MY QUEST FOR THE PRETTY GOOD LAWN + A GIVEAWAY

Hey friends! This post is sponsored by Troy-Bilt, who sent me a mower to review and paid me for my time. But you know all opinions are my own. As are all the weeds in my lawn. 

I've come to accept that I'll never have the perfect lawn. There will always be weeds in it and it will never feel like a pillow under my bare feet. Because we choose not to use synthetic herbicides and fertilizers, maintaining a pristine yard is more challenging.

But that doesn't mean we don't like a nice looking lawn. We overseed when necessary, fertilize at appropriate times with an organic fertilizer, repair bare spots, hand pull bad weeds where we can (dandelions are at the top of the hit list), make sure to keep the mower blade high enough that we're not scalping the lawn, water on rare occasion if absolutely necessary, mulch clippings onto the lawn and trim edges to make everything look neat.

I want a good looking lawn when I look at it from the patio. Get in close and you'll see lots of clover, a bit of moss in some spots and various other less-than-perfect areas. From the long-view though, it looks pretty good, especially after it has recently been cut.

I have huge respect for people who love their lawns. I'm an admirer of gardens and gardening and to me, lawns are part of that. But for my life, I need a good looking lawn that is maybe a bit (or a lot) shy of perfect. And I need it to look that way without a lot of effort.

I accomplish this level of looks-good-from-the-patio through a bit of work in the spring. This is when the holes are patched, thatch is raked up, big weeds are pulled and, a week or so before Memorial Day, the lawn is fertilized with Milorganite. I also do a very simple form of relieving compaction in frequently traveled areas by sticking my garden fork in and rocking it back and forth (over and over again). Then I spread a thin layer of sifted compost over the top and reseed.

I like a good walk-behind mower for quick mowing just around the house. And this one will pretty much pull you around the yard. All you have to do is steer.

But after that, the lawn is pretty much on its own for summer. The sum total of the time I'm willing to spend it on during the high season is a weekly mowing and trimming. And I like to get it done quickly. Often that means we only mow the areas closest to the house. Or sometimes the weekend gets away from us and we need to do a quickly cleanup before company comes over. That's when a good walk-behind mower is best. We have the big Horse XP tractor for when we're doing the whole enchilada, but that's overkill for a quick job.

Troy-Bilt recently sent me the TB490 XP self-propelled mower to test. It has all of the bells and whistles you'd expect on a mower like this (bagging, mulching or blowing ability; hose rinse connection; easy pull start, etc.) but I'll it shines in its versatility. It has front-wheel drive (good for maneuverability), rear-wheel drive (good for our varying terrain) and all-wheel drive (for the best of both) and you can easily switch among the different modes with the hand controls. See how those rear wheels are big? That means that when it's in rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, this baby has some get up and go, to the point where it can take you a little off guard when you first try it (not in a dangerous way, but in a lace-up-your-tennies kind of way).

What I'm getting at here is that this thing will pull you around the yard if you want it to. Meaning all you have to do is steer. It's the ultimate in lazy-man's mowing, which I think you'll see is right up my alley.

You can check out a quick video review I did of it on YouTube.

Most people I know strive for great looking lawns, and if you enjoy taking care of a lawn, I think attempting to achieve the perfect lawn is a noble exercise. But I think it's OK to strive for a pretty good lawn too. In fact, I'm perfecting the good-enough lawn. Come see my green weeds. I bet you can't spot them from the patio, especially if I get a drink your hand first.

I have great news for you! Troy-Bilt has offered to give one of my readers a $100 Lowe's gift card! Use it to pick up a new mower, buy more plants or whatever you might be needing. How about picking up something great for Father's Day. (P.S. I don't think you'll get the card in time for Father's Day, but I'll pick a winner on Friday so you can at least go shopping!)

$100 Lowe's gift card giveaway

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PRODUCT REVIEW: A MACHINE TO MAKE GORGEOUS COMPOST AND FREE MULCH

One of my favorite movies is "Fargo." The relevance of this will soon become clear.

I am alternately fascinated by and intimidated by large machinery. I go into using it afraid that I'm either going to break it or myself, but as soon as I start using it, I'm hooked.

