A Lovely Afternoon

What better way to spend a breezy Sunday afternoon than in the garden? 'Twas a lovely day, perfect for spending it out of doors. It was so beautiful and perfect that I took pictures of our little outing. Oatmeal Head invited a friend, who had a wonderful time with our family. There were no tiny sandwiches, but the Hunny had a large iced tea. From Quick Trip. Would you like to peek in on our lovely afternoon? Do! By all means!

Here's the Hunny, enjoying his time in the garden, a leisurely time. Doesn't this look like fun? It's tons of fun. TONS. You should all come over and have fun with us. And me? Yes, I'm wielding the camera. I've already had tons of fun. But don't worry - I went back for more. I know you were worrying. :)

Oh, and he's tilling a plot for my butterfly perennial garden, right off my back porch, where I can see it from the kitchen and dining room. I've always wanted to buy one of those wildflower gardens in a box, and this year I did!

And here is our garden, in all its partially finished glory. Beautiful, isn't it? Our own little spot of heaven in Suburbia. The cement mixing bins are my herb gardens from last summer. You can't tell from this picture, but I had lavender, thyme, pot roast plant, oregano, chives and basil in just one of those. I was shocked to find that all but the basil are coming back. Basil's a tender annual, meaning it died an ugly death with the first little frost which came our way last fall.

The square, framed beds are the other half of last year's garden, having housed the tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, chili peppers, horseradish (still in there) and marigolds. We couldn't give enough of it away. Especially the tomatoes. We had a lot of rain last spring and summer - highly unusual here - and the garden flourished.

Here are Oatmeal Head and his buddy working hard. My Hunny found the cutest little tubes of sand at Ace Hardware! Aren't they cute? He didn't think they were, but he was glad to have them. Evidently we have very resistant soil, with a high clay content. Not like Atlanta or anything, but still not great for draining and vegetables. Or for weeding (ask my poor, shredded fingers last summer). So we add sand.

Know what? I just like seeing them all work. :) Look how hard they're working! Good boys! (Oh, that's the last of the poo we picked up on our trip to the farm) What a great garden this will be! Wanna know what we'll be planting? Here goes:

Corn, squash (yellow crookneck and zucchini), tomatoes (beefsteak, roma and cherry), herbs, peppers, cantaloupe, pumpkin (for pies!), lettuce, spinach, eggplant (I'll post the eggplant parmesan with fresh tomato sauce recipe this summer - mmmm!) and probably some other things. Oh, beans and peas. And probably some other things. I'm too tired to get up and go look. Sorry.

Here's a shot of the entire garden, viewed from the compost corner. And the ugly house in desperate need of repair and paint. Yes, that brown stuff is grass. The other brown stuff is dirt. And yes, we have a pretty big back yard for a city subdivision. I love living at the end of a cul-de-sac. :)

My fingers don't want to type anymore. I used the flat end shovel to edge the beds before Hunny tilled, then to edge again afterwards. I also used the rake. My fingers hurt. And guess what I'm doing tomorrow? Playing with four and five year olds all day! Yes, I'm substituting in a pre-k classroom! My favorite grade. I just hope I can get out of bed in the morning.

Anytime y'all want to come play in our garden, just let me know. Until I write again ...

Flea