spring more than any other time of ...

The spring is by far my favorite time of year. Us Minnesotan’s savor any and all outdoor time we can get in the warmer months. Every spring season I try to focus on a small space and give it a bit of TLC and this year I have teamed up ...

Hello! I just wanted to pop-on and share my end-of-season garden with you. The fall has never been my garden's best look, and I thought why not show the good and the bad. It's the month of August where I usually give up on weeding and giving general craps about ...

I had a problem. I wanted to spend huge chunks of time at this cabin this summer, but I also wanted not kill my window boxes and lawn due to lack of watering. What's a girl to do? A few years back I had set up a timer to our ...

Geez! What is wrong with me! All this summertime business is interrupting my work flow. I took these photos on May 31st, I swear. I love this time of year in the garden because things change so rapidly and quickly and it is so fun to watch and be a ...

Ooooh, I’m so excited to share with you guys so many outdoor spaces at the cabin this year! To bring you up to speed, we purchased our Northwoods Wisconsin (aka West Wisco) cabin nearly two years ago. We’ve done a lot of improvements to the interior spaces since moving in ...

It’s like clockwork, every spring the e-mails about my fence start to trickle in. I never knew when we first built the fence that it would attract so much attention, but it has! It has been very well documented but the info is scattered around the blog and I thought ...

Today I felt inspired, so I thought sharing a few of my favorite things from Target’s patio line might help me break through. Let me start by saying it went from 50 some degrees yesterday morning to straight up blizzarding today, that’s supposed to be funny, right? I don’t know ...

Friendthrens. I tell ya, the only downside to having a cabin is not being able to give respect due to the gardens. They are thriving this year, but they are in desp need of some cleaning up. I have to actually schedule time in my calendar to hang out with ...

Hello! I’ve recovered from my One Room Challenge, and have started onto a new back yard project! I’m so happy to have a little time to spend digging in the dirt and getting the backyard ready for spring! The top priority on my to-do list was to get our backyard ...

Hi Guys! The snow still has not melted (because it’s a total jerk), but typically this would time of year would be the beginning of the gardening season. Not only am I excited to get into my garden at home in Minneapolis, but this will mark the first season of ...

I’ve got instructions to share today, so that you can recreate a starburst trellis for your garden, garage or side of your house! I had always known that I wanted to run planter boxes along the base of the garage, and after mulling it over it occurred to me that ...

Landscape lighting brings so much curb appeal to your home, and it doesn’t even matter whether or not you have pretty day-time landscaping. You can just point an spotlight at whatever, and it it makes it everything look good and dramatic ...

You might remember, last year I installed a patio on top of a concrete parking pad in our backyard? Or maybe you don't, in that case, I'll supply you with this convenient link for you to click on. The patio turned out better than I could have imagined, and I ...

Backyard Okay budz! This is late, but a very true and accurate post. I took these garden pics at the end of June and have been sitting on them for two weeks. Things continue to be C R A Z Y ! in our summer life. I am trying to ...

Ruby Tears Crab Apple I know, I know! It's June 7th, and here I am with my May Garden post. Believe me when I say, that I have taken all of these photos throughout the month of May, no June pics included here :). It's always mind blowing how much ...

This post was made in partnership with NewTechWood. They provided me with the decking for the patio, but all thoughts and opinions are my own. I wasn't aware of it for a long time, but I recently discovered that our backyard was hiding something amazing from us. This awesomeness was ...

If you're familiar with the blog, you might recognize the garden picture below. This is the most sloppy garden in our backyard - there's always one that you kinda neglect. I've been slowly filling in the base of the garden with "leftover" perennials for the last few years - by ...

Pagoda Dogwood Welp guys, there was a lot of death in my garden this year. This is strange to me since we didn't have a worse than normal winter, it was actually a whole lot warmer than normal. A lot of perennial root systems seemed to turn to mush, and ...