And that's about how it went with the Troy-Bilt CS4235 Chipper Shredder. This thing is a beast. Frankly, in my opinion, if you're going to get something like a chipper shredder, I think a beast is the way to go. You want it to do what you need it to do without ever needing to force it. And that means a big machine.

So how big are we talking? Well, in order to see into the brush hopper, I have to stand on my tiptoes. Granted, I'm 5'2" on a good posture day. The branch chute is adjustable, so you can angle it in several different positions. And it's heavy, too. Fortunately, it has large, very sturdy wheels that make it easy to move. When I gave it its first real test, I wheeled it all the way down the driveway and across the grass over to the compost bin with no trouble.

Yep, the first time I tried out this chipper shredder, I was all alone, which is sort of a big deal for me as I usually require several walkthroughs with a piece of equipment before I'm comfortable with it. I read the manual and was happy to see that the starting procedure is repeated on a sticker on the front of the chipper shredder as well as a quick reminder.

Don't mess around with safety with a machine like this. Safety glasses and hearing protection is required. A handy quick-start sticker walks you through the steps of starting and operating the chipper shredder.

Although I'll be the first to admit that I am sometimes lax with safety equipment, this is no machine to play around with. This is where the "Fargo" thing comes in. Anyone who has seen the movie will recall that one character meets his fate at the hand of a wood chipper, head first. And I'll be honest, I could not get that image out of my head when I first approached this chipper shredder. Fortunately this chipper shredder isn't THAT big and there are a lot of safety functions built in. Still, ear and eye protection is required when using this, so much so that it comes with safety glasses.

Having donned my ear muffs and the safety glasses, I followed the starting instructions to the letter: Push the choke all the way over, slide the "gas" over to the fastest setting (the rabbit), and pull. Despite not having a good pulling arm (something I've discussed ad nauseam here), it started up immediately. You have to love that.

This chipper shredder can accommodate branches up to 3 inches in diameter, which is pretty darn big. I didn't have any that large around, but I did have a small pile of 1.5-inch to 2-inch diameter branches. I slid one in the branch chute and the chipper shredder did the rest, seeming to (gently) grab the branch and guide it through. Frankly I was relieved that I could just put it in and let go so my hands never got close to even the end of the chute. (Again, I'm scarred by that movie, so I think I'm probably more nervous than most.)

Branches are "sucked" into the chute so as soon as they start going, it's a hands-free operation. The white bag on the right is large and will hold a lot of material before it needs to be emptied.

The chipper shredder has a large bag that attaches to the outflow area if you like and despite continuing to feed branches in, I was surprised that it didn't seem like it was filling up very fast. And that's the beauty of this machine: It makes the most lovely little wood chips. I would estimate that the pieces were a half-inch or so. In fact, it reduces material so much that I think the bag would get pretty heavy if it were completely full. I was thrilled though, because this is the size of wood mulch that I will drive many miles to find by the bag. If we have enough material that needs chipping I can see saving a ton of money on mulch.

Branches were reduced to nice half-inch sized chips, perfect for mulch.

Leaves and brush were chopped into lovely tiny bits that should break down extremely quickly, giving compost and leaf mold a big head start.

With the branches dispensed of, I tried out a few other materials in the larger hopper, which works on a gravity feed. Some dry leaves on the top of the pile were dispensed with quickly. This will make composting and making leaf mold an absolute dream and I expect it to cut the decomposition process down by many months. I also tried freshly cut comfrey stems and leaves. Comfrey has very thick, water-filled stems and fuzzy leaves. I wasn't sure which chute would be more appropriate for it, but it seemed to work better to put it in the branch chute. What came out was sort of a gelatinous goo and the machine didn't grab it as easily as it did the dry leaves and branches.

Then I put some half-composted stuff in the big chute. This was mostly damp, decaying leaves plus decaying green material. It didn't really go well. In addition to getting caught up on the way down the brush chute, what came out looked more like the leftovers from a juicer. In fact, I ended up pulling out a wad of material that didn't seem to want to go through, AFTER the engine was shut off and after waiting a little bit just to make sure everything was done spinning. (Again, abundance of caution caused by watching "Fargo" too much.)

What I deduced from this experiment was that dry materials are best. Damp, partially decomposed material probably isn't the best.

