Happy Mother's Day!

First, sending love to our moms, Eileen & Inge, and to the other wonderful women-who-are-moms in our life.  Cath, Marie, Laurie, Cindy, Sostena, Donna, Kim, Jenn, Sandra, Alexandra...we love you and hope you had a lovely, restful day!

My day was lovely to be sure, if not particularly restful. But that was entirely by my own choice. Had I wished to, my children and husband would have let me sleep until noon, wander out for coffee and peeled me grapes under the pretend palm trees in our back yard. But I was itching to get into the garden, so they let me loose! I actually spent most of yesterday gardening as well, preparing the beds and such, overdoing it enough that I was sure I'd be mostly crippled by this morning. But not so! I woke up to Rudy's beautiful face, and soon after, Paul brought me coffee in bed. Downstairs, I found an array of gifts on the dining room table.

This is me in bed...

....and this is what happens when you pull back the sheet.
Inside, a  granola bar and a tea bag. Thank you, Rudy!

On the far left, a bag Josephine filled with her toys and an attached pirate map!
Bulbs and chocolates and smoked oysters from Paul. Divine.

I spent an hour or two poking around on gardening web sites, planning and plotting, and then headed up to Lowes for more supplies. Last Mother's Day we created two raised beds--one out of old tires and one out of cinder blocks we found behind the shed--and this year I decided to try to maximize those small spaces by trying the square foot gardening method.. I have high hopes.

Back row: 3 tomatoes and one yellow bell pepper.
Front row: Lettuce, carrots, Swiss chard and cucumbers.
Trailing petunias and nasturtiums (seed) in the cinder block holes.

Back row: cucumbers, leeks, peas.
Front row: radishes, bush beans, scallions.
Still need to put in support for the peas, and I'm thinking
I'll plant basil in between the tires.

The start of an herb patch next to the front door: lemon thyme, cilantro and rosemary. The soil here is terrible--rocky, full of junk. I did my best to amend it, but we'll see. 

New trellis for morning glories. Should have gotten the taller one,
but I think I found a workaround.

Containers on the front stoop: petunias, begonias and impatiens.

Perennial garden in the back: mums, bleeding hearts, parsley, Stella D'Oro lilies,  Asiatic lilies, coreopsis, plus some petunias in the front. Also, a bunch of things I planted  from seed  and bulb, but I can't remember exactly what. Hoping stuff starts to appear soon so I can figure out what else I need.

 

New flower garden in the back. The mint used to live here, but it was overwhelming everything so I pulled it out and replanted some in pots. Against the wall, columbines (I hope), and then impatiens
and begonias. Mostly a shady spot, though that did not deter the mint.

Pea trellis.

Radishes, nasturtiums and mint. Look at all that potential!

Thirsty lilies.

Garden baubles. Josephine loves these things.

 I still need to get my basil in and maybe another flat of annuals to fill in the back garden. Plus, I need to mulch everything. Back to Lowes I shall go. Anyway, boy am I proud of myself. And wow, am I sore! But come July, I know it will all be l worth it.

We grilled for the first time tonight and then went over to the arboretum for a walk with the kids. Paul took some great photos and I'll post them soon, too. I like this little tradition we've begun. It feels good and right to tend to green growing things on the day I also celebrate my tending of certain other little sprouts. :)