What. Up. I thought this post might come in handy if you're anything like me and you're right on the edge of spring, you can't contain yourself, and you need to just do something outside already! That being said, forgive the fact that there is barely any green going on ...

Hello buddies. Long time no see! I unintentionally took a little break last week. There was lots going on around here, I was madly spring cleaning and didn't have anytime for the internets. I'm feeling refreshed and ready to be back typing away this week though. I wanted to continue ...

Dude(tte)s! We are committing to this patio thing! I think it will add tons to our outdoor experience and is gonna look-a real nice! Things that I need to tell you about it are as follows. I have been scouring the internets looking for a realistic option for covering the ...

It just occurred to me (aka I got an e-mail asking what the heck am I growing in my gardens) that I've never actually broke it down and shared with you guys what exactly is growing in my Zone 4 flower beds (check your zone). I've done a lot of ...

Alright, I've been trying to not think about spring for a long time. I keep trying to enjoy the winter (which I admit, I've been really good at this year). The last few weeks have been especially warm, and now that it's back to stupid cold again, I just can't ...

Dudes. Do any of you guys have a bathroom with no light, or low light? We do. Our new basement bathroom is nestled in the center of our home with no access to windows or natural light. If you're like me, you realize quickly that bathrooms of this nature need ...

Guys. As it always seems to happen, it's mid-December and the boys and I have come down with somer sort of nasty cold where all you can do all day is lay in bed, and no one is around to take out the garbage out for you or bring you ...

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Here we are, the last garden post of the summer. This year, I can honestly say that I am ready for the fall to come, and for that big autumnal change to happen. Not only am I ready for the colder fall days ahead, but this season change signifies big ...

Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangea I can not even believe that it's time to share my July Garden. Holy smokes, what a summer! It's especially been a great summer for the kids, which is what I had hoped for, I think they've enjoyed it, and I feel insane. Like I've said, August ...

Window Boxes Guys! July is the craziest month for me, I know I haven't blogged in like 2 weeks, I know I've had photos sitting on my camera for nearly as long. My boys both have birthdays this month, combined with long holiday weekends and cabin adventures, theres just no ...

Ruby Tears Crab Apple I know I'm a little late on the May Garden post, but I promise, I took these photos right at the end of the month. It actually works out really nicely that this post got pushed back because it lands on my favorite gardener's birthday, my ...

What up my gardening budz? I hope that you're ready for an intense amount of perennial posts, as I've got lots of late spring loveliness blooming in my garden at the moment. Let me start with Allium which is brand new to me. Allium (aka basically an onion flower) is ...

Hey guys! Did you know us Allens are the Kings and Queens of grilling and backyard parties, respectively? I'm sure you had no idea. Anyways, I know it's kinda cliche for dudes to be super into grilling and babes to be super into entertaining and throwing parties, and at our ...

Guyses! Earlier this spring I made the biggest easiest improvement to increase our nighttime backyard chill vibes, and it was so incredibly simple. I'm unlocking the mysteries of landscape lighting for ya. I command (yep, command) you all to follow my lead and do the same with your outdoor spaces! ...

Gardening budz! I'm popping in to share a shade loving favorite and a recent bloomer from my yard, Solomon's Seal. This one is rather new to me, I took my first little shoot from my mom's house two growing seasons ago. Since then, it has become one of my favorite ...

I took sometime to think about what I needed and came up with this basic plan (above) before I went out shopping. Alright, so my spreadsheet-obsessed-husband is rubbing off on me, I've been wanting to put a 'zone 4' plant database together, including all of the crucial info such as ...

Sedum Hey! It's April garden share time! Right now I am in the thick of getting the flower beds ready for the summer. The spring always seems like a mad dash to edit and rearrange flower beds, divide a few perennials and mulch before the heart (and the heat) of ...

Remember how I was doing that indoor plant feature-thing throughout the last few months? I decided to extend it into the summer, sharing my favorite perennial plants, and then getting back to featuring indoor plants again in the fall. The idea is that I'd talk about perennials from my garden ...