I'm certain that this chipper shredder will be in frequent use in fall when we clean up leaves (the idea of all of that goodness breaking down in time for spring use in the garden is thrilling to me) and collect fallen branches and in spring when we do tree pruning. It's going to up my composting game big time and I can't wait for that.

I'll just limit my "Fargo" viewing for a bit beforehand.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Troy-Bilt’s Saturday6 Program which provides compensation to me, and in the case of product reviews, tools or equipment are provided to me at no cost for the purpose of providing an evaluation and sharing my honest opinions.

THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE (aka A REVIEW OF A VERY COOL HANDHELD BLOWER)

If you've read my power tool reviews before, you've probably picked up on a trend: I like power but I like it when it comes easy. What I'm about to say makes me sound like a pathetic girl, but I hate pull starts. I'll use them when I have to, but I feel like my arms aren't long enough to do it properly. That is probably ridiculous as I think I have relatively normal arms as far as length goes, but suffice to say, if I can avoid a pull start, I will.

In fact, why in the world can't I just push a button and have the thing turn on? Guess what? I can and so can you.

For me, that's the best feature of the new Troy-Bilt Handheld Blower powered by CORE (technically the TB4300): Squeeze the trigger and it's on. Squeeze it harder and it blows harder. Lighten up on your trigger finger and it blows softer. This seems incredibly obvious, right? And yet, this is the first power tool I've used that is just that simple.

CORE is Troy-Bilt's new battery-operated line of machines. It includes the blower, a hedge trimmer a string trimmer and, soon, a lawn mower. All of the machines operate off one pretty large battery, so you can save money by only buying the power tool after you have a battery and a charger. The blower kit, with a battery and charger costs $279, but if you already had the battery and charger you could pick one up for $179.

Doesn't everyone use their leaf blower barefoot?

As part of Troy-Bilt's Saturday6 blogger team I gave the blower a test after fully charging up the battery. Actually, Mr. Much More Patient snagged it before I could even get my hands on it and do you what the first thing he did was? He turned it on in our kitchen, opened the door and blew out the dog hair tumbleweeds.

You may be inclined to use this anecdote to judge my cleaning skills, but in my defense this happened during the peak of shedding season in our house (with Newfoundlands and dogs with undercoats it's called blowing coat for good reason), and even daily vacuuming can't keep up with the hair for a couple weeks in spring. No, I shared this story with you because it really says something about this leaf blower: It's battery operated, which means you really can use it inside, unlike gas-powered blowers (which I once read are some of the worst pollution offenders). Now, I don't actually recommend using it for this purpose as I learned that for every piece of hair that goes out the door, three go up and float down, which is generally not a good thing in your kitchen.

Love those lights.

I will also admit to being a sucker for good design, so forgive me for a minute while I wax poetic about lights. Yes, lights. The lights on the blower ramp up as you use more power. It's pretty, but more than that, it's practical. I won't say it's a light machine because the battery has some heft to it. But with the battery inserted, it is well balanced and not difficult to wave around while using it. It is certainly lighter and easier to handle than the gas powered model we previously used.

And of course, there are great benefits to not having 100 feet of electrical cord dragging behind you like you do with electric blowers.

I can't tell you how long the battery lasts from personal experience, but I just don't use a blower for long periods of time. In our yard we use it as the last step in cleanup, blowing debris and grass clippings out of garden beds and off the driveway and patio. We've recharged the battery, but not because it was dead, just because we figured it was a good idea since we'd used the blower several times.

This little video gives you a quick idea of what the CORE blower can do. Mr. Much More Patient starts it in Eco mode then pushes the Boost mode for more power and then decreases the power with the trigger when he gets near the plants. The deck was covered in tree bits but unfortunately it's a little difficult to see them.

As for power, I love how much you can control it. There is an Eco setting, which feels a little puny to me, but honestly it'll do just fine for most blowing. Tap the Boost button though and you get serious power. Of course you'll drain the battery faster that way so there's a trade off. I like that I can scale way back on the power when I'm around delicate plants. The other thing that is nice is that changing from more power to less is smooth, unlike other blowers that seem to rev out of control. If you've ever had your neighbor use a blower while you are sitting out enjoying cocktail hour and all you hear is the blower revving up and down, you know how annoying that is, and not just because it's interrupting cocktail hour.

