Today Simon and I turned over the front flower/tomato garden with a shovel. Okay, I did it while Simon played on the lawn on a blanket. I turned it over and mixed in a couple bags of Nutrimulch. My arms and back are sore from that much shoveling.
Meanwhile Mommy and Ben were digging her lavender bushes out of our real "Garden" aka the weed patch. She's dug them out and potted them in preparation for tilling the garden. And now all four lavender plants are now in pots. We'll baby them for a couple days before putting at least a couple out by the front flower bed/garden/litterbox, in hopes that the lavender will help keep the neighbors cats out.
We planted the lavender and a few other xeric plants our first year here, but due to the difficulty Da had weeding them while pregnant with Ben, she wasn't able to keep up with the weeds, and the plants were soon well surrounded by weeds.
Actually, most of the plants she planted are still doing fine, though some of them tend to get well hidden by the weeds that rule the garden. But we're only going to save the lavender bushes.
The Garden, we think it was the garden of the previous owners by how well it grows weeds, but on the otherhand it's so sandy it might have been the site of a swing set. The sandy quality of the soil is the main reason we haven't planted a garden there before this year. I've been dumping leaves, small branches from our willows (Anyone need twigs? We've always got a million of them.), and any dirt I dig up from other parts of the yard into it to try to build up some organic materials.
Now we just need to borrow a tiller from some neighbors, and till it all in to see if we have soil, or just sand only capable of growing weeds and xeric plants. Da has already arranged it, so Dad doesn't need to bring his down.
We also started a whole bunch of plants today. We like those little greehouse trays with the peat pellets. Ben liked watching them grow when I filled the trays with water. We have tomatos, zuchini, beans, crookneck squash, oregeno, and basil planted so far. By mid April they should be ready to transplant to either the garden, or the flowerbed/garden we've used the last couple years.
So we all enjoyed the great weather today, while working/playing in the yard. I'm sure it won't be the last time if the weather holds. The biggest problem will be avoiding the temptation to put plants or seeds into the ground too early.
5 comments:
I wish Shawn had a desire to garden. Where did you get it from? Ethan is way excited to get started on our garden. We also got the little peat pellet boxes to start the seeds out in. He can't wait to get on it. He has bugged me about every day since I got them. I told him this weekend we would do it.
Sounds like you are taking advantage of this time, good luck with your garden!!!
Sounds like a nice way to spend these gorgeous Spring days - I had forgotten what Spring was like and I am loving it. Are you going to bring some sand in for a sandbox for the boys or are there just too many neighborhood cats?
We will remember this week when winter comes back again!
I love that you're all getting into gardening, I really enjoyed working in our yard too. I sure the kids like "playing" in the dirt no matter what! Chuck and I are gearing up for the veggie plots this year- he has big plans to expand! We'll see how that goes. Please post some pics when you get a chance, I'd love to see how it all turns out. :)
reading this post reminded me of the house across the street from where I grew up...the family had moved out, renting it to four single young adult women. Come the first spring, the girls got all excited and planted seeds for flowers in the little strip by the driveway...little did they know the family was going to come in and take care of the yard (the always had the best yard in the neighborhood!) and in doing so, they moved some of the dirt to a patch in the middle of the lawn that was pretty sad looking. A short time later, flowers suddenly popped up in this little patch, it was amusing to say the least!
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