This post has been such a long time in the making. It makes me so happy that I might fill this post with overly positive words and phrases. You guys!, six year, that's how long it's been since we moved into this house. Six years ago I was staring at ...

Guys! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but it just turned spring here, like yesterday, and I haven't been able to do anything except stare at small green things that are growing in my yard. It makes for very boring blog talk. However, I have been up to a ...

Sedum I'm getting so excited that it's almost garden time. Spring is my favorite time of year, and I am dying to get my hands dirty. I especially love that gardening is one of those things where there is always room for improvement. I couldn't be happy if it was ...

Friends! Holy cow, this winter has flown by and it seems like spring might actually be right around the corner (and by saying that, I hope to god I didn't just jinx it). For the first time in history I am actually behind the ball when it comes to getting ...

Hello Friends! You know it's that time of year when you've got to starting thinking about all that boring, tedious, endless yard work you've got comin' at cha. That's how most people see it anyway, but I actually find a lot of satisfaction from getting my garden in tip-top shape ...

The thing I love about gardening is that it's never done, at least for me. It's always a work in progress and I'm always striving for that perfect flower bed. I've always had a tenuous relationship with our front foundation garden bed. There are two big reasons that it's not ...

Veggies Hello, Friendz! As I mentioned earlier this summer, my garden has had a rough go of it this season. The side garden was torn up and trampled by worker dudes, the veggie garden couldn't be accessed for maintenance due to piles of dirt next to them, and I lost ...

Whazzup all you cool people? I have a sweet makeover to share with you today facilitated by my nice neighborly pals over at Ace Hardware, (thanks Ace, you da best!). Us Ace bloggers were asked to get really in depth on a project this summer, something that we were really ...

Hey Guys! Hope you all had a sweet weekend. I spent mine painting our basement like I was born to do it. Even though I spent so much time in the basement, I made it a priority to get in some of quality time in the garden, one of my ...

huchera It's been an up and down sort of gardening season. What I thought was going to be a piece-of-cake established garden has been anything but. Things have been dying this year, specifically the Japanese maple, but I also lost phlox, clematis, coneflower, and a few iris. I've been replacing ...

My yard is having hard timez this year, and it makes me so sad. I mentioned a few weeks ago that my Bloodgood Japanese Maple was not doing well. It's gotten much worse since then. I took an effected branch to the horticulturist at my local garden center, and they ...

+++ image source +++ statley kitsch I need another project like I need a hole in the head, but honestly we/I have to do something about our front stoop. Replacing the front steps was the first thing on our to-do list when we moved in (5 years ago), but over ...

Peonies Hope you guys are all having a good hump day. It's the last week of school for the kiddos so things are about to get buck. Anyway, before the chaos beings let me share my May garden pics with you. I guess I have a thing for purple and ...

Hey guys! We did some adding and subtracting in the yard over the weekend. We added a new tree and removed an old concrete column that was located at the base of our back stairs. I had the luxury of having a broken hand and wrist, so I couldn't help ...

Hey doodz, remember last year when we got our new fence installed? (Part 1, Part 2) Well today I wanted to share with you how it be lookin' one year later. I've stained it since the last time we talked about it. I decided to go for a dark brown ...

Guys! Check out the best new thing to happen to happen to my backyard dream scene. My new hammock, lovingly given to me by my boys for Mo's day (aka Mother's Day). I'e been thinking a hammock could be a really great addition to the backyard for the last year ...

Hello all you wonderful people! In case you haven't noticed it, it's totally spring now! That means there is lots of work to do to get your yard in tip-top shape. Are you feeling hungry to get out in the yard on these warm spring days? Take advantage of that ...

Bleeding Heart Guys! My hand is still ruined, but I'm not going to stop it from sharing my April garden with you. I still can't do anything unless I use my left hand only, which has been problematic for a lot of things; like putting your hair in a pony ...