I love the technology behind this tool. As we know, batteries are the future: Cars, phones, computers ... it's all about batteries. I feel like Troy-Bilt has really stepped into the future with this one.

Disclaimer: I am a member of Troy-Bilt’s Saturday6 Program which provides compensation to me, and in the case of product reviews, tools or equipment are provided to me at no cost for the purpose of providing an evaluation and sharing my honest opinions.
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A HAND HOE TO LOVE: A REVIEW + A GIVEAWAY

I've not been quiet about my relatively recently discovered love for Dutch-made Sneeboer tools. After years of buying less expensive gardening tools at the local hardware store or garden center, I broke down and bought a Sneeboer Ladies Garden Spade (my mom is about 5'5" and she likes the Border Spade which has the same size head but a slightly longer handle) after talking with the owners of Garden Tool Company, Blake and Anne Schrek. At the time I couldn't believe I would spend so much on a garden tool, but when it came I was in love. Because I had a took that was correctly sized and impeccably designed, gardening was a true pleasure. And the spade was a thing of beauty. It felt right and it looked good and I loved using it. 

On a warm day in late February I pulled out all my Sneeboer tools for a good cleaning and sharpening.

My collection of Sneeboer tools grew from there as a I added a garden fork and the Royal Dutch Hoe. The latter is currently the most frequently used tool in my arsenal as I've discovered the art and benefit of hoeing (especially this time of year when chickweed tries to eat my garden). I love that thing because it obliterates weeds on both the push and the push and the long handle allows me to reach far into the garden. I can quickly clean up large areas of the garden.

When I found out that Sneeboer and Garden Tool Company was now offering a handheld version of the Royal Dutch Hoe I was thrilled and even more so when Garden Tool Company asked me to test it out.

The Royal Dutch Hand Hoe is about half the width of the original Royal Dutch Hoe blade and 12 inches long, which makes it perfect for raised beds, containers and tight areas. I took it out for a spin first in the raised vegetable garden. It took literally about a minute to snip off the small weeds rearing their ugly heads in the bed. The hand hoe, like its big sister, glides just under the surface the soil, nips off even weeds that haven't emerged yet.

As you can see, some tiny weeds were taking hold in one of the raised vegetable gardens.

The Royal Dutch Hand Hoe works on both the push and the pull and easily glides just under the surface of the soil to cut those buggers down low.

It was perfect for getting into tight areas of the bed in between the rapidly growing kale.

And here's what it looked like just a few minutes later.

I found myself reaching for this new hoe again later when it came to deal with the dreaded creeping bellflower in the latest part of the garden where it has taken hold (hoeing and pulling it won't make it go away, but I can at least keep it under control using those methods). I was able to use it right next to the truck of a small tree, where the larger hoe couldn't maneuver. And while I was down there I also used it under the leaves of larger hostas where more weeds where lurking.

Like all of my Sneeboer tools, it has a beautifully shaped handle. It's available in ash and cherry and I chose the ash because it matches the rest of my tools, and a gorgeous finish on the blade. One of the things I like about the Sneeboer tools is that they are incredibly finely crafted but you can tell when you look at them that they are hand made. I love knowing that a person made my tools, not a machine.

So here's the best news: Garden Tool Company sent me a second Royal Dutch Hand Hoe to give to one lucky reader. This one has the beautiful cherry handle and I guarantee it will become one of your favorite tools. 

Just use the widget below to enter to win. I'll pick a winner next Friday so you have lots of time to use it in the garden this year. But who knows, when the weeds see you coming with a tool this good looking they might leave on their own.

Disclaimer: Garden Tool Company provided me with two Royal Dutch Hand Hoes. This allowed me to test it out so I can tell you what I really think and to give one away to a lucky reader. As always, all opinions are my own. No other compensation was provided.

Sneeboer Royal Dutch Hand Hoe giveaway

MAIL ORDER PLANTS REVIEW: JOY CREEK NURSERY

Another mail order nursery review today but before we get to that, I wanted to share a couple photos of the serviceberry tree in bloom. the flowers are really only at peak for a day or two max so I take a photo of it every year. It's rather amazing to me that this tree was a gift from my mother-in-law the second year we had our house, which I think would make it 13 years ago.

