Today was one of those gorgeous spring days….the kind of day you get so rarely here in Western Washington that you feel a sense of urgency to go outside and enjoy it before you blink and it’s over.
Here’s a view of how my garden looks presently:
Yes, I’m totally spoiled and I know that. But I also know exactly the amount of blood, sweat, and tears that has gone into creating this amazing space over the past few years. It’s nice to finally walk in there and have it looking cleaned up and ready to go. (Or should I say, ready to grow?)
The first of my greens are popping up!
This year I’m doing an entire container of just greens: arugula, Romaine, red leaf lettuce, Swiss chard, lacinato kale, and loose leaf lettuce. I’m also going to place an emphasis on herbs. I’m using fresh herbs a lot more in my cooking and I’ve recently discovered the benefits of throwing handfuls of parsley into my daily green smoothies.
I spy the first spinach sprouts popping up, too!
I’ve had some problems with my spinach bolting the past couple years, so this year I’ve moved the greens to a shadier spot in the garden and got an earlier start on planting them. Here’s hoping!
My blueberries are on their third year and have grown like gangbusters. They’ve also completely crowded my raspberries. I think someone needs to get moved…
I actually didn’t spent a whole lot of time lingering in the garden today, though. I ended up spending several hours doing the first-of-spring weeding. It’s always a multi-day, monumental task. But the weather made for pleasant weeding.
It’s nice that my kids are at the age that makes these tasks more doable. Of course, my son was in school, but little girl found all sorts of ways to occupy her time!
She pulled out the chalk at one point and drew Bob and Larry. What do you think?
At one point she called me over because she had a ladybug crawling on her! She was so excited, so of course, I had to snap a photo!
She later told me in a big dramatic voice: “Mama, I always wanted to see a ladybug!” Like this was a lifelong wish fulfilled! So cute.
As for me, I somehow managed to SIT ON A SLUG. I’m not kidding. I felt like something was wet back there, went to brush it off, and looked down at my hand and there were bits of slug guts. I don’t know who I felt worse for in that moment, me or the slug.
This cheered my spirits though – my bulbs have started to pop up in the front yard!
I’m hoping the weather holds for a few more days so I can finish the weeding and clean-up work back in my yard and so the seeds can get a good dose of sunshine!
Have you done anything out in your garden yet?
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Sounds like we had the exact same day! This is the first year that my kids are old enough (2 and 3) to play in the yard and let me actually get stuff done, its wonderful! I did some weeding, and started my veggie seeds!
We spent quite a bit of time in the garden today too! We’ve gotten most of the beds ready for planting and have already put a few seeds in the ground. We’ve started our first round of spring mix (lettuce), carrots, and radishes. Our Swiss chard still looks good so we left that in and I’ll plant some kale tomorrow. A couple weeks ago we planted a second apple tree and a pear tree with three varieties. I’m excited to see if we get pears this year. We also have a few more fruit trees to put in the ground including a cherry tree. I can’t wait for all the good food!!
Whats your favorite vegetables to grow? Just curious? I love your neat garden!!
I dream of having your garden beds! They are amazing. Do you also have a grass area in the back for the kids? I’m trying to convince my husband to rip out our grass and do something similar, but he’s a tough sell.
How tall are your containers? We are doing our first garden this year, in containers, I’m so excited!
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