The Ohana Mama, parenting dispatches from paradise

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

Now that mama’s gotten her gardening groove on and has been bitten by the gardening bug, I went on a mission to find new projects that the kids and I could do during the summer…yes school is almost out…be afraid, be very afraid! :)

The cool thing is that The Home Depot has a ton of projects for us to take on and now that I’ve conquered the container garden, I feel like I can move on to bigger things. Below are my top picks for yard projects this summer. You can find more ideas on Home Depot’s Apron Blog.

(As I was putting this list together, my kids were sitting over my shoulder saying “ooh, let’s do that!” so, if it got their ok then it made the list)

Creating a pathway of pavers or stepping-stones

We have an area in our side yard that needs a major overhaul. It’s where we put our recycled cans and containers and it’s just dirt, dirt, dirt. This project may need good ol daddy-o to help too, but that’s ok, it can be a family affair. You can can read more about creating a pathway here. I’ve embedded the how-to video below for you as well!

Building a raised gardening bed for veggies

I would absolutely love to start a veggie garden with the kids and with sun year round, I think we could get a pretty great one going to enjoy throughout the months. The kids have them at their schools and I think we need to have one at home. I have just the spot picked out and can’t wait to take this on! Check out Mama Kat’s Losing It’s raised garden bed project- she created one for her own #DigIn campaign and it turned out pretty awesome! (plus she is hilarious!)

How To Plant a Mailbox Garden

We need this! The area around our mailbox is dreary, full of weeds and just overall not nice. My kids LOVE to check the mail (seriously they fight over it daily!) so I think they’ll also love to get in on this project to beautify “their” space. Our mailbox is located right on the street and one of the first things people see, so I think it’s time we make it pretty! Best of all, my husband will LOVE that I am the one doing the project, not him (so he can continue picking weeds)

So, what’s on YOUR list for your garden and yard this summer? Share in the comments below and find more great projects and advice at The Home Depot Garden Center!

photos courtesy of The Home Depot

It’s home improvement time, and The Home Depot has everything you need to #DigIn for Spring. No matter what projects you want to tackle, they have great values on all you need. They’re ready to help you with renovation ideas and expert advice, too.

Get over $300 in email exclusive savings each year, sneak peeks on new products, monthly lawn & garden ideas for your region and access to The Home Depot’s gardening experts. Click here to join the world’s largest garden community today! Or go to http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/ to see some of the many benefits of membership.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

While putting together my Thriller, Filler, Spiller garden project, I gained a new confidence and love for getting my hands dirty in soil. I had anticipated that. I knew that once I gave it a try, got out of my comfort zone and went for it, I’d love working in our yard and on fun garden projects.

But something else happened that I hadn’t anticipated… further connecting with my daughter.

This week was a tough week for me work-wise. I was busy, busy, busy. However, with this project I needed to stop the madness for one afternoon. I loved stepping away from the computer, away from my desk and heading outside to make something pretty with my daughter. I loved digging into the soil, teaching her tricks that I had learned from Home Depot’s Garden Center Club, and letting her lead the way with ideas on where we should place the plants in the containers.

One of the highlights of this projects was her ripping open the soil bag further and declaring, “this is super fun getting messy!” It was at that moment when I decided we would do this more. And more she did… she picked up some discarded plants parts from our project and decided to make her own little container and now she’s my watering girl. I absolutely LOVE that my daughter has also been bitten by the gardening bug.

I also loved that when my husband came home and saw our newly created masterpiece he declared how ”impressed’ he was. He was smiling and surprised that I had created this gardening container. Score for showing another side of me!

#DigIn

Now, I live in beautiful Hawaii so gardening should become part of my life year round, and I look forward to that. The intimidation has gone away a wee bit and I know that if I need help or have questions, the employees at The Home Depot will help me figure it out.