The featured nursery today is Joy Creek Nursery, which was another place I'd not ordered from before. They are a small operation, which is the kind of place I prefer to order from when I'm looking for specialty plants like clematis. I've had great success with Silver Star Vinery in the past, but I got there too late this year and the plants I was interested in were sold out.

Joy Creek is apparently so small that they don't have a deal with the big shipping companies, so they charge you actual shipping plus a $4 handling and packing fee. They clearly stated this on their website and I emailed them ahead of time for an estimate for shipping which was close to right on. In the end, shipping was $33 plus the handling fee, so about the same as the cost of the plants.

The packing material on this one was newspapers and other recyclable material including a church bulletin. I love this kind of packing because it's such an insight into where your plants come from. It's a bit of a pain to recycle when it's all crumpled up but that is really picking a nit.

I ordered two clematis that came in gallon-sized pots and as I've come to learn about clematis, the most important thing is an abundance of telltale yellow roots coming out of the bottom of the pots, which these certainly had. In fact, when you get a small clematis, you are really supposed to put it in a container and grow it out there for a year or so until those roots come jumping out.

I was thrilled with the plants: 'Prince Charles' and 'Vinosa Violacea.' Both have been planted and are looking good.

MAIL ORDER PLANTS REVIEW: ARROWHEAD ALPINES

The plant deliveries came fast and furious last week, which is somewhat funny since as recently as a month ago I hadn't anticipated ordering any mail order plants this year.

I discovered Arrowhead Alpines from a familiar source: Margaret Roach at A Way to Garden. I swear, reading that blog can get very expensive. I went there for one specific plant that I fell in love with: Hylomecon japonicum, a bright yellow member of the poppy family from Japan. (Read what Margaret says about it here, but hide your credit card first).

The thing with mail order plants is that it's always the shipping that kills you so this tends to lead to window shopping in order to make the shipping charges worth it. I also picked up a perennial sweet pea Lathyrus vernus and a Primula kisoana.

The box came in perfect shape with styrofoam peanuts as the packing material. I don't really love those because they seem to go everywhere, but they were used judiciously in this case.

Each plant was wrapped in paper as well.

The plants had shredded paper around the roots to keep the soil damp and protect the stems. It seems to have been a very effective packing method.

I also ordered 24 bare root Canadian gingers, which is a lovely little groundcover that I'm hoping to put everywhere I can in the woodland areas of the garden because even garlic mustard cannot foil it. These came in a damp but not wet peaty mix and area in great condition.

Everything came with a nice plant tag, which is so appreciated. I was very happy with this order and thrilled to have found a source for some really interesting plants that I'd never find locally.

Last week I shared my experience ordering from Digging Dog. My friend Linda inspired these posts with her series of mail order nursery reviews. You can read hers here:  Rare Find Nursery and Old House Gardens, Plants Delight Nursery, Odyssey Perennials and Far Reaches Farm.

VIDEO REVIEW: TROY-BILT HORSE XP TRACTOR

Earlier this year I told you about the Troy-Bilt Horse XP Tractor, and now I'm showing you a little more about it. Get ready for a video full of the inner workings of a lawn mower, mowing to music, creative and possibly dangerous camera angles, dive-bombing dragonflies (we had a huge dragonfly hatch around here when we were making the video and they were flying everywhere) and a special starring role by Mr. Much More Patient.

Check it out here or head on over to Youtube to watch it there.

Here's me back in spring, putting it through its paces.

Disclosure: I was provided with a Horse XP Tractor for review and compensated for my time, but all opinions are mine and mine alone. 

A MACHINE THAT MAKES YOUR LAWN LOOK BETTER QUICKER

We've been caught in a crazy weather cycle all spring. We'll have days of weather doing exactly what it is supposed to do here this time of year followed by days of intense cold. All of that has made gardening a little challenging, but it has been enough to turn the grass a brilliant green. Add in a lot of rain, and we've got a healthy lawn that is growing rapidly.

As much as I love my garden, at this time of year, before the garden is really doing much of anything, it's the lawn that steals the show and it is looking fantastic.

I look like a bad-ass on the Troy-Bilt Horse XP don't I?

