I've been debating for years about what I wanted to do with our skinny side yard. We need to leave it unobstructed because it's the main pathway to our backyard, but I hated that it would turn into a wet and muddy mess every time it rains. Doing stones of some sort that you could walk over, wheel barrow over, and also keep the side yard from getting swampy made a whole lot of sense, but I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. That was until I visited Swansons Nursery in Seattle and started talking to their team about what made sense for a marshy yard. 
We decided we needed to dig the side yard down, add a weed barrier, and then add sand and fill dirt along with some stepping stones. After that was complete, we could add some ground cover plants that would help with drainage and keep the side yard from turning into a mud pit.
Inspiration really struck when I started filling up Swansons` boxes with plants and ground covers and realized that the box I was loading them in was the perfect stepping stone size.
More specifically, they were perfect hopscotch size. If we made our own hopscotch stones and laid them in our skinny side yard, we could actually utilize the space better to make it a play space as well as a pathway. With a smaller, urban yard I'm always looking for ways of maximizing space, and making it dual purpose is always a win. 
Flower Fairies add whimsy and fun to any fairy garden
Fairy gardens are serious business at our house. Just ask our neighborhood kids whom my daughter has fully convinced that fairies live in our garden. We currently have a gorgeous backyard fairy garden that is out from spring to fall, which is where my daughter’s love of fairies started. But this summer I wanted to … Read more
