Monday, March 7, 2011

Spring is Coming!

We had a pretty evening the other day and I decided to start turning the soil in our garden beds.  I also needed to start thinking about what seeds I'm ordering for the spring.  I can't wait to start planting again!  The kids came out with me and played around.  Ashton went to check on the parsley.  He was so amazed by the black swallowtail caterpillars last year and can't wait for them to come back!

We have a few things that are coming up in the garden with no help from me.  The parsley never did fully die out.  That was an interesting surprise.  The strawberries are coming on up as well.  I do believe I'll have to thin them out some.  We also had one artichoke to survive the winter, some lettuce, rosemary, oregano, sage, chives and a little dill plant.  I want to add some lemon grass in this year. 

As for what I'm certain to plant, tomatoes, bell peppers in all colors, edamame and okra.  I don't know what else just yet.  I had a lot of trouble with squash bugs, cucumber beetles and squash borer moths last year.  There are some ways to help keep those things away, but all involve chemicals that I'm not fond of using while pregnant.  Plus the kids love to have their hands in the garden so it's tough to add them in.  I would also like to put in a fruit tree or two.  That all depends on our ability to get rid of the Bartlett pear tree in the front yard. In addition to that, I'm thinking of adding in some blueberry bushes.  The hard part for me is that we can only plant those things in the front yard.  Our back yard is heavily shaded and has large trees that suck up all the nutrients from other plants.  But we'll make it work!

Here are some pictures from our time outside the other day.  The little ones were so excited to dig in the dirt and Sarah was loving riding her bike again!

Black really does trim you down!
My gorgeous daughter! (She gave me a real smile! Hooray!)
Diggin' in the dirt.  We'll be growing peppers and okra in this box.
This child of mine almost always has a weird or serious expression on her face!
But she loves that gardening has all kinds of fun stuff to play with (and taste).
I'll fix it, Momma!
Girlfriend loves her some dirt!
So does the little man!  He asked me to snap a picture of it.
Pulling weeds.
Sneaking in a break.
She thinks no has noticed!  And yes, she always sucks those two fingers!

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