Today went well. I was able to convince everyone to help me in the garden with promises of ice cream on Friday to all who work hard this week. I have to stay on top of them though; someone is always slinking off to do something else.
We hit the farm store late in the day for seed potatoes and other supplies. All children were clean and tidy for the excursion: notice the fact that both girls even had lovely brushed hair.
Of course it doesn’t really matter how nice you have your children looking when they shamelessly go dumpster diving in public. Seth scored some planting pots and trays for his Japanese maple collection.
p.s. I’ve been asked for my favorite gardening books. For the most part, we’ve been referring to the same books for years. I added a gardening section to the bookshop here.
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I just love your pictures. We have never had a garden and with our drought last summer all the flowers/flowering trees passed away. So, I have been working hard to turn the flower bed area into our garden for this year. I do not have a green thumb and flowers are so hard for me to keep alive. The girls have been asking for a garden and I thought sure why not. I know I am going to plant tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, pumpkins (not sure when to plant those), squash, and bell peppers. I would also like to do potatoes but my question is how do you know when they are ready? Also, I love your beds are they made with just 2×4’s? Did you put anything type of tarp under them to keep the weeds out?.. Thanks for any help
So that’s what dumpster diving is–it literally IS diving into a dumpster 😀
I love the eyelet-ish pattern on the sweater!
Ginny, where to you get those cute sandals for Larkspur ?
http://www.zappos.com/salt-water-sandal-by-hoy-shoes-sun-san-swimmer-infant-toddler-youth-navy
My girls prefer the saltwaters with the thick soles like these. More comfortable for them.
your photos are gorgeous of the garden and silas. and i did notice how pretty the girls looked too. those cactus make me a little nervous , my kids and cactus 🙁
Beautiful photos. Love the photos of the cactus, cacti? And Larkspur dumpster diving. Spring is coming!
We have an orchid like photo #7. It has bloomed 3 times,after the birth of each of my 3anxiety children.
I love the one of Larkspur’s dumpster diving, where her legs are up in the air. So funny.
what lovely photos and what a fun garden!
Looks like fun. It finally warmed up enough here to melt the snow so I can’t wait to get out to the garden. I love all your pictures – as always. Say, that skirt of Larkspurs, did you sew that? It is so pretty with the overlay. I am definately going to try duplicating that for my 3 girls.
can’t wait can you .were are cleaning ours out now but it is still very wet
Nice to see some color and some fun. Today is grey, and tonight will either be wet or white. We had some nice days in Atlantic Canada but even the crocuses haven’t poked up their heads to say hi. But, in a couple of months I’ll be thinking flowers and veggies too.
Ooooo – I have garden envy. The sense of accomplishment after a day of planting. Alas, I’ll have to wait some time for that feeling as we just got 15 cm of snow today in the Canadian Rockies.
Photo #6
Succulents – LITHOPS
the one taller greener one is Lithops salicola and has white daisy like flowers
the other short (brain shaped)ones could be L. karasmontana – has white flowers
Other kinds are L. aucampiae or L. psuedotruncatella v. pulmonuncula which look similar but are a darker coloring and have yellow flowers.
My 8 year old is a cactus lover and I recognised these, although I had to go look up their names.
Also known as Living Stones……
Thank you for answering this! I had no idea, just thought they were interesting.
I would say they are one of the SAFER choices if your kids are interested in cacti, although these are actually succulents.
We had some real cacti on the mantlepiece one year, and one dropped a bunch of spines, very small almost invisible spines and I wiped them up with a damp cloth, one of the kids took the damp cloth and wiped themselves with it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! while they were completely naked!!!!!!!
THAT was the longest most miserable days of our lives as each new batch of spines was discovered, and I had to try and see them to pull them out.
Holding screaming children up to the light at a just so angle while holding tweezers, not fun……..
What are those sprouting things that look like brains??
I’m trying to get out every afternoon and do at least one garden task. Yesterday I was very happy to get to pruning the grapevines and weeding around them. I have it easier than you since I don’t have any babies now. I remember during my nursing years, getting all grimy and sweaty in the garden and then having to strip off my gloves and find somewhere cleanish and comfortable to sit to nurse the baby. Kind of miss those days, but I do get more done now and our property looks a little more orderly. I also have it easier because the vegetable garden and orchard is my husband’s domain and his wind-down therapy. I’m in charge of everything outside those realms.
When junk is left at the end of a driveway with a big free sign the children always ask to stop.
I love that picture of her dumpster diving and your sun is just adorable!
What a beautiful garden you are going to have! Finding free things are the best and why not be stylish while doing it? 🙂
Silas looks exactly like you!
It looks like the wee one is tilling up the bed for you. We started three square foot beds…one for each of us…
I’m curious too about how you go about watering your garden? Last year was our first year with a large garden too and watering everything efficiently was a major issue.
We don’t have a great system, but just water by hand with the hose. We mulch thickly though and don’t water too often.
Wow, I can’t believe how it is “Spring” down there. Our poor garlic is still under it’s winter bed of leaves and the garden is impossibly wet yet! Until this past weekend we still had a good foot of snow and had another 3-4 inches of snowfall!
That first picture of Silas is so sweet! Spring time is definitely here when we go to the farm store to buy flowers and seeds. We won’t be buying as much this year as we already have many plants sprouting in our windows, but that yearly trip will still be made.
Please could you tell me what the sixth picture down is? Its weird but I really like it!
I have just read your other comments, phew, its not just me!!
Thanks
Virginia
My almost four year old loved the plant photos and giggled that Larkspur was going to fall in!
Silas seems eager to help as well! 🙂
hope to have a garden of my own one day. But for the moment I’ll be happy learning from others and reading, so thank you for adding a section on gardening to you store!
Love the beautifully clad feet dangling in the air! So funny. Looks like a fun day!
I love seeing pictures of your children because they’re so REAL! Our girls share the same whispy, hard-to-keep-combed hair that your girls have and it’s so nice to see that they’re not the only ones. The dumpster diving pics were priceless. 🙂 I don’t know why I’ve never considered it.
Good luck with your garden!
Hello Ginny, can I show my ignorance and ask what’s on photo number 6 from the top??? So nice to see pictures that smell so strongly of spring. Over here, it’s one day ‘yes’ and one day ‘no’….
I’m ignorant too, but if you read through the comments, someone else knew and answered!
So beautiful your garden! I love watching children playing outside. They always discover funny things to do!
look at the sandal wearing?!?! I was also amazed at how grown up Silas is looking 🙂
This made me smile….so cute! My girls love to go to the flower store with me too…so much hope and excitment when picking out your favorites! It really brings them into the process.
This post made me laugh. I love the dumpster diving in a dress. Love!
So nice to think ahead to spring/summer gardens! I love the photos– especially the last second to last one! I was thinking of your post the other day about kids getting “mucky” and allowed to run freely throughout the day, and I feel the same way about my kids. It’s a good day, I think, when they get dirty! But I also feel so pleased when we can actually leave the house without food-stained shirts and grass-stained pants!
Enjoy your blog!
-Kerry
Looks like it was a lovely day!