Another Good Gardening Day

Sunday was another beautiful day. We have a built in gardening box by the front door and Andy (with really very little assistance) planted Pansies there.

He wanted to help me plant seeds in the garden, but Jack was outside and he wanted to play with Jack instead so I started planting alone while the boys played in Andy's climber which is right by the garden. Jack's mom called him home after just a half hour and Andy helped me finish planting.

We planted radishes, 3 kinds of carrots including a new variety that is yellow in color instead of orange - we can't wait to see if it tastes any different, parsnips and beets. We put the bean towers in place in the garden, although I did not put the string on them yet or plant the beans - Andy is pretty obssesed with string (part of his autism) and he always gets upset every year when I string the string on them and he can't help (he is way too short) so I prefer to do the stringing when he is not around so I don't have to deal with the whinning. I buy a new ball of string every year and I placate him at the end by giving him the left over string. Sometimes I think I should get one of those wooden bean towers that are all in one piece, but I like that the ones I have come apart for easy storage over winter - and they are still in good working order, so why should I replace them? It is a pain to cut the string off in the fall and untangle the vines from them since the string does not compost very well, but not so much of a pain to consider replacing them.

I still have pepper plants and tomato plants in the basement along with brussels sprouts. I think I will probably put the tomatoes out next weekend, which is still a little early (and I may change my mind), but it has been pretty warm this year. I bought some red plastic film to put down under the tomatoes as a mulch - the red is supposed to boost production. The peppers probably won't go out for two more weeks or even later - they really like it hot. The Brussels Sprouts could go out now, but they are still pretty little since they were late germinating and not all of them did germinate, I think I ended up with just 4 plants. I may put them out sometime this week.

The garden is coming along nicely. We will see how it actually turns out. The rhubarb is up and ready for a first harvest (I never did use all of it from the freezer - I guess that will go in the compost now), the lilacs are in full bloom, the peach blossoms have fallen off and the currant bushes are loaded with what will be currant blossoms. But the Apple Tree that should be in full bloom has none. The strawberries are blooming as well as the Blackberries. The Raspberries are coming up as are all of my perennials. And my seasonal allergies are also in full bloom, but I don't care - I love being able to be outdoors more and in my garden!