Window Box Love

The number of perennials that friends and coworkers have given me have allowed me to stay under the $500 budget I set aside for gardening this year. First I should say that even though I kept all the receipts I had from last summer and knew they totaled around $300, there is no way I thought that I would spend $500 on my garden. Because plants aren't that much, right? Mulch and manure and compost cannot possibly be that much either! I was certain that there would be enough left to buy a super cute pair of shoes. But I have spent $360 on the garden so far and I still have loads left to do. Well, technically I've spent $560 if I count the rocking window box I just spent way too much on - but I've decided it's furniture and not something that goes in the ground so that I'm re-classifying it as a crazy impulse buy purchase and not subject to the same rules as the garden budget. And I must say that while said window box is stunningly beautiful and is the width of my two front windows and is deep enough to hold 5 Lily's, I'm a little appalled that it was $200. I'm sure that once it arrives and is up and full of plants I will fall desperately in love and show all my friends and family pictures of my new addition. Potentially even strangers in line at the grocery store depending on how strong my need to feel validated for buying a $200 window box is. Don't worry INTERNET. I will save the best pictures for you. I will also take pictures of the whole garden once the tomato plants are taller than the dog. Because right now it looks a little bare in the backyard. But not for long.