+++ sources +++ design sponge | tapiture Yo Bros. Just dreaming about spring over here and wondering how you guys feel about hammocks? I feel very good about them, and am very much considering adding one to my backyard-garden-vibes. What do you think? I think it could probably make a ...

Hey, Pals! It's no secret that I am so excited to get out in the yard. Not having dirty hands every day is just killing me. The only thing that can really be done this time of year is getting raised beds ready for the coming season, so I'm doing ...

Sedum Yes, okay, it's a few days late but I'm happy to share with you my 2nd ever March garden post, and for the record I did snap these photos on the 31st. This is only the second time of the six gardening seasons we've had that there have actually ...

Astilbe I've never grown Astible in the garden. Its flowers are so feathery and the foliage is reminiscent of ferns. It comes in array of colors and sizes and prefers the shade. I think it could look really stunning mixed in with the hostas on the shady side of the ...

Pssst, hover your cursor over the garden drawing Yo Guys! It's Veggie Garden Planning season! Planning the coming year's veggie garden with the kids has become my ultimate favorite sign of spring. Finn and I started this tradition four gardening seasons ago back in 2012. Gus was merely a little-dude-baby ...

Hey! Guess what? This is going to be my first official post of the year for Ace Hardware! I'm sincerely so, so excited to be working with them - I just love my neighborhood Ace Hardware store, and I feel really fortunate to be teaming up in a brand that ...

Rollover the above image for the BEFORE Hey. So, I discovered something on the internet that has really gotten to me. This may be an indication that I'm getting super old and becoming naive to new things on the internet, but I just visited getoffmyinternets.com (GOMI) for the first time ...

What up pals? It's winter now so you should make your house pretty on the outside. Every year I get a little better at this winter decorating thing. It takes some practice, but once you figure it out it's fun and easy. Imma tell you a few things about what ...

Friends! Just wanted to give you a little fiddle leaf fig (aka ficus lyrata) update. Both my fiddle leaf figs (1 and 2) have grown tons this summer, it’s is really exciting watching new leafs appear all the time. One of my figs (the younger one) really began growing rapidly ...

Hey Guys, long time no see! I just spent the last week nearly dying from the worst cold ever. It was one of those colds where doing any of the things just makes you feel exhausted. I still don't feel that great, but I have a bit more energy this ...

Side Garden Hey Guys! I've been so busy lately, sorry if I am late to the show on the July Garden. I know it's August and all, but I promise, all these photos are from July. The garden has been really grown into itself this year. There is always something ...

Yo, Friends! Did you know that you can divide perennials? It actually often helps to keep your perennials healthy and has the added benefit of making new plants! I recently went through my garden and split off a chunk of my perennials for my good pal Nicole (aka Colz). She ...

Hanging Basket Hey, Guys! Hope you had a cool weekend, I know we did. We spent it up at the cabin, and I'll be sharing a few photos in the coming days. Anyways, if you didn't notice it's July 1st and it's time to recap you on my June garden ...

I'm back to share with you today my method for adding garden beds to my yard. When I moved into my house there were absolutely no garden beds - I mean none! I've installed and planted all the gardens on my own over the last 4 years. I've gotten pretty ...

Hey buddies! I've been working my butt off the last few days, trying hard to finish my latest gardening adventure. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was on a mission to make the veggie gardens pretty, I didn't want them to look like they were just plopped down ...

Do you like how I got that cardinal to pose for my fence pic? It is raining cats and dogs over here, today is especially nuts, I think we're closing in on 4" of water falling from the sky over the last twelve hours! Flash flooding and total insanity abound ...

A few weeks ago I picked up a couple of Bryant chairs from the Threshold collection at Target. Do they seem familiar to you at all? I kind of think they are a total knock off of the Loll Designs Lollygagger line, which is a little dissful of Target, especially ...

