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

Planting wave petunias in the spring is something I look forward to every year.  But if you’ve been following along with me, you know that our outdoor entertaining area needed some serious attention.  Fortunately, this year I had a little help from The Home Depot in selecting some new planters for our space.

Before you head out on a shopping trip of your own, make sure you join Home Depot’s Garden Club (it’s FREE) and get your $5 off coupon.

I knew before starting my project that my new planters would replace the old, mismatched ones that sat on our back patio.  It’s a fairly large area, and it gets full (practically unshaded, despite the pictures below) sun nearly all summer long.  This area faces west, and gets hot, hot, hot.

Last summer, we had a record number of over 100-degree days, so I needed plants that require lots of sun and can withstand heat.  In addition, I wanted planters that would help keep the soil from drying out so quickly–even when we water multiple times a day in the summer, there’s only so much heat my little plants can take.

We ended up choosing this planter, which is cast stone and weather resistant, making it the perfect choice for our patio location.

I know from past experience that wave petunias handle the heat and sun in this location, and I love the way they eventually trail out of my planters by late spring.  They’re gorgeous!  This year, we also tried a new variety of Miracle Grow potting soil, which is touted to help protect against both over and underwatering.

Since I have no desire to flash pictures of myself all over the internet, I snapped some pictures of the Tall Boy when he had his hands full and couldn’t stop me.

What are your favorite full sun, heat-resistant plants?

And…here was what Doodle was up to while the Tall Boy and I were planting:

Even though my pot looks a little anemic here, I’m hoping in a few more weeks (weather permitting) my petunias will have bulked up and filled my pots.  Usually by mid-May, we’ve had enough rain and warm days that everything is looking full and lush.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Make sure you head over to The Home Depot Garden Club and get your own $5 coupon, grab some inspiration from the garden club board on Pinterest, and get motivated to spruce up your own yard this spring!

XO, Ashley

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 (http://thd.co/ZNbhDj) 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.

Hi again!  I mentioned the other day that I talked The Tall Boy into taking me shopping for some new planters for our outdoor entertaining space, despite our still ridiculously cold weather.  I’m ready to grill out and entertain on the patio!  As a food blogger, the best part of hosting a dinner event in the spring {for me, anyway} is being able to relax with friends and family outside, surrounded by lush flowers and shrubs.

So, I grabbed my list of pros and cons for each planter type, and we headed out to The Home Depot.  I had a good idea of what type of planter I wanted (light colored, synthetic) for our west-facing patio, so we headed right into the lawn and garden section to check out our options.

This was Doodle’s first choice:

While it was super cool, we didn’t need something quite that large.

He found this one next:

I liked the design and size, but I didn’t think the tan color worked with the shades in our stone patio or our house color.

Third selection was the charm:

Now, along with choosing the right planter, good potting soil is equally important. We always use Miracle Grow, but this particular variety was new to me. You see there where it says, “Protects against overwatering and underwatering”? I’m crossing my fingers that the magic watering fairies keep my plants looking nice and healthy and lush all summer long.

Be sure to check back soon to see what we planted!  What are your favorite annuals to pot in planters?  I have a fairly brown thumb, so I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

XO, Ashley

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 (http://thd.co/ZNbhDj) 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 Honest Company.

As a food blogger, my kitchen is very well used. I am not a neat cook. I live with a husband who might just be the messiest person on the face of the planet {love him, though} and a five-year old boy. In real life, my world does not look like this:

It looks like the picture on the far left, below:

Only, about 100 times worse and pretty much all.the.time.

Actually, that’s not true. I feel like I follow Doodle around spraying cleaners and disinfectants in his wake. Ugh, now that we’ve entered the public school system, it seems like we’re getting notes on the weekly informing us that someone has pink eye, or strep, or some other contagious crud. So I do like to keep things clean and sanitized.

And even though he’s five and I don’t have to worry so much about him getting into my spray bottles or sticking things in his mouth, I still have a concern about what cleaners and chemicals I use around him. That’s why I was super stoked to have the opportunity to try some kitchen cleaning products from The Honest Company.

If you haven’t heard about The Honest Company before, here’s the background skinny from their website:

The Honest Company was founded by a mom and a dad who, like many modern parents, were increasingly worried about products made with questionable chemical ingredients. But the alternatives they found were often expensive, inaccessible, bland, or ineffective. In response to this clear need for something better, they created The Honest Company to ensure that parents (or anyone for that matter!) could easily find natural and non-toxic eco-friendly products that are beautiful, effective, and affordable.

Oh, and the mom who founded it? Jessica Alba. Yeah, I decided if my body can’t look like hers, maybe at least my kitchen can.

I’m a sucker for multi-surface cleaners. I’m constantly spraying down our countertops – between food blogging, regular meal making, and a five-year old kitchen helper, there’s always something sticky that needs to be cleaned up. I’ve been using this one everyday since receiving it, and I absolutely love it. The multi-surface cleaner and the dish soap were white grapefruit scented, which were really light and refreshing. I’m not typically a fan of citrus scents, but these were very nice.

I even used it to clean my stove top…which was nearly covered in bacon grease splatters from Sunday morning breakfast {the Tall Boy’s handiwork}, and that stuff wiped right off with no smears. I was actually very impressed. Doodle loved the smell and the packaging, and actually wanted to do all the cleaning for me. His words: “Mom, this butterfly is really helping us out.”

