What do you mean I have to go back to work?

As far as I am concerned, it feels like summer to me. The weather is warm, almost hot, and we are out in the yard almost all the daylight hours. We had to put on sunblock before going for our walk...I had to spray the kids with bug spray to fend off the mosquitoes. I worked in the garden and got very sweaty and had to come in and sit in front of the fan. All signs point to being done with the school year. However, upon consulting the school calendar, I discover I have to work tomorrow...this is just wrong!

Here, the kids are getting the corn ready to cook for our Memorial Day weekend grill-out. All the husks go into the compost.

The 'cheerful' workers pose for a picture. The oldest one is usually quite willing to help; the younger two...well, let's say they need a little more persuading.

The grilling was fantastic. We had 'happy' brats and pork chops. (Happy= meat that comes from free-range, family farms, where the animals live comfortable, happy existences without horomones, unnatural foods, or unneeded antibiotics) We had tons of corn on the cob and watermelon.


My guys is getting some work done on his hobby car. I got tons of stuff planted. Watermelon, ornamental gourds, corn, and more carrots. I also finished hoeing the whole garden. Now that the weeds are under control again, I can work on maintaining it. Since I should REALLY be done with school next week, I will have more time to fight the weeds.

This is a picture my five-year-old took of me tonight. He isn't too bad with the camera. Most of the time he actually gets his subject in the shot. Lol. And yes, that is A-team on the TV in the background. Yay, retro television. We watched Knightrider before that. It was raining this evening, so we had to clean house inside instead of going for our walk.

Edith the guinea pig, dressed in her new party dress. I found this in the clearance bin at Walmart. It is meant for small dogs...but it makes a great pig outfit. You can see how excited she is to be wearing it.


I haven't tried it on the other pig yet. She looks like a little flapper. He he. Anyways, you can see that I am obviously hard at work on my holiday weekend. But honestly, I did get a lot of work done in the yard. And I caught up on my housework for the time being. House cleaning has been taking a backseat to gardening for several weeks now. I am looking forward to sleeping in, being outside, and spending time with my son. Yay summer!

Garden Update

Thought I would show people a little of what I have been doing. I spend almost every daylight hour after work in the yard. I am totally shocked when I realize it is 9 o'clock most nights. I can't wait till work is done and I can get out and finish some of these projects. I am looking forward to relaxing in my garden, instead of constantly building it. Remember, this yard, had NOTHING in it when I moved in last November. With the exception of trees and shrubs, I have transplanted, landscaped, mulched, and tilled.

This is a beautiful bush in my partsun bed...lovely white blooms right now. This is one of my favorite spots. Sedum, mona lavendar, and david phlox will be blooming here soon.

This is my veggie garden. You can see the spinach and lettuce, and a few peppers and tomatoes going. In two months this will look totally different.

My five-color silverbeet chard. Growing strong.

Potted plants on the patio. Haven't decided where to put them yet. Just getting them into pots so they don't die. Lol.

This is part of my sun bed, the herb garden part. Very sparse now, but in about 2 months you won't see much mulch.

I was ripping this out today. I am putting my zinnias up here. It is going to be a natural looking area next to the field.

The front steps area, this block wall is cracking and falling apart, but for now, I am just stuffing sedum into the cracks. Lol.

My bistro set, a gift. I just noticed my shadow in this shot.

My shade bed, in the front. I am working on mulching it right now. Weeds are a huge problem in this yard. That is a very large astilbe in the front.

This is another part of the part sun bed. Everything is doing well here. That is clematis, penstemen, and rudebekia. Not sure if I am spelling some of those right. Also, painter's pallet, speedwell, and rue.

The western side of the house. This will be 3 kinds of sunflowers, okra, beans, potted cabbage, and cucumber vines in a few months.

Another view of the sun bed, from the backyard. You can see my irises in the closest part.

This is the far back corner of the yard. I have almost nothing back here yet. I will worry about this later. Maybe it will be a fall garden. Hmmmm...could put some herbs in here too.

This is a view into my neighbors flowerbed. She has miles and miles of columbine and many other perennials. The columbines are everywhere. They spread quickly by seed.

Another view of the cornfield side of the house.


Anyways, I am exhausted. Lol. I am trying very hard to manage the veggie garden, the flowers, and the weeds all at the same time. Thank goodness gardening is good exercise!

Extreme Gardening Top Ten

TOP TEN WAYS YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN 'EXTREME GARDENER'

10. People secretly wonder if your husband beats you.

9. Your insurance company raises your rates for too many 'gardening injuries'.

8. You wear a crash helmet while working in the yard.

7. You can point to a scar and name the associated gardening project.

6. You watch old reruns of 'Home Improvement' for ideas.

5. You special order steel-toed crocs.

4. You use a potato gun to take out birds pooping on your patio furniture.

3. You own stock in Bengay and Band-Aid.

2. You shout 'TIMM--BERRRR...' when you cut down your ornamental grasses in the fall.

AND THE NUMBER ONE WAY YOU KNOW YOU ARE AN 'EXTREME GARDENER'...

1. You give your five year old a cell phone to call 911 in case you go down in the yard.


That was inspired by the gardening injury of the day. I will probably have a half-dollar sized bruise on my right cheek tomorrow. While setting up my stick tepee in the sun bed, I reached down to grab my big stick loppers. As I leaned against the base of the sticks, to keep them from falling over. I brought the loppers up to trim off the top of an uneven stick. Somehow, I managed to smack myself in the face with the handles while struggling to cut the large branch. I know...I'm graceful. Anyways....inside the tepee is malabar spinach. At the base of each of the sticks are moonflower seeds. In about a month and a half, it should be mostly covered with both kinds of vines. Hopefully, I will get the large white moonflower blooms this year. Last year, it didn't get hot enough, no blooms formed.

Here is my extreme gardening mentor, with my son. I can only hope that someday my son will carry on the tradition....lol.

Today I planted cucumbers (2 kinds), the tepee stuff, petunias, eucalyptus, red cabbage, and two kinds of tomatoes. There is still made so much to do....my day job is really getting in the way of my gardening. Thankfully, I have only 11 days left to work before I can devote myself fully to the yard. Yay for teaching!