It's the small things...

This summer I have no grand projects, like last year's building of the counter tops around the grill. It's a bunch of small things that have been nagging at me and I've already gotten a few accomplished.


Like the blank wall above the hot tub (above). I like the idea of hanging artwork on the OUTSIDE of the house, because it makes the deck feel more like a room. Under the protection of the roof over the hot tub, I've hung the past eight Garden Walk Buffalo posters. It adds a lot of color in a previous uninteresting dead-zone. They're not weather-proof, they're only plaque mounted, but I'll bring 'em in in the winter-time. Can't wait to add this year's poster. It's black!

Little things, like having matching rugs indoors and out, so it feels more like going from one room to another. And the orange color theme of the deck isn't so jarring.

I've also painted the window box on the front of the house in the purple color of some of the trim. Makes it stand out. And with a majority of my plants in the front yard in purple, keeps the color theme going.

And another project that's been nagging me is adding strawberry plants at the base of the knee-high apple tree espalier I'm training to look like a fence surround the raised bed potager garden. I took out a row of brick around the raised bed and filled in with new soil & strawberry plants. The upper left photo is the "before." When the strawberries fill in it'll look very lush.

Lots of other small projects are planned. Continuous improvement dontcha' know...