Garden Fun

Bill and the girls have completely planted our little garden. It happens every year; they are itching to get started and, believe it or not, *I* have more patience than they do! So, Lauren told Bill she wanted to plant carrots, lettuce, beets, tomatoes, beans, and a mystery vegetable in our garden. Bill purchased seeds - the mystery item turned out to be Chard. He bought tomato plants, and I planted some overgrown potatoes ... we'll see! We have some strawberries from last year along the west end, some basil planted along the north side, some marigolds along the south side, and I think we're going to put garlic along the east side. Quite a bit in a small little patch of garden!

Then, I finally talked Bill into making a bean-tepee! I am so excited for this, and so is Lauren. I do not think Annika has the concept down yet. But, basically we put the poles in the ground and planted pole-beans underneath it. The idea is that the plant will grow and vine up all along the structure, creating a plant version of a tepee for the girls to play in this summer.

I had to show you the former ash tree in the back of our yard too. It met its demise, via the emerald ash bore plague, and Bill cut down all but a stump. He had this vision of making it into a bird bath. So, off we searched high and low for just the right bowl to secure on top of the stump. Finally found it, and he made a little decorative flower bed around it. The girls gave me Garden Gnomes for my birthday - I kinda like them ... I just can't believe I am saying that!!

Here is the inside of our bird bath. (Sans water - we were cleaning it out and refilling it when I decided to click a quick photo.) The birds seem to enjoy their bath, and I am hoping the flowers will grow all pretty and attract some butterflies too.

Finally, here is a little experiment we are doing relating to our garden. The gist is that you fill a clear bottle with water and then add dirt from the garden to it, shake it well, then let it sit for a week or so while the dirt settles. Then you can see the makeup of your dirt - rocks, sand, silt, organic matter etc. I figured why not try it! I'll keep you informed!