Mother Nature plays a role in that, but so does the best new machine to come our way in a long time: a Troy-Bilt Horse XP lawn tractor. Although we've only had to cut the lawn a handful of times, this baby is making quick work of lawn-maintenance on our acre-and-a-half property.

I'll admit to liking this mower in part for purely aesthetic reasons. I think the charcoal gray paint job is sort of stealthy. The seat is super cushy, the steering wheel is padded and oh yeah, there's a cup holder. I'm just going to declare this now: There should never be a lawn mower without a cup holder.

Apparently you are not supposed to choose a lawn mower because of its color or its cupholder, so the good news is that there is plenty to like on the Horse XP on the practical side of things.

It has a hydrostatic transmission, which is a fancy way to say that you control the speed through lever controls with your hands. To put that in practical terms, basically you can settle into a speed you're comfortable with, sit back, have a sip of that drink next to you and just steer.

Adjusting the seat is just a matter of flipping it up, loosening a wingnut, sliding it forward and tightening the wingnut.

There is a 13-inch difference in height between Mr. Much More Patient and myself (something we've made other accommodations for including a height-adjustable showerhead and tilting mirror), so the fact that the seat placement on the Horse XP is easily adjustable is much appreciated. I have to put it all the way forward and he puts it all the way back. You just flip up the seat, unscrew a wingnut-type device, slide the seat into the desired position and retighten the wingnut.

My one small complaint about the Horse XP has to do with the seat. Because it has the built-in safety function of requiring a certain amount of weight in the seat for operation, if I'm not sitting far enough back in the seat, the engine can threaten to cut out. I suspect this is probably because I have the seat so far forward and I'm a bit of an edge sitter. I think I'll get used to this in time, and obviously I'd rather have to deal with that than have a kid get hurt if they came across the mower.

The mower does not have power-assisted steering but you would never know that. It turns easy as can be, with no need to muscle the wheel around, something I really appreciated after having an old riding mower that was more of an upper body workout than I cared for. As for the cutting ability, well you can't ask for much more. It rained buckets all day Saturday and after letting the sun dry things out for the morning, I gave the Horse XP a spin on relatively damp grass. It didn't mind a bit, its 46-inch wide cutting deck still making quick, even work out of the long grass.

I'm able to easily mow right up the edge of the garden beds. Check out the cup holder.

We also got a bagger attachment for the mower and this is where the gardener in me goes a little nutty. The first time we cut the lawn with it, there were a lot of leaves still kicking around after winter, so what ended up in the bags was about a 50-50 mix of chopped up leaves and grass. I added the whole lot to the compost pile and boy did that kickstart some serious compost making (allowing me to achieve all new composting highs). Mulched grass is good for your lawn, so most of the time we allow the clippings to remain there, but come fall the bagger is going to be my best friend.

We have a tough time growing a good lawn. We have really sandy soil, use only organic fertilizers and have two large dogs using it as a bathroom, so the kind of lawn we can have can be somewhat limited. I really think our lawn is looking better than ever this year and I attribute that to leaving the lawn longer. Yes, I admit, in the past we were lawn scalpers. That's because mowing the lawn was such a pain and took so long that we'd just cut it short to extend the time between mowings. But now that it is easy and quick to mow, we're leaving it longer and the grass is much better for it.

Here's the technical language you need to know: This is a paid endorsement. I have been compensated and provided with the product free of charge in return for my honest opinion. Here's what I have to say about that: You know I will always give you my real opinion on anything I review and this is no different. On top of that, Troy-Bilt went out of their way to make it clear that they wanted a REAL review, whether it be good or bad. 

2013: A year in (blog posts) review

I hope you are all enjoying a wonderful holiday season. From a work perspective, this whole holiday-in-the-middle-of-the-week thing is for the birds, but I certainly enjoyed having a whole weekend in between Christmas and the new year with no social engagements. It was a fruitful weekend as far as projects and personal rejuvenation goes.

But before I start telling you about what's new, I thought it would be a good time to look back at 2013. It was a good year as far as blogging goes. I published more posts than any other year since I started this blog (in April 2009!). This blog started as more of a journal and a way to keep track of my garden but it has transitioned to something else entirely. I now do projects I don't think I ever would have taken on otherwise if only to just tell you about them. As always, I strive to show you the good, the bad and the ugly, and there's been plenty of each.