Budz! You may remember a few weeks ago when the kid and I built an addition to our raised bed garden scene. The seedlings are all starting to grow and the new raised bed garden is coming along nicely. However, the raised bed gardens on the side of my house ...

Hey Guys! So if you've been following along with the blog you may remember last year when I overhauled the boulevard garden. I had originally planted the garden in 2010, but I had no idea what I was getting into. The garden was not thriving and poorly organized. At the ...

Bleeding Heart Friendz! I'm so excited that it's Friday, and I am even more excited that spring has finally hit the midwest. Like always, we go from cold to hot and steamy in a matter of days, but whatever! I'm just glad it's jorts weather, ya know?! I've been spending ...

Hey, Guys! Hope you all enjoyed a happy and safe Memorial day weekend. We totally chilled, hard. We spent nearly every day in our backyard or front porch, leaving the house only to go out to breakfast and maybe a liquor store run. It felt really good. I've been keeping ...

Hey Guys! Thanks for all your suggestions for trees and bushes for the backyard last week. For those of you considering a tree or bush for your yard you should really check the comments from the "Ornamental Trees post" as there are a lot of knowledgeable gardner types out there ...

Yo, whats up gardening friends? I am so excited that a few of you expressed interest in gardening posts! Nobody said "NO," so to me that means I can talk about gardening all day long! You had your chance to tell me you couldn't stand all these gardening posts, it's ...

Hey Guys! We are loving the new fence! As our gardens begin to fill in we are more and more enamored with the way everything is coming together. The parking pad space is being used daily as a fully functioning kid zone - it's been really great to have. That ...

Hey Guys, I thought I'd do a few "gardening 101" posts as it seems like I have been getting a lot of comments from those of you who are newer to gardening or trying it out for the first time. I am by no means an expert but I do ...

Hey Guys! It's finally feeling like spring is happening here in the midwest. Trees are budding, grass is greening up and everyday I spy more and more plants in my yard that are poking through the dirt. It's all really exciting, and is by far my favorite time of year ...

Jacob's Ladder Hello from the land of viral pneumonia and snow flurries. The kids and I are all super sick because we just had to end the cold & flu season with one more major illness. We started spring with a bang, and by bang I don't mean excitement and ...

I don't know about you guys, but there is nothing I like receiving more for Mother's Day then large bags of black mulch. I spent Mother's Day last year knee deep in mulch, and I couldn't have been happier. Although I do like mulch very, very much, I do have ...

Guys! The fence is like, technically done, but (and that's a big but) I didn't want to call it the official 'after' just yet - there is still work to be done, people! In case you didn't notice, Minnesota is probably the last state out of all 50 of them ...

Guys! I'm am so stoked! The old plastic slatted green chain link fence is gone, and the new horizontal slatted cedar fence is being installed. You all know how much I love my flower beds - I hated seeing them against that green plastic fence backdrop, they deserved better - ...

Hey, Guys! I have to say it's feeling a lot more like spring around here. We finally had some nice warm sunny days. The eight inches of snow we had acquired last Thursday is nearly gone. I can see grass, finally! All these signs of spring mean one thing to ...

Garden - Spring 2008 Can I start by saying how great you guys all are? I received so many comments of encouragement and understanding on my last post. It was good to share with you and hear that we all have bad days. Something I know, obviously, but when you're ...

Pssst, hover your cursor over the garden drawing I'm not even going to acknowledge the fact that I woke this morning to temperatures that were pretty dissful for nearly March. Let's just pretend spring is happening now! Let's talk about that instead, okay? Finn and I were pretending that spring ...

| 2 Hey, Guys! The old man (aka Jeff) and I have a house-to-do-list chocked full of big ideas, budgets and timelines. If all goes according to plan, we'll be getting a new backyard fence this summer. It's a big landscaping year and I am so excited! I just recently ...

Yo, guys! Holy crap, it’s -17º here right now in MPLS with a -41º windchill. When the weather was this cold two weeks ago I was sure that would be the worst of it for the rest of the winter, you know, something to feel like I checked off the ...

