A bit of gardening

*a bit of a warning...I think the only other person besides me who would appreciate this post is my mom!
Gardening, both flowers and vegetables, was always a part of our seasonal rhythm growing up. It was something that I wanted to bring to my children as well (and besides...it's fun!). I was pretty excited to learn after moving to this house that the landlords had given their blessings for our gardening adventures! While the boys have always helped grandma over the years, we never did much gardening of our own (last year was our first attempt at something other than sunflowers). As the weather became warmer, I pretty muched stalked the yard, following the sun's path throughout the day trying to determine where we could get a raised bed planted. Well, as the canopy filled out, my dreams of a raised bed were quickly crushed. Can you believe we have too many trees?! Ah, I had to settle for flowers. But the thought of having cut bouquets for the rest of the summer makes me just as happy!


My little helper...MaKenna is always ready to help water everything and anything. She finally stopped picking the flowers, well at least until she saw me taking the dead heads off :-)

Here she is watering the children's garden. It is just a small bed, that was already here, planted with annuals the boys had picked out themselves....petunias, marigolds, snapdragons, and a white blossom flower I can't remember the name of (mom?)

I also cleared out a bed on the side of the house which gets the most sun. Here I planted a mix of seeds...wildflower, sunflower, daisy and zinnias.

We do have some veggies growing in pots on the back deck. The boys "pizza garden" seedlings are coming up and I was also given a pot that had two pepper plants, a tomato plant and some basil. We also have more pots of sunflowers and daisies (from the flower egg kits given at Easter)

When we moved in, the previous owner had already planted a few rose bushes and they are now blooming like crazy. I wasn't sure at first as all the silk worms were feasting on the leaves and some sort of mystery bug was eating the buds. But it appears they are doing just fine. Now I am just keeping my fingers crossed the gardenias will bloom!

The boys and I still talk about the "someday" when we will have some acreage and can really tackle gardening. I think Peter is in a bit of denial as to what our future home will actually look like (think less suburban, more mini-farm). But he will come around ;-)