Let's take a look at what happened in 2013.

In January I showed you a lot of the ugly when I bared it all in my laundry "room." The laundry basket system we installed still works really well for us to corral the clothes, but I have to admit that the clean clothes bins only really get emptied when they are overflowing and nothing more can be shoved in them.

Remember what it looked like before?

February was a productive month. I started by doing a little redecorating in the living room. We got a new area rug and I had a chair and ottoman recovered. It was a welcome change after many years of sort of a French Country color scheme.

One day in February, I came home from work and painted the back door black. Sometime that afternoon I got the urge and the next thing you know I was doing it. I still love it and wish I had done it sooner.

And at the end of the month I did some more painting, but this time on fabric when I painted the cushions on the chairs in front of the fireplace. I'm happy to report the paint has held up really well and no one who has sat in them has noticed they are actually painted.

March certainly came in like a lion at our house. A late winter storm dumped a foot of heavy, wet snow on us, wreaking havoc on the landscape. The damage caused by that storm was a huge concern, but turned out to have a silver lining. We had to cut down several trees damaged in the storm and it turns out I don't miss them at all. In fact I wish we had cut them down (particularly the cedar that was leaning on the house in the storm) years ago. And it gave me an excuse to create a new garden!

Later in the month, I was chomping at the bit to get back in the garden, but the weather was not cooperating, so I came up with this list of things to do while biding your time waiting to get to serious gardening.

In April, I wrote one of my favorite posts of the year, Pinterest gardening tips NOT to follow. I think I need to do more of these because I continue to see absolutely ridiculous gardening tips pinned on Pinterest.

I also got overly excited about installing the slide-out trash bin in the kitchen.

Spring finally came in May and I was happy to finally get something planted. The onion starts went into the new raised vegetable garden.

I also launched the Garden Appreciation Society—my way of encouraging you to enjoy your garden in a new way, by bringing some flowers inside—in May. I had a great time with this and really enjoyed seeing all the amazing bouquets you came up with too!

And in the quickest, most thrown-together project I've ever done, I made a huge obelisk. It's still standing, by the way.

There was lots of gardening in June, but the really big news was inside where we finally finished the kitchen. We had our fair share of setbacks with it, but I'm so happy we did it. I just love everything we did in there.

In July I finally gave you a full tour of the garden, but it was an as-is tour. Realizing that if I waited until it was looking perfect, you would never see it, I just grabbed the camera one day and did it.

August got a little competitive when my mom and I tried to figure out who had the bigger Incrediball hydrangea blooms.

In September I showed you how the window box changed over the course of the summer. I was pretty happy with how it turned out this year. I can't wait to start planning what will be in it next summer!

Sadly, fall came (only sad because of what comes after fall) so I was mostly working on inside projects again. In October I shared how I salvaged a stained marble table top on a cute little vintage table I found on Etsy.

I must have had tables on my mind this fall, because in November I also redid the kitchen table and shared how to I got a weather wood finish on it.

And suddenly it was December. I might have put off Christmas decorating until the last minute, but when I see the projects I was busy finishing up, I can see why.

I started off the month by creating a custom storage solution for the junk drawer. Love it!

I also took advantage of some warm weather at the beginning of the month to finish the exterior Christmas decorations. I tell you, putting up that window box was one of the best things we've ever done. What would I blog about if it weren't for that thing?

I finished what is perhaps my favorite DIY project of all time (and I'll give you a tutorial on it after the new year)—my orange cane chairs. It was fun showing off my new chairs to our friends and family that stopped over during the holidays.

And the last big project was adding a new mantel "sleeve." It's been up for a couple weeks now and I feel like it's what the fireplace really needed and I'm looking forward to seeing how I do decorating it once the Christmas decorations are finished.

What a year! I'm actually shocked to look back and see how much actually got finished. Sometimes I feel like I'm starting a lot of projects and not finishing too many, but maybe I did OK after all.

Thanks so much for reading this blog, commenting when you do and for making me not feel like a complete geek for sharing it all with you. I hope you had a great 2013 and I wish you an even better 2014!