Family Garden

The best thing about summer? Besides popsicles, watermelon, swimming in the lake and BBQ? Produce from the garden!

Two of the easiest things to grow are lettuce and zucchini. And let’s be honest… you don’t even need to grow your own zucchini. Just make friends with someone who does and you’ll be set *wink*

To grow lettuce you don’t even need a yard. Just a big pot. Personally, I’m a bit lazy, so I buy my plants (starts) at the local famer’s market and then plant in the pot. Lettuce is a “cool” weather plant, so it’s not a huge fan of heat. It likes a lot of water, as well. Around here, where it’s not EVER that hot and rains enough that I barely own a sprinkler. (and no AC, so not worth the expense. It would get used about two days a year), I can grow lettuce all summer long. When we want a salad, I just go out and pick a few leaves. That’s it. Totally easy. No running to the store. No going bad in the crisper.

Even if your area isn’t quite so temperate, I think that planting in an area that gets a bit of shade during the day and watering on a regular basis, you could grow it for awhile during the summer. And trust me, you will cry when you have to go back to store-bought.

Memorial Day?!?! ACK!

This month is just flying by! It was April… like, yesterday!

Thankfully, the weather has been somewhat cooperative. I finally got the peas in, and they are sprouting as I speak.

Nothing else has been done. My garden is currently growing weeds. Weeds that I faithfully pluck back out, because I’m going plant there… or, will when I get two minutes to myself.

I’m totally lying – I’ve spent all my extra time reading a new series of books on my phone. Work has been busy and stressful. I’m wanting to escape from it all the time.

Meanwhile, the darned garden still sits alone and barren.

Starting to Spring

Yesterday was gorgeous! Well, as gorgeous as it gets around here in March, anyhow. And given that it was Saturday, we had to to do something – sitting around all day is not something that two year old boys do really well.

We decided to head out to the local bulb farm. In the spring, the fields can look something like a postcard from Holland. This early, however, it mostly rows of Daffodil bulbs. By next week, it should be a riot of yellow. We also saw many horses and cows along the drive. When you are two and three the farm animals are important.

We picked up several bunches of Daffodils to brighten our table and some Primroses for the front porch.

The cuddler has entered the “helper” stage, so he helped me plant out on the front porch when we came home. He decided which colors should go together and learned about about how to remove a plant from it’s pot without hurting it. He’s got quite an eye for grouping flowers. It looked quite pretty.

Spring Weather

Thanks to El Nino, we've had the mildest winter weather I've experienced since moving to this area. I've scraped my windows twice since Feb. '09 and it snowed only once. The kids didn't even have a chance to go out an play in it, because it was gone in an hour. Everything is blooming. Yesterday I was pulling up dandelion flowers from the garden... in February! I'm so glad I bought boots this year!

This whole week has been sunny and above 50 degrees. The kids are going nuts running around the year and playing with the slide. Lala has finally figured out how to use the trike. Seriously, you can't tell her  how to do anything - she has to figure it on her own or watch you do it. Since I can't "ride" the trike, she's been working on it for awhile. The cuddler has finally reached the point of where I can trust that he won't pick up everything on the ground and attempt to eat it (thank you!) and can walk well enough to maneuver on uneven ground without serious injury (the dog likes to dig).

While they ran around, I worked to prep the garden. Because the weather is pretty mild (read cold and wet, not fun to be outside in), everything keeps growing during the winter. During periods of nice weather, you can see some people out mowing in January. The weeds had started to take over my poor little fallow garden and spread their roots all over. You cannot believe the size of the roots under these dandelions. Fist-sized, with runners that stretch across the yard. And the damn morning glories... the bane of my existance. But maybe if I start weeding now, I'll be able to keep them under control come summer. Maybe.