My August Garden Music: "Lift Every Voice" from Lazerbeak - used with permission Hey Guys! I decided to try something different this month, instead of sharing with the usual monthly garden update photo style, I instead am sharing with you this cool vid I made of the yard. It's as ...

Guys! After years of hating my mint green roof we finally got a new one!! As roof replacement tends to go, it was unexpected. We had a big storm in June, and a few of our shingles blew away. We made a claim with our insurance company and were able ...

Asiatic Lily The gardens came through in perfect fashion for the kids birthday's, both which were hosted in the backyard. This year really has been the best garden year one on record. Everything is much more mature and filled in, thus leaving me with a lot more time on my ...

Pink Peony Oh man, June garden time. This makes me happy because summer finally started, but makes me sad because summer finally started. The weather around these parts has been a tease ever since March. Needless to say this funny business has lingered into the spring, leaving us with cooler ...

Our veggie garden has really been coming to life over last few weeks. We're even getting close to harvesting a few things. We're already knee deep into arugula and radishes, both veggies have been making good ingredients for the most amazing salads. I think I'd be happy with a whole ...

Something cool happened at Casa La Allen this weekend, we put our new, improved and revamped fire pit to use! The urban cabin vibes just got turned up to maximum volume! Now we're not newbies to fire pits, you guys, we've had plenty before. However, this new fire pit situation ...

Guys, sorry I've been away a bit lately. It's all because I've been busting my butt working on the boulevard garden. Jeff's been laughing at me because I made the mistake of saying to him in passing that "I wasn't allowed to weed the backyard gardens until I finished the ...

Bleeding Heart Finally, we made it to a May garden post you guys, and I finally have photos to share with you of real actual plants. The first month of spring is always the most exciting in the garden, things grow so quickly, it's insane! Just two weeks ago there ...

Hey-O! Me and the kids (mostly Finn) have got our tiny veggie garden all planted and ready to grow! I love our little garden, it's so much fun and both me and the kids get so much enjoyment out of watching and inspecting our veggies, looking for signs of new ...

Hope you guys all had a super sweet long weekend, I know I did (minus the no sun and cold weather part). I spent a few afternoons over the last week digging up the north side of my boulevard garden, and I have to say, I'm super happy with the ...

Hey Guys, hop aboard the crazy garden train today with me! I've been thinking a lot about my "hellstrip" lately (aka boulevard garden) (aka the garden between the sidewalk and the street). The weather is still springish 'round these parts. I'm guessing I'll have limited days before the sun starts ...

This is my first spring with Tulips in my yard! I planted 3 different types of Tulips this fall, 20 Peach Blossoms, 10 Spring Greens, and 10 Foxtrots. I was getting a little sad that none of them had made it through the winter, but then slowly I began to ...

Inspiration Photos Found On Pinterest Guys, did you know that what I have been referring to as a "boulevard garden" is much more commonly known as a "HELLSTRIP"? Cause I had no idea, until I started googling around looking for inspiration for my much more mild mannered "boulevard garden". I ...

For Mother's Day I received flowers for my window boxes, and mulch. I love this! It's become a tradition and nothing could make this girl any happier. Over the years I've tried out a few different combos for my front window boxes, the first year I planted reds, whites, and ...

Okay guys, let's just stop calling this Deuce Cities Henhouse and start calling it Deuce Cities Gardening4Lyfe blog, cause that's what your in for in the coming posts. Not only that, I'm going entrance makeover crazy over here too, somebody stop me! I don't know if you've ever had front ...

Hey-O! I don't know about you guys, but now that it's finally made it to spring 'round these parts I've been trying to make up for lost time. I've been doing outdoor projects left and right trying to get everything ship shape and ready for spring and summer enjoymentz. I ...

Daylilies Well guys, I had to do it. I just had to post photos of my April garden, not posting would just be too sad. If you remember, by this time last year I had already posted about my March and April gardens. Still, the bits of green popping up ...

