weekend rundown--living in the garden

This week was Garden Week. We were out there every night this week that it wasn't pouring rain (which sadly, was all too often. One night we planted half the tomatoes, then all ran around like crazies when the rain started PELTING down on us to get tender little plants, sidewalk chalk, tools, seeds, and bags of soil under cover. The kids thought it was awesome when we all tromped inside and dripped muddy water all over everything and ate their promised popsicles sitting in the bathtub).

The girls and I had a couple of fun greenhouse trips early in the week to pick up some seedlings. We had so much fun choosing the plants, and Abigail was really excited to push the plant carts all by herself while I took charge of the Wild Juliet. We came home with 3 eggplants, sixteen tomatoes (several varieties of heirlooms, including a Brandywine and some Early Girls, both of which I'm really excited to try), 12 peppers, and a tomatillo, which we haven't planted before. Lots of fun things and I'm really looking forward to all the new varieties and taste-testing them all. Abigail is mostly just excited for the "tomato cherries," since we planted them all along the edges with the understanding that she can eat as many as she wants, whenever she wants--and she doesn't even have to ask. This is big stuff when you're four. Big wide brown eyes and gleeful smiles.



The girls thought it was really fun to watch the tiller. And Juliet keeps ripping off chive blossoms, which means it perpetually smells like garlic and fresh herbs outside. There are much worse things.



On Saturday, we girded up our loins and hit the dirt at 8:30 am. We worked outside until almost 1:00 pm--the girls were fantastic all morning. We mowed and trimmed the lawn before we even started on the garden, and they just played happily all morning and helped out joyfully whenever we asked them to. Their favorite tasks were moving rocks back and forth (out of the garden, away from the mower, and onto the plastic) and tramping down the paths between the raised beds (that one kept them busy for quite awhile, and it was totally hilarious to watch).


raised beds

So here's what we (mostly meaning Neil) did: dug out individual holes for all the tomatoes and peppers, plus holes for the hills of zucchini, butternut squash, cucumbers, and yellow squash. Then we (Neil) mixed up compost, topsoil, and peat moss and filled each hole with this mixture, then we spread black plastic over everything, cut out holes over the "good dirt," and planted therein. Then for the bush beans, corn, and herbs, we just mixed in some peat moss and compost over the whole bed. We planted all the corn and the first of three or four (we'll see) bean plantings, as well as the first planting of squash, cilantro, and basil. We'll plant the pole beans in the box later when the peas die off. This year we're doing raised beds and black plastic (plus mulch to come) over as much of the garden as we can, in an effort to combat last year's problem of excessive weeds and bad drainage. Plus, I do NOT want to spend as much time weeding as we have in years past, since this pregnancy seems to be prohibiting a lot of the things I can normally do when I'm pregnant (like, oh, WALK without pain. Ten weeks to go!).

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The other thing Abigail is really excited for is her corn patch, which she wanted to plant "all by myself" (we made a measuring stick and she proceeded to methodically plant). I really hope that all her plants do well, because she's so excited for them all and she was SO disappointed when we had to replant some peas earlier!



Here's a few shots of the current state of things--everything seems to be growing by leaps and bounds, literally overnight. The first picture in this set of four is from Monday; the next two are from Saturday, and the last one is from today.









We also had fun experimenting with a new pizza dough recipe (from last month's Martha Stewart Living, and it was INCREDIBLE--from Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, if I remember correctly. We made two 10-inch pizzas and gobbled them right up (the girls ate more than I did, I think!) It's our new official favorite, and Neil has requested that Saturday be pizza night throughout the summer--I'm already plotting ways to use the arugula that's taking off in the garden, since I felt like the toppings didn't live up to the crust) and wound up the day with a bonfire and s'mores. It was a perfect day. Witness Juliet's s'mores face.



And Mother's Day was lovely as well--I really do like speaking in church, so that was pretty enjoyable, and then I spent a lot of the day quilting (thank you, Neil!!) and finished up my last 3 squares, so I am DONE with those, and we also had a great dinner (salad with feta, toasted almonds, bacon, and tomatoes; pasta with roasted tomatoes and peppers, and hot-from-the-oven crusty bread). And Neil made chocolate-chip cookies while I was sewing after the kids were in bed. Love that man.