You may live in a place that gets cold winters but spring has sprung (or hopefully will soon!). I encourage you to jump into new gardening projects at home in your yard or garden. Get your kids involved. Break away from  that computer, smart phone or ipad, grab some dirt and DIG IN!

What projects are you looking forward to doing in your yard or deck this summer? Share in the comments below!

It’s home improvement time, and The Home Depot has everything you need to #DigIn for Spring. No matter what projects you want to tackle, they have great values on all you need. They’re ready to help you with renovation ideas and expert advice, too.

Get over $300 in email exclusive savings each year, sneak peeks on new products, monthly lawn & garden ideas for your region and access to The Home Depot’s gardening experts. Click here to join the world’s largest garden community today! Or go to http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/ to see some of the many benefits of membership.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.

This week I made the trek to the other side of the island to go to the Home Depot to start on my green thumb journey. I’ll be making a container arrangement called a “Thriller, Filler, Spiller.” Sounds fun, huh?!

Before working with Home Depot Garden Center, I had never heard of this kind of arrangement: putting three different plants into one container at different heights. I know that all of my gardening friends are shaking their head in shame and I do truly feel ignorant when it comes to gardening. It’s actually quite embarrassing, BUT that’s why I’m doing this #DigIn campaign with Home Depot – to get over the fear, learn something and find my green thumb.

So this week I headed to the Home Depot to grab my supplies:

• Potting Soil
• Garden flowers
• A container

This seemed easy enough but there were so many choices once I got to the garden center. I perused the plants but felt overwhelmed. I felt as if everyone could see the giant question mark on my forehead. I felt way out of my element.

So rather than choosing the plants first, I headed to the containers and there again were a multitude of choices. There were ceramic containers, plastic containers, containers that were small and those that were big. There were choices galore and again, that confused and overwhelmed look was plastered on my face.

Then entered an angel, Zach, one of the Home Depot Garden Center experts. He must have seen the giant question mark following me from aisle to aisle and he swooped in to save the day; and save the day he did!

I asked Zach if we should choose our flowers or container first and he suggested flowers so then we could see how big of a container we would need. So smart, that Zach. (pssst, need a garden expert of your own? Home Depot has them online so they can help you right from your home!)

He let me know that I was on the right track with looking at the flowers that were sitting it the sun. They were the ones that love to sunbathe and would do well on our front porch or lanai. Zach went above and beyond in helping me choose the flowers and gave feedback on my choices as I went on and on about why I thought they went well together. This poor kid…but he was a great sport.

I knew that I need soil but thought I remembered that putting rocks near the bottom of a pot would help with drainage (see, I do know some gardening things!) Zach showed me his choice for dirt and some rocks to use. He got me a cart and we piled all the goodies in and like that he was off, my little gardening guardian angel.

As I waited in the checkout line eyeing a pair of polka dot gardening gloves, along came another Home Depot employee that offered to ring me up before I was at the cash register. Now this was pretty cool – he used a hand-held device and scanned each product, then handed me a card with my total. I then got to the cash register and the woman swiped the card and had my total. It really made my checkout so so easy, I was delighted.

As I went to bring my gardening goods to my car, who appeared but angel Zach again, asking if I needed help. I nicely declined (I am mama, watch me push a giant dolly!). I thanked him again, loaded up my car and away I went back to Lahaina.

Next up on the blog…really digging in and putting my Thriller, Filler, Spiller together. Join me on my green thumb journey! Wanna join me? Grab the supplies below and we’ll get to work in the next post.

It’s home improvement time, and The Home Depot has everything you need to #DigIn for Spring. No matter what projects you want to tackle, they have great values on all you need. They’re ready to help you with renovation ideas and expert advice, too.

Get over $300 in email exclusive savings each year, sneak peeks on new products, monthly lawn & garden ideas for your region and access to The Home Depot’s gardening experts. Click here to join the world’s largest garden community today! Or go to http://gardenclub.homedepot.com/ to see some of the many benefits of membership.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of The Home Depot.