This Moment: Coming Up Roses!

My knock out roses have been hard at work this month.  They just recently finished their beautiful show.  But I love my back yard, when one plant is finished is onto the next one.  Their is always something beuatiful going off.  My Conferdate Jasimne is at its peak right now.

So on this Earth Day, I am trying to stop and give thanks for the amazing the bounty of the Earth.

We have about 7 bushes that are about 5 feet tall.  When we planted them a few years ago, they were so tiny, but they have done so well in their sunny spot.  I can see them straight out my kitchen window and its wonderful.

And oh, my sweet little Penelope is very into flowers these days too.  She loves to rip them off the plant and give them to me or her Papa.  We are working on "looking with our eyes" or "smelling" or "touching gently". 

Happy Earth Day to you!  And Happy early Easter!

Spring Vegetable Garden Progress

Spring gardening is well underway in the Cornais backyard.   Peter actually took off the day from work today and mowed, edged, weeded, cut back our butterfly bushes and lantana and put pine straw down. It's a miracle, I know.

Our organic veggie garden is 10x30 foot and encased by cement blocks.  Making a garden out of cement blocks was a good workout, but it was such a no-brainer, no planning or cutting wood.   Just line em up, nice and straight.  It's is the lazy mans option of doing a raised bed.

On the left side, we have collard greens growing.  They did so wonderful this winter, except they weren't the tastiest greens ever.  I took this picture before we left for vacation and they have now gone to seed.  That means the center sprouts ups and flowers and it seeds itself for next year and when that happens the leaves are really bitter and no good to eat anymore.  So I will rip them out soon and compost them.  I will give that row a little compost love to refurbish the soil and get it ready for peppers, eggplants and squash.

The other two rows are two different kinds of tomatoes,  broccoli and two different kinds of parsley.  I get my plants from a local farm called Turkey Hill.

Then we planted some seeds.  I have never bothered with doing seedlings and transplanting.  I sort of view my garden as a huge experiment an have no expectations at all.  So when something does actually grow and work out, its thrilling!

We planted some carrot and sweat pea seeds and lots of zinnias.  I let Penelope shake several flower seed packages, wherever she pleased, so it will be interesting to see what turns up. It was such a nice day in the garden, my Dad was in town and helped us.  Good memories being made in the garden.

My pretty collards.  They were much more visually appealing than they were tasty. Oh well, it's all in good fun.  I love that Penelope is at an age where she can be out there with me and playing in the dirt, that is all that matters.

Here are some other cool gardening posts from some of my favorite blogs:

10 Unique Gardening Activities for Kids

How to Build a Raised Garden Bed

So tell me what's going on in your garden?