Things I Love About Spring

1. Tulips and Irises. They're so cheerful. I especially love the color of the irises. In fact, I love all spring flowers. I like the daffodils as well, and the hyacinths. I'm kind of using the peonies (you can see them sprouting in the front of this picture) as a timeline for when the baby is coming. They usually bloom around the end of May or beginning of June, and I'm scheduled for my c-section June 9th. So as those peonies pop up, it reminds me of all the things I need to do before the baby is born.





































*Above photo courtesy of Amanda Wiatr.

2. That first pedicure of the year. Sandal season has officially begun! Just in time, too, because my feet have been swelling a bit, and flip-flops always fit, no matter what. I love the way my feet feel after a nice spa pedicure.

3. The first frappucino of the year. I know I could order them in the winter but they just don't feel right until a warm spring day. I always order a tall, light caramel frappucino, but I make them add the whipped cream anyway. It's all about the trade-offs.

4. Little boys with worms. Aww. Enough said.

5. The gorgeous trees in my neighborhood that flower with lovely white flowers this time of year. They look just beautiful--see the one in the background of this picture?

6. The smell of spring. I don't have a picture for that, so here's a hyacinth. Oh, maybe I do have a picture for the smell of spring.

7. The fact that Panera has spinach again. They only have it in the spring and summertime, and it's back! I've been really, really craving spinach salads lately, and the BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad is awesome when you substitute spinach for the lettuce.

It must be my anemia, but I have even been having dreams about this salad. I very suddenly got extremely anemic. Apparently the cute little parasite inside of me has sucked my entire store of available iron, leaving me exhausted and paler than death. I went today for my first IV infusion of iron, and had to stop on the way for this salad. I only ever eat the half-size portion, though. I guess desperately craving salad is far better than those red velvet whoopie pies I was craving last month.

8. Speaking of spinach, I love the way my spinach is actually growing this year. Thanks to the chicken wire, the bunnies haven't been able to touch it. I can't wait to taste my own garden grown spinach.

Garden Update and a Dark, Handsome Visitor

I haven't posted in awhile as to the state of my garden. Thank goodness my plants seem to thrive on neglect, because I was gone for a few days in Chicago, and then it was too hot to go outside most of last week. I was outside on Friday, watering the plants (and Nick) with the hose, and I got some nice surprises. Let's start with the front porch. I planted way too many seeds, and thus I have extra tomato plants living here. I believe these are yellow pear tomatoes, or they will be when they're ripe. I bought both Roma and Yellow Pear tomato seeds from the seed saver's exchange, but most of the Roma tomatoes succumbed to either bugs or too much rain. Nature at work, I guess. I love this picture because of the angle. Greg's new camera rocks. You can see my sedum growing in the background, as well as my salvia.

Everything in the actual garden is bigger and greener, except for the carrots, most of which were eaten to the dirt by my bunny "friends." All of the empty spots in the garden were originally either carrots or spinach, and they disappeared due to rabbit reasons. I do have a few carrots left, at least for now.

I think you can see my peppers, basil, tomatoes, and broccoli from here. No flowers on the broccoli yet, but the tomatoes are doing well, and I have enough basil to last literally all year. Oh, and yes, I know that i planted the broccoli too close together. Live and learn. I'll do better next year. I just hope I'll get some broccoli this year. My peppers haven't made any peppers. Actually, I saw a baby one a few weeks ago, but it "mysteriously" disappeared. It was those bastard bunnies, I'm sure.

Here's what I think must be a Bushy Cucumber. Either that or it's some weird alien vegetable.

Oh, look at what's growing. It's. . . oh, it's junk leftover from the fireworks last week. Argh! I've picked up at least ten separate pieces of fireworks debris, and I'm sure there's more. I caught Nick playing with another one of these earlier today. Hopefully they're not harmful.

I love this picture because it catches the blackberries and the sunset at the same time. They're not ripe yet, but they are looking good. The raspberries, unfortunately, are not making raspberries. Just leaves. Sigh.

And here we have. . . (drumroll please) the first tomato of the season! It is a Roma, so at least one of the Roma tomato plants must've survived. It was small but delicious, and I hope that more are to come.

This evening, I had a dark, handsome visitor to my strawberry/catnip patch. He comes from next door and enjoys the ambiance of the mini-garden. I've let this part of my garden go, since the strawberries are done strawberrying, and I mainly just pluck catnip leaves for my cats, who are addicted. So this patch is filled with weeds and tons of flowering catnip. And one happy pussycat.

Desperate times call for desperate measures

I was determined to plant some of my seedlings tonight. Nicholas was determined to prevent me from doing so. . . even to the point of stealing my shovel. This boy loves the dirt already.

I got home from work around 5 p.m., and I decided that today was the day. I have been meaning to put some plants in the cold frame and in the rest of the garden, but I Greg hasn't been home in the evenings to watch Nick. Today I figured I'd better improvise. So I had to resort to desperate measures. I got out the baby leash, and wrapped it around my foot while I planted seedlings. Is that crazy? Possibly, but I couldn't figure out any other way of ensuring that Nick didn't run out to the street during my planting.

I ended up planting (left to right) broccoli, sweet peppers, and some sort of herb. I'm not sure which one because the labels all washed off of my sticks. I learned a lesson today about starting seeds--I am never again using the plastic greenhouses. Getting the seedlings out of those little plastic squares was incredibly difficult, and I think I may have damaged a root here and there. I don't know if I planted them too closely together. It didn't seem like it when I was out there, but looking at the picture now they might be too close. I'm also not sure if I chose the right plants to put in the cold frame. Live and learn, I guess. I've been researching for months, but I can't get consistent advice on when to plant and how to correctly time plantings with a cold frame. So I guessed.

I let Nick dig in the empty spot right near me. Notice his digging technique--not bad for a 17 month old. He was a happy camper, but he did keep whacking my plants with the shovel while I wasn't looking. The first row of spinach came up, so I planted a second row. All of the books say to plant it over time, so you have a more continuous harvest. I love spinach, so hopefully it'll work. Here's what my spinach looks like now.

So I know what you're thinking now. This girl is a party animal--taking pictures of her spinach seedlings on a Friday night. Yup. That's me. Always ready for a good time.

About this time Nick started pulling on the leash, and I started hoping Greg would get home soon. Amazingly, as soon as I thought this, he magically drove up in the driveway, and I handed over the baby leash to Daddy. Relieved to be without a leash wrapped around my ankle, I planted carrots and another herb (basil? I think).  Hmm, I didn't label anyything, so I'm not actually sure what I planted.  Then I noticed that the sky was looking ominous. I do believe it's going to really rain later tonight. Hmm. Rain is good for plants, right? I suppose a raised bed garden is better for not flooding out the seeds, since it drains well. . . I hope everything makes it through the night.

I like this picture for the way you can actually see how Nick is in perpetual motion. You can even see him waving around the mini rake and shovel as he runs down the sidewalk, with his daddy close behind.

I'm still trying to figure out the best time to plant my tomatoes. They're tired of being under the lights, but it might still be too early to plant them outside, because of the risk of frost. I will keep deliberating.