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Two blueberries, plump and nearly purple, sit in a bowl on my kitchen table. I am looking forward to dropping them on top of a bowl of low fat cottage cheese and enjoying a burst of summer flavor. However, for a day or two, they are on display for all to see.

I doubt we'll get much more from the young bush this year, especially since it is merely a few months old. The fact that it produced any fruit this year is amazing. Therefore, I firmly reminded my children that they better not touch my blueberries. Next year, when the bush is able to produce buckets of fruit, they can have all the juicy ripe blueberries they can eat.

My children countered my firm warning by declaring they are not fans of the berries, which should be apparent by the bags of store-bought blueberries in the freezer that are going un-pilfered despite it being summer vacation. My children added that they are perfectly happy allowing me to act as the official berry guinea pig. If I don't get sick from our homegrown produce, maybe they'll try a cucumber later in the season.

Since planting berry bushes, herbs and vegetables rather than reseeding the bare patches that used to be the lawn or adding more azaleas, Hubby and I spend a lot of time on the front porch refreshing our minds and souls. The more time we spent observing our handiwork, the more we decided it still needed.

Under our Japanese maple, for example, we noticed that while herbs and veggies wouldn't do well there because of the shade, it lacked balance. This train of thought led to several trips to the garden store where we finally purchased a few shade perennials.

Mom has mentioned on more than one occasion that landscaping is no different than art. You must still coordinate colors to ensure your yard is pleasing to the eyes of passers by. Therefore, we carefully picked a variety of elephant ear that thrives in the shade and is colored to complement the deep coloring in the maple leaves.

We also found some other hearty perennials that flourish in the shade and flower in the same general shades. I have no idea what they are called -- Mom and Dad can identify them when they visit -- but they look great and nicely filled the gaps in what we now refer to as our Japanese maple perennial garden. Although the boys and their friends know it as the area where basketballs are NOT to bounce or be stored.

Sipping our afternoon tea, Hubby and I also noticed that the berry bushes broke up the yard well, but needed something else, though we couldn't quite put our finger on what. A stroll through the garden store was all it took to discover that the bushes needed some white decorative fencing.

Once the short fence was installed, we stepped back and noticed that the fence, while a nice addition, seemed incomplete. Two days later I returned home with two garden shepherds' hooks -- one for either end of the fence. Each had two hooks, one perfect for a hanging plant -- as long as it coordinated with our color scheme, of course. The other hook was seemingly made for a bird seed dispenser.

After purchasing the plants, birdfeeders and wild bird feed, we were quite content with the enhanced look of the front garden, as well as quite broke until payday. We sat on the porch that evening, quite impressed with the look and feel of our accessorized garden.

When the sun went down, we noticed how dark the garden became at night. This created a new problem, as we finally had the time and weather to enjoy our porch well past dark. Knowing we were tapped out, we decided to dig out some old candle stakes and candles. In no time, the glow from the candles transformed our yard into an enchanted evening oasis.

What made the ambiance even more inviting was the fact that the boys headed inside after dark to play video games, watch television and text their friends, leaving Hubby and me to enjoy our handiwork in peace.

When Mom and Dad surprised us with solar powered lamps that coincidentally matched our birdfeeders, we were ecstatic. We moved the candle holders and set up the lamps. After the sun charged them up, we slathered on the bug spray and enjoyed a pleasant evening overlooking our green, glowing, enchanted garden.

As we sat and sipped our tea, we talked about how much better it was to have an oasis at home rather than spend a bunch of money to visit some exotic location for only a week.

We also planned big salads, homemade pizza and grilled veggies with the bumper crops we expect later in the season and next year. Actually, we were hoping and praying for the bumper crops after emptying our account at the garden store. We are also banking on the boys acquiring a taste for blueberries.

Micki Bare is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau and the Courier-Tribune in Asheboro, N.C., and author of the book, "Relative Expressions." She lives in Asheboro with her husband and three children. Her e-mail address is mickibare@inspiredscribe.com