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Happy almost weekend time guys! Thanks for hanging with me there over the last few days. It seems that my server was the target of some hackers, doesn't that sounds so cool and badass? Thankfully, nothing really really bad happened to the old blog, but it did result in slow ...

Over the winter, my old man and I did something pretty dumb. Let me start by saying we had really good intentions. We wanted to make a new annual Allen Christmas tradish and burn down our Christmas tree the day after New Year’s day, duh. It sounded like a cool ...

Hey Guys! It's getting so close to being spring around here, but unfortunately my backyard is still covered in snow. I know the first spring flowers are coming and I can barely stand the wait. This spring has been a total bummer when it comes to being on time this ...

Finn and I held off as long as we could, this time last year we were already knee deep in seeds and plants were sprouting up like mad in our yard. Now, I know last year was a rare occurrence, I know it's not going to be 70º all the ...

Heyo! Guys, can we talk about garden stuff yet? It's March 1 tomorrow, so I think yes. This is going on my 4th garden season at our house. We moved in March of 2010 so I got to jump into the dirt right away the first year. Our yard was ...

Hello All, and welcome to my yearly succulent post. Now, let me start by telling you that if a meteorite ever hit the earth and took out all the clocks and calendars that ever existed you would need my help so hard! I'd be able to tell you exactly when ...

/ / / When it comes to my window boxes I tend to get competitive. There are some homeowners out there who are so damn good at arranging beautiful window boxes no matter what the season. I want to be one of them and am envious of their arranging skills ...

I thought I'd share shots of my actual gardens rather than close-ups of flowers that I have been sharing in my other gardeny posts. Not too much has changed in my flower beds over the last month except for the weed growth. This is the time of year when I ...

Like I said in a post last week, our garden is becoming the ultimate bloody mary bar, at least that is what it aspires to be. I really want to can home made bloody mary mix by the end of the summer as well as spicy pickles, beans and peppers ...

Well our little veggie garden is producing little bits of wonderful food for us. It's been a great experience and the kids love it nearly as much as I do. We've planted broccoli, peppers (3 different kinds), beans (3 varieties), tomatoes, spinach, carrots, radishes, onions (green & red) cucumbers, 4 ...

Holy Shiz! July is over! That went way too fast guys. Makes me a little sad. Well, at least we have August to look forward to, and honestly, I kinda got into the 60º fall weather we were having in Ireland. I'm looking forward to fall just a little bit ...

Holy cow, it's already been a month already. Well I was really looking forward to June's garden until the painters came. All the handwork that I put in during March, April and May was ruined by heavy ladders. It's not a total loss, but the weeds are out of control ...

Me and Finn picked our first crop of radishes from the garden this week! Totally thrilling (not even being sarcastic)! I'm loving every second of this little garden. We check it almost daily to see what it's up to, and our patient waiting has finally paid off. Both Finn and ...

Totally loving my May garden! I have a few new additions to the garden this year, some of which I have never seen blossom before. One of my fav's are the Peonies that my friend Nicole gave to me last fall. I've always wanted Peonies in the garden because they ...

Obviously when I dreamt about cutting down the tree on the side of our house on Friday night, that meant that Saturday morning I had to get up, go to the hardware store, get a saw, come home and start sawing. Obviously. I've had beef with this crooked tree for ...

Ah yeah guys, we've got some minor bloomage going on! My bleeding hearts are huge and beautiful. I love them so much, I wish they would bloom all summer long! The Sedum's are getting bigger, they've grown so much since their first season 2 summers ago. I just transplanted this ...

I hope this is the last time I'll be picking up a paint brush for awhile. Not only am I sick of painting, and painting, and painting, but I am also ready to start my outside projects for the summer. I painted the window boxes yesterday so I guess that's ...

