The Soil's Been Good To Me

Well, my garden received quite a boost thanks to my loving family. This weekend Joel and I went to our monthly Sunday dinner gathering at his mom and dad's house. It's something I look forward to because we rarely see Joel's brothers and sister except for these dinners. Last week Joel's mom let us all know her neighbor had raspberry and strawberry plants she needed to get rid of. I was super excited thinking I would get one or two of each. To our surprise it was a 'buy-in-bulk' situation, only they were all free!! So I think I got 7 raspberry plants and 15-20 strawberry plants. It was great. Needless to say my day yesterday was all about digging, weeding, planting and mowing.

I started at about 7:30 in the morning while Sarah slept her last few minutes of the morning. I got about half of our front bed weeded before I heard the sound of her saying, "Daddy! Hi! Mom!" It's her usual morning banter with herself. After she woke up I finished weeding and got 4 of each planted. I went over to Mom and Dad's place to mow their lawn (which I do for extra money in spring/summer/fall). After finishing there I came home and finished planting as well as mowed my own lawn. My little arms are feeling it today for sure. Nobody ever told me gardening was such hard work!

I was afraid the raspberries wouldn't make the long trip home and wait for replanting but I think we may have survived. All of my little guys seemed to be a little more perky today versus yesterday with the exception of one. We'll see if he makes it. My strawberries on the other hand seem to be thriving already.

I noticed my squash is coming up nicely as well. All in all I have: 18 strawberry plants, 4 raspberry plants, 2 cilantro, 2 squash, chives, basil, 4 tomato plants, and roses up the kazoo. It seems every time I go into the front yard I find another little rose bush ready for a new season. I think we have at least 7 rose bushes. For those of you who remember how excited I was about my pumpkin, he died. I transplanted too early.

My tulips have all died but in my removal of the dead stems today I noticed two super large flowers looming over the dead stems. I am excited to see what they bloom into. I have a whole collection of the same flowers down the driveway but they haven't budded yet. I'll transplant those as soon as I find a suitable place. I never would have believed this yard held so many pleasant surprises when we first bought it. The soil has indeed been good to me.