Heck, if some cute butterfly packaging entices him to volunteer to be my kitchen cleaner, I’m signed up for life!

I also had the opportunity to try out their floor cleaner, which worked like a breeze on our hardwood floors. When we were finished mopping, the floor looked shiny and sparkly and the entire area smelled fantastic. The floor cleaner is citrus rosemary scented, and I didn’t find it to be too overwhelming in our small space.

Sometimes I’m a little OCD about things “matching,” so I kind of wished that you could get the floor cleaner and surface spray in the same scents, but I did love them both independently.

Doodle insisted on mopping the floors, too. Yep, pretty much loving these cleaners.

I also used their dishwasher pods.  I’ll keep it real here: The Honest Company’s pods were nearly twice the cost of what I normally purchase. However, I was really, really pleased with how clean my dishes were and the fact that the pods left absolutely no residue behind.

Sure, some of these products are more than what I normally spend, and like the rest of you out there, I only have so many dollars in my bank account {bummer}. But here’s a few other things to consider:

What if I told you that not only are these products all natural and non-toxic, they also support a really awesome charity? Here’s the scoop from The Honest Company:

We created this company because we care passionately about helping families – ALL families – and we believe that through ordinary purchases people can make a difference in this world.

As we fight to lower our prices without compromising the health and sustainability of our design, we realize there are still many families who cannot afford The Honest Company experience.

That’s not cool with us.

That’s why with every product you purchase, The Honest Company donates product, money, time, and effort to addressing critical health & social issues affecting children and families.

Love this. LOVE.

Honestly, I can tell you that I was genuinely impressed with these products, and I’ll definitely be ordering again – I have a feeling the floor cleaner and the surface cleaner will be staple items in my cleaning tote from now on.

Interested?  You can sign up for more information via email, as well as a free trial of cleaning products and/or a free trial of diapers and wipes.

Also, you can get $10 off a $40 purchase at The Honest Company using code 10off40Pollinate. (Limited to first-time customers and one use per customer. Expires May 8, 2013.)

XO, Ashley

You can learn more about The Honest Company on Facebook, Twitter, and their blog.

This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and The Honest Company but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #NaturallyHonest http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.”

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

Remember a few weeks ago when I told you how excited we were to begin our spring planting? About how much we love to entertain outside during the spring on the patio around the charcoal grill?

Yeah. It’s still not spring here in Kansas. I mean, it’s really, really not spring.

We’re so far removed from spring that Doodle’s class field trip to our Botanical Gardens was cancelled last week due to the cold temperature and high winds. It was in the 30′s here last week, and we were actually under a freeze advisory Friday morning.

But since I’m too impatient to wait much longer to start planting, I convinced the Tall Boy to take me to The Home Depot to get some new planters for our entertaining patio.  We’re hopefully on the upswing to warmer temperatures, but I decided I could get a few planters started…and if the temperature drops too much, we can pull them in for the evening.

As you can see, our entertaining patio is in definite need of some TLC {and the deck could use a good restaining, but that’s a project for another day!}.  Fortunately, I’m working with The Home Depot this spring to get this space jazzed up…and since I’m not really much of a gardener, undertaking a project like this called for some research on my part.

I decided I’d share what I learned along the way, and if any of you have suggestions for me, I’d love to hear them!

I almost always plant wave petunias; they are my absolute favorite…or at least they are until we have eleventy-bajillion over 100-degree days in a row and every bit of landscaping material in our yard croaks. This year I’m determined to keep my plant material alive and looking good all summer. Who can relax in an outdoor living space when you have pots full of dead plants staring back at you??

Here’s what I have happening now.  It’s pretty sad looking!

So, I started by researching exactly what type of planter would work best on our entertaining patio.  Here’s what I found:

• Terra Cotta pots, while relatively inexpensive, absorbs water from the soil, drying it out.  The last few summers here have been horribly hot and dry here, so I’m unlikely to use a pot like this on our west-facing patio.  Plus, terra cotta is prone to frost damage…also not Kansas friendly!

• Wood and Baskets are frost-proof, porous and a good insulator for plant roots.  However, to keep wood planters looking good, you’ll have to paint or treat them.  Baskets also offer a natural look, but will last only a few years before deteriorating.
• Metal planters are often popular choices because of their versatility.   However, thin metal containers provide roots little insulation, making them prone to overheating and frost damage. Steel containers will corrode and can leave rusty stains on light-colored paving–not something I want to happen to our paved patio!

• Stone and concrete planters are frost-proof, insulating and durable.  They are less porous than terra cotta, so they won’t dry out your soil as quickly.  They’re super heavy, though, so if you’re planning to move your pots to different locations after planting, these might not be the best choice.  But their stability works great for growing tall, top-heavy plants.

• Synthetic planters include plastics, polymers, fiberglass and resins. These planters come in the widest range of colors, from natural shades to vibrant neon pinks and blues. Synthetic pots are frost-proof and not easily broken, so they are ideal if you have children or pets who may knock them over.

I’m not going to lie: price is a major factor for us in selecting our landscaping materials and planters.  We’re getting our house repainted in a few weeks, so the majority of our outside space budget is going to that much needed improvement.  So, I made sure to grab my coupons from The Home Depot Garden Club before heading out on our shopping excursion!

You can shop online below for some of the container options available at The Home Depot.  You can even check availability in-store before making your trip!

XO, Ashley

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.