Garden

I wish everyone could live in Alabama! It is so lovely here. Remind me of that in 2 months when it's hot and muggy and I say that I can't take it anymore. :)

We have enjoyed watching our new plants get established. The boys' seed are sprouting beautifully, and our seedlings are taking off. I know all these garden pictures may seem a little boring to some, but I'm sure my grandma and grandpa will appreciate them. Plus, it is so fun to look back at them for myself.

Here's the garden at large...you can see that we "upgraded" 2 of our boxes. We just took the old ones apart and moved them to the "compost row" and made new, larger boxes. It more than doubled our garden space.

Here's the boys' box. William said one of his bulbs has sprouted, but it's not in the picture.

This used to be the old compost box. We moved it and put one of the old garden boxes around the compost pile (which works way better), and put transplanted our strawberries to this little box. They seem to be doing great in there.

Here's the middle row. This box has our old kale and strawberries (last year's set, which I'm considering adding to the strawberry box) and now our heirloom seedlings from Gaucho Farms: squash, zucchini, eggplants, and pepper.

Same row, second box, has our old lettuce and onions, plus some heirloom swiss chard and cucumbers, and tomatoes that Tim started from seed.

The third row has a box of heirloom tomatoes and basil, which I read are good to plant together.

Also a box with a random, leftover foxglove from last year. Never had a flower on that yet. Also, some more squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon.

And this last box has some brussels sprouts which have been duds. I had such high hopes of fresh brussels sprouts. But our big beautiful plants didn't make squat. We learned too late that you should snap off the bottom leaves once you see the sprouts starting, but over all they just grew so slow. Maybe a nutrient problem? I'll try again next fall.

We went to an Easter egg hunt at church yesterday. The kids and I had a great time. Too bad I didn't get any great pictures, but that's secondary anyway, right?

Zack has figured out how to do the see-saw all by himself and is so proud.

He can't get up to the bar alone, yet, though ;)

It was also fun for me (though not as much for the kids) to see them helping in the yard yesterday. They don't have regular outdoor chores yet, so it's just up to us to make the time and give the effort to make them go out and work. We discovered that they can use the blower, so everyone took a turn using that yesterday. I got some pics of Tim teaching Sam to use the blower on the patio. Apparently they went up on the roof and blew the pine straw off. Zack came in very excited--he got to go on the roof too. SO glad I didn't know about that when it was going on!!

Samuel was not happy about blowing. But he did it anyway...that's a start.

And now: a lazy day with the Master's on in the background and the doors open to let in the breeze and birdsong. Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa, I wish I could teleport you all down here and rescue you from your April Blizzard!!!