First blooms in the yard. Love these little flowers.
spring weekend
Saturday morning I had a date with my daughter. After Tae Kwon Do class, we drove up to the Community CROPS plant sale. We had our list: tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers. What we left with was something else entirely.
Three kinds of tomato plants — beefsteak, german yellow striped, and grape — and two kinds of cucumber — regular and pickling. She was so excited to find cucumber plants specifically for pickling. It’s the only way she really eats them.
We decided to have some fun, to be a little bit daring, and also came home with broccoli, brussel sprouts, zucchini, watermelon, kale, red bell pepper and strawberries. We really have no idea what we’re doing, but it all sounded like a good idea at the time.
Sunday afternoon, my husband spent time in the garage unearthing one of my favorite things that has been buried under stuff for over a decade: my potting bench. I’ve got bags of soil and lots of containers, and I can’t wait to get my hands dirty. Oh, and the flowers were a Mother’s Day gift from the two of them. It’s been a great weekend.
money doesn’t grow on trees…
…but it grows on plants. The first of many cucumbers growing on our deck. Hooray!
daylilies in bloom
getting ready for summer
There are only five days left of school. I can’t believe it. The snow earlier this month has really thrown me off. After keeping my little plants inside for over a week because of freezing temps, all the sudden it’s in the 90s and they need to go in the ground! Well, sort of. I’m trying something new this year.
Since our veggies need to be portable, I’ve decided to use bucket planters. The tomatoes have already breathed a sigh of relief: Room! to grow! and stretch our branches! All that’s left is wrapping them in fabric to hide the ugly white plastic. I’m thinking burlap.
I’ve also hung plants where the topsy turvys used to be. I’ve always loved ferns and they’ve already made our outside space happier. They need a little bit of trimming, though. They’re all crazy right now, kind of like when I wake up after going to bed with wet hair. Ha!
The big project, which I have been dreading, is cleaning up an entire winter’s worth of dust and pollen. It’s everywhere: the furniture, the deck, the walls. But the sooner I get to it, the sooner we can start enjoying the beautiful weather. I can’t wait!
the beauty in imperfection
One of the most accurate signs of Spring are dandelions. You can have a few warm days or an itchy nose from tree pollen, but Spring hasn’t truly arrived until the dandelions come up. Most adults consider them a scourge on their lush, perfectly manicured lawn, but not me. I actually think they’re quite beautiful, and how can you not when…
…watching children run around all smiles and giggles picking giant bouquets of them.
…discovering them thriving in the harshest of environments, like cracks in the pavement.
…seeing a group of kids in the store all wearing them on their heads in the shape of a crown.
…knowing that you can pick them, mow them, and poison them, yet they still survive.
Dandelions are little puff balls of sunshine that turn into magical featherlight wisps perfect for blowing in the wind. They are tenacious survivors. They take whatever we give them and continue to bloom in spite of us. They are strong with their roots fiercely attached to this earth, while their seeds blow high and far away, searching for new places to live.
I know I’ll never convince anyone not to yank them out of their yard, my husband included. However, the next time you see a lone dandelion growing out of some impossible place or a field of them by the side of the road, take a moment to admire their unique beauty.
Or not. They don’t really care. They’ll keep on growing no matter what you think.
trying the whole growing our own veggies thing again
I gave up on growing our own veggies last year and bought a share in a local CSA. I’m doing it again this year, but my daughter begged asked me to please buy a few plants from her school fundraiser. We got some impatiens for the front, in Husker red of course, and some veggies for the back.
She chose cucumbers so we could make pickles. She also picked grape tomatoes because we didn’t get enough from the CSA last year. I bought a cilantro plant, but passed on the basil because that’s something we definitely did get a lot of last year.
It doesn’t seem like much, but I really enjoyed not having to worry about our veggies last year. Maybe I could put her in charge of taking care of them?
Our biggest problem is pollination because we have a screened-in porch. I can’t put them directly into the ground because we have a lot of hungry bunny rabbits in our neighborhood. In order to be successful, we’re going to need something portable like a 5-gallon bucket planter or something on wheels. I’ll need to move them in and out of the screened area, especially when we get storms.
It already sounds difficult. Wish us luck!
a beautiful day at the park
When my daughter was in nature school, we were at Pioneers Park at least twice a week. It’s a gorgeous wildlife sanctuary with paths, an outdoor classroom, water, flowers, bison, elk, and even a bald eagle. When I saw the weather report for her first day off from school, I knew we had to go for a visit.
After a full morning of climbing, playing and eating lunch in the shade, we stopped by the Butterfly Garden and oh my, how it has blossomed!
It’s hard to believe that so much change can occur just in one season. I think of the changes in my daughter since then. Her long braid has been replaced with a short bob. She’s grown at least an inch, maybe more. She’s in elementary school now and at yesterday’s book fair we bought her first chapter book. Seems like just yesterday she was chewing on her board books.
Here’s a peak at the Butterfly Garden back in May (and that beautiful long braid).
flashback: Mother’s Tea in May
What changes have you noticed lately?
we’ve got an avocado plant!
It’s been about a month since we planted “the little avocado that could” and just when we were about to give up on it, a little shoot peeked out of the dirt. Honestly, I thought it was part of the root that didn’t get buried far enough in the soil, but upon closer inspection I noticed leaves. Since then, it’s been growing like crazy.
I have really enjoyed this little experiment with my daughter. It was slow going and she lost interest for awhile, but it has definitely been a lesson in patience. (We started way back in April.) But given our recent success, we’re talking about starting something else from our book. I’m thinking lemon seeds.
What’s growing in your garden?
the little avocado that could
We planted our first avocado seed today. Remember way back in April when we put it in a bag of moss? The book said it would take a few weeks to get roots. Ours took a few months. Maybe our laundry room isn’t warm enough?
You’re supposed to have 3-4 inches of roots before planting. Our second avocado seed is really slow. (Sorry I forgot to take a pic of the first seed’s roots.) Back into the bag of moss for that one.
Other green happenings: A friend is traveling a lot this summer and has asked me to look after her strawberry plants. She started them from very special seeds that came all the way from Poland. No pressure, right? So far, so good.
Full disclosure: My green thumb isn’t very consistent. The neglected tomato plant is thriving, but not producing any fruit. The cucumber got snapped in half by The Ol’ Nebraska Winds during a storm. Technically, it’s not my fault, but it’s dead just the same.