New Vegetable Beds and Irises

I'm sure it's not surprising that I'm obsessed with gardening right now. If I'm not working in the yard, I'm going out every so often just to admire it and see what's blooming. Everything is changing so fast and I'm afraid I'll miss a lovely peony or iris. I can't wait until school is out so I can be home in the mornings, when it's cool and the birds are singing. Heaven!

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you might remember our strawberry bed. It was quite large and prolific, but very hard to take care of. Because of that and the fact that we lost a lot of plants over the winter, I decided to remake that part of the garden. Rick made ten more raised beds similar to the ones in the front veggie garden, just a different size.

A lot of work for my husband, but he knew it would end up being less work for me in the long run. He filled each bed with soil and several wheelbarrow loads of compost. Then we covered the paths with mulch. I love how it looks!

The front beds have tomatoes, three types of heirlooms and others. There are sweet peas and parsley under the trellis.

Two beds have strawberries. They are doing well already, but won't produce until next year.

Another two beds of asparagus. Can you see it?

These are the older front beds.

Sugar peas and two varieties of lettuce.

Broccoli started from seed.

Spinach, chard, radishes, and carrots.

Bush beans.

Now is the time for irises to bloom here in Indiana. I love them and have had many colors over the years. But for some reason the purple/blue irises are the ones that stick around. But this year we got a pretty yellow to bloom. And the Japanese iris are always dependable and beautiful.

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed my garden pictures. Believe it or not, I have been doing some crafting and I will post about it soon. Take care, everyone!

Mother's Day Hike

For most of Mother's Day we were on our own. Eric was in Seattle at a convention and Justin (in the Midwest from DC) was in Chicago seeing his grad school friends. We got together with Andrew, Alison and Tad for a picnic at city park later in the evening. But it was such a pretty day we decided to go for our traditional MD hike. We have been doing this since our boys were toddlers. (Father's Day is canoeing.) We went to Shades State Park, about 45 minutes away. 

 

We went on our favorite trail down the canyon to Sugar Creek. It hadn't rained in awhile so there wasn't a lot of water in the little creek. It has since rained a bunch! I'm sure it's quite different this weekend:)  

The way down was full of ferns and wildflowers. Everything was so green and pretty.

We finally got to the creek. Isn't it pretty?  I'm sure this beach is covered in water now. But it was perfect for searching for crinoids and geodes. And little toads.

After an hour or so we headed back. We decided to go up out of the creek valley by a different trail - millions of steps! I was worn out by the time we got to the top. But not too tired to enjoy more flowers.

To top off a great day we got to see this sweetie:

I missed our other boys, but it was a wonderful Mother's Day!

So Busy

 

Early May is probably the busiest time for me. I work like a crazy person to get the gardens planted and weeded and looking like I want. There is also my job, house work, and meals to prepare. And this year I added a medical emergency and trip to the ER, and sons traveling here and there. Sheesh! Luckily, this is a quiet weekend. Of course, I still worked in the garden all day, but Rick and I went out to dinner last night and spent a lot of time relaxing on the deck today. 

I hope everyone has a very special Mother's Day. I am going to sleep late and hopefully I'll wake up to a wonderful breakfast cooked by my sweetie. If the weather holds we are going to have a picnic with Andrew, Alison, and Tad, and maybe a little hike. No matter what, I'm going to take it easy:)

More Family News

 
You might remember a post not too long ago announcing the coming of a new grandchild. And that Alison was feeling pretty sick? Well, another announcement - it's Twins!!!  (It looks like two boys. It seems this family can't produce girls:) We are so excited! The kids are excited, but a little overwhelmed by the news. We have every confidence that they will do a great job, just like they do with everything they tackle.

Now I'm thinking of cute matching outfits and even something matching for Tad. Quilts, sweaters, afgans... oh my!

Easter Weekend

 

 

 

Sunshine, warm breezes, spring flowers, and a sweet two year old grandson hunting for eggs. What could be better? It was the kind of weekend that I have been dreaming about all this long, cold winter. We worked (I should say "played") in the garden, raking up the debris, cleaning out the greenhouse, and planning new garden beds. (More about this later.)

We dyed our chicken's eggs with plant stuff and spices. I made a little Easter basket for Tad inspired by one here: http://prettybyhand.com/ and peat pot favors seen here: http://rootedinthyme.blogspot.com/.  I made sugar cookies, a baked ham, and biscuits. Andrew and Alison brought a broccoli salad and twice-baked potatoes. Yummy! We spent the evening outside, hunting Easter eggs, wandering the gardens, and playing kickball with Tad. Like I said, perfect!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Spring Break

This is my spring break week and even though the weather is more winter than spring, I am enjoying my time off. I'm doing some cleaning, furniture painting, crafting and decorating, and even some grandson sitting. I also started a project that I think I am going to regret - organizing the attic. I am going through boxes and trying to make sense of all the stuff that I can't bear to part with. You know - greeting cards, pictures, all the keepsakes of our family life. Right now I've got piles all over the upstairs bedroom. Why did I start this???

Anyway, the two cabinets above are samples of my painting. And I'm not done yet. This is all part of my new lighter color palette and I'm loving it! And it's a surprisingly inexpensive change. I have gotten rid of a lot of my old darker country decor, but haven't bought much to replace it. I'm bringing some of my garden accents inside, such as the terrarium and nest in the first picture. It's fun to find different uses for things we already have.

Since I don't have to rush to get dinner on the table, I'm enjoying cooking this week. Today I made french onion soup and sandwiches, which we decided tasted every bit as good as going to a deli. Yesterday I made a sausage quiche. Yum! 

There is a little bit of green coming up in the garden and we have 70's in the forecast. (After school starts!) I can't wait to get out there and clean up the winter debris. And then the fun begins!