Garden Tradition
I am mighty.
Today the kids and I went to Mary's to do more seed planting. The snow peas are already above the ground and looking healthy. I rented a tiller and tilled the whole garden area--even unloaded it myself AND got the ratcheting tie-downs to work. ::proud::
I did all the dirt raking to make rows and was really glad I spent the energy on that so that the kids wouldn't walk ON the new-planted seeds, but rather between the rows.
We planted beans (Roma--flat green beans), cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins, zucchini, broccoli, lettuce, and spinach. The kids helped cover the seeds, helped push the seeds down. It was SO cute. Mary's two older kids and my two kids contributed (Mary's youngest wandered around and lost a shoe).
Mary made us smoothies from frozen banana and strawberries and OMG!YUM! It was totally needed as well at that point; I was exhausted.
Apparently in this area the recommendation for live plants is "after Mother's Day" so we'll be planting the tomato plants in a month (which seems SO LATE!). Mary has planted two of the herbs inside and we'll plant the basil outside when we do the tomatoes...I hope that's not too late.
Mary thinks I'm just SO ambitious and I feel like the garden is little and crowded...and there are no onions or beet, there are no peppers, not enough cucumbers, no butternut or yellow squash. But it's a GARDEN of pretty reaonable size and only seems small to me because my idea of a "garden" uses a plot of land the size of the plot our house is on. :-)
After returning the tiller and getting home, Elf helped me spread 2 big bags of topsoil (I always think I have Way Too Much, only to find I don't have nearly enough) in the little flower bed on the side of the house (since the daffodils have stopped blooming) and we planted flowers that like shade (Impatiens, Alyssum, Forget-Me-Nots, a couple of experiments) and some marigolds. It was lovely, and Elf got to wish on a star as we finished. We'll see if any of it comes up. :-)
I've lamented for 5 years how I wouldn't be able to garden and can with my kids....and now I can. I'm thrilled. And tired. And hobbling around like an old lady (back=ow). But I'm happy I feel like I've kept from breaking a link in a chain that is very important to me.
Today the kids and I went to Mary's to do more seed planting. The snow peas are already above the ground and looking healthy. I rented a tiller and tilled the whole garden area--even unloaded it myself AND got the ratcheting tie-downs to work. ::proud::
I did all the dirt raking to make rows and was really glad I spent the energy on that so that the kids wouldn't walk ON the new-planted seeds, but rather between the rows.
We planted beans (Roma--flat green beans), cucumbers, watermelon, pumpkins, zucchini, broccoli, lettuce, and spinach. The kids helped cover the seeds, helped push the seeds down. It was SO cute. Mary's two older kids and my two kids contributed (Mary's youngest wandered around and lost a shoe).
Mary made us smoothies from frozen banana and strawberries and OMG!YUM! It was totally needed as well at that point; I was exhausted.
Apparently in this area the recommendation for live plants is "after Mother's Day" so we'll be planting the tomato plants in a month (which seems SO LATE!). Mary has planted two of the herbs inside and we'll plant the basil outside when we do the tomatoes...I hope that's not too late.
Mary thinks I'm just SO ambitious and I feel like the garden is little and crowded...and there are no onions or beet, there are no peppers, not enough cucumbers, no butternut or yellow squash. But it's a GARDEN of pretty reaonable size and only seems small to me because my idea of a "garden" uses a plot of land the size of the plot our house is on. :-)
After returning the tiller and getting home, Elf helped me spread 2 big bags of topsoil (I always think I have Way Too Much, only to find I don't have nearly enough) in the little flower bed on the side of the house (since the daffodils have stopped blooming) and we planted flowers that like shade (Impatiens, Alyssum, Forget-Me-Nots, a couple of experiments) and some marigolds. It was lovely, and Elf got to wish on a star as we finished. We'll see if any of it comes up. :-)
I've lamented for 5 years how I wouldn't be able to garden and can with my kids....and now I can. I'm thrilled. And tired. And hobbling around like an old lady (back=ow). But I'm happy I feel like I've kept from breaking a link in a chain that is very important to me.