The Winter Garden Party

this past weekend we closed what we like to think of as our homes first little garden. for anyone wondering what that means you can check it out here. sure it's small (ok, very small), and probably hilarious to some – but hey, it was our first attempt at creating a small space to grow some delicious bites. i think i can confidently say that neither my husband or i have a strong green thumb. let's be honest we have killed our fair share of house plants this past year (r.i.p. little ferns), but that is not going to stop us from trying to grow and even bigger garden... with big vegetables! we recently decided that we would take the winter months to grab books, google around, pinterest in an attempt to be "responsible" gardeners by making  a smart 3 year backyard plan. the house we bought fortunately has NO landscaping whatsoever. totally bare bones we're talking.  so of course that means my brain and notepad have been running  a mile a minute already.

^ our blank backyard slate, ready for the taking ^

pinterest images via

it feels so good to get ideas down on paper, but the real harsh truth is that even in brainstorming we both started to feel overwhelmed by what to do with this big empty space. we actually became stressed by the number of "we could do this" statements we were making (please tell me i am not alone in this feeling). we started to panic at the thought of where things would go, or what supplies we needed, how much sun certain plants required.  and to even add to that, how could we plan anything without some kind of visual of what we were working towards? being newly married is great, but newly married with your first house and home reno's is tricky. and now, newly married with first house, renos and trying to tackle a HUGE 3 year garden plan? I was already sweating the fights. so much so that i was starting to feeling concerned about how we would ever decide a final plan, since communicating what we each want can be difficult at the best of times. all of this then, of course, lead me to yet another online search, that thankfully brought me to the  SMALL BLUE PRINTER

this tool is seriously amazing. 

i totally suggest you download the free trial if you are thinking about any landscaping projects – big or small.

i quickly gave it a dry run the other day when i first found it and put together the snazzy backyard plan you see above. not only does it let you build an idea, BUT it also creates a shopping list of everything you will need including total quantities in order to make it happen. after finding this tool i immediately felt more at ease. i knew we could design visuals together that would no doubt make clear what the other was "seeing" in their mind. what i think i love even more is that we can create multiple plans from all our ideas which will better help us explore every option before making a decision – and this tool will save all your designs!  i should clarify that by saying we want to make a 3 year garden plan it's because we recognize that good gardens happen over longer periods of time, by learning what works and what doesn't, moving things around and with lots of trial and error. so now that i have found Small Blue Printer i am definitely looking forward to utilizing this online visual tool during the winter months, along with our books and notepads of ideas. watch out blank yard, just try and stop us now.

does anyone have any tried and true advice for landscaping? what about favourite low maintenance plants and flowers? vegetable gardens? the pinterest pictures above are a small sampling of inspirational ideas that i'm hoping to build into the plan. 
here is to being a daydreamer.