Growing things!!

This picture is not posted here to show you how badly we need a new fence (though we do) it is posted here because I get very excited when my garden is ready to plant. There is something very satisfying about working your butt off to dig out a bunch of knee-high weeds (I should have taken before pictures instead of just after!), raking in a load of new topsoil and some compost, and planting vegetables. I have to say that I think flowers are very pretty but I don't have much patience for growing them for some reason. I am a practical girl. I love planting things that we can pick and eat all summer long. I love the convenience of being able to run out to the garden just before dinner time and pick enough lettuce, cucumbers, and carrots to make a fresh salad. I enjoy being able to say to my kids who are playing in the yard and want a snack, "yes you can pick some strawberries and peas to munch on." OK, I know I'm a geek but that's alright!

So anyway, we did our planting over the last few days. The kids helped me pick out the seeds and they each planted what they wanted in their two rows. It was a fun thing to do together and we had good learning discussions about what plants need to grow. I'll post some pics in a few weeks of our little plants coming up.

I just took this picture because I thought the tulips were beautiful (despite the weeds all around them) and I was excited to see so many blossoms on the apple tree. I really pruned it quite a bit this winter and I was worried that it wouldn't get any fruit this year. A couple of years ago Ryan really did a hack job on our plum tree and it hasn't had any plums for the last two years. This year it finally blossomed again so hopefully we will have lots of plums at the end of the summer. Plan to come to our house for plum tarts and apple pies in the Fall!