So it's been awhile since I updated about you on the progress of our raised bed veggie garden. We built it a few weeks ago, and then began our dirt collection. I think in all we gathered 800lbs of dirt or something. Totally crazed I know. The square foot gardening ...

I was so excited when my Burpee Aluminum Corners finally made an appearance in the mail earlier this week. We had been waiting patiently for them for almost two weeks. Last weekend Jeff and I ran over to the Home Depot to pick up some cedar boards so we were ...

Hey guys! I'm excited about this post, because this post means that it's officially happening, SPRING! We had a few days of really super nice weather 70º's and sunny. It was the best. Now it's like 50º and it makes me sad, but at least my garden is growing! Last ...

Dark Blue & Yellow Door Hello, My name is Alison Allen and I am crazy with a capital "C". I just spent a lot of time hanging out with photoshop and pretending what my house may or may not look like after this summer's paint job. Below (and above) you ...

What the heck? Two gardening posts in 1 week and it's not even March? I know, I know, I am totally crazy, but when I get on this kick it's all I can think about. I mentioned a few days ago that I was considering a raised bed garden and ...

Finn and I (and Gus), got all crazy and antsy the other day and ran over to our local garden center and purchased a whole lot of seeds. This is our 3rd annual seed fest and every year we get a little more fancy. The first year we planted our ...

I have been so proud and excited by how my gardens are turning out this year (their 2nd summer) that I wanted to take some time and make a few notes about what flowers are blooming and when. I was so excited to pick my first summer bouquet this weekend, ...

I hope I don't get to sappy on this post, but I've got to let you know that I am so proud of my little yard bordered by gardens, what a difference a year makes. Not that I expect you to remember but here is a photo of what my ...

Last spring Jeff and I got tired of popping dandelions and decided to rip out our front boulevard as away around weeding. In hind sight it might have not been the easiest route but I am happy that we jumped in head first and committed to making the space between ...

Finn and I have recently turned the baby's nursery into a fully functioning plant nursery. The nursery is the sunniest room in the house and since it's not officially inhabited by baby #2, what the hay, right? We really went to town at our last trip to the flower store, ...

This is what it looks like outside of our house, we can't even stand it anymore. This is the worst part of winter, the part where every day seems like 10 days, and even though warmer weather is right around the corner it might as well be November.Finn and I ...

It is currently 40º outside and sleeting, things are not looking so good for us Minnesotans. I am pretty sure that this blossom is all that I have left of the warmer, better times. The first and only blossom from my "Grand Prix" Dahlia plant. So goodbye fall, goodbye summer ...

So I've been waiting to do this post since the day we put an offer on our house. We moved in to our first house in March of this year. It's our "dream house", and we plan on living here for as long as humanly possible, but with all good ...

My intent was to actually cook a lot this summer with the food that I grew in my tiny little garden, including a whole bunch of carrots I planted. But I adopted a ginormous tomato plant at the beginning of the spring and since then it has taken over a ...

At the start of the spring Finn and I planted a bunch of seeds in our garden. Everyday we'd go out and check on their progress. It is usually determined that our plants were getting "bigger." Last week we got our first flower and now our yard is popping with ...

BEFOREAFTERWe're just about to start finishing up some of the improvements we've made to our new home. One of the projects that I have focused most of my time on has been our yard. It was sparse to say the least. When we moved in we inherited one fern and ...

It's official we have growth! I am the proud mom of some new baby herbs. Soon these little buggers will be ready to be planted in a real pot. I can't even believe it, they grow up so fast. For more info on my experiment in starting seeds in eggshells ...

In honor of Jeff and I buying our first house tomorrow—AND in honor of this awesome time of year called "spring"—I decided to do a post inspired by spring. I may be jumping the gun a little bit but I don't care. I planted some seeds, oh yes I did ...

So we are in the home stretch, I think. That ground hog evidently saw his shadow and is giving us 6 more weeks of winter. Although, here in MN, it will most likely be 100 more weeks of winter. In either case, at least we have something to look forward ...