How does your garden grow??

It happens every year. It's kind of becoming a tradition around here. The first warm days of Spring/Summer roll around and my inner gardener crawls out from the deep dark place where it's been hibernating. Off I head to the greenhouse to pick up "just a few" flowers to brighten up around the yard. Two hours and an empty wallet later I return, my arms loaded with bright cheery blooms. I plant them, carefully planning the red and yellow pattern and making sure the taller ones are in the back and the shorter ones near the front. I dream of how nice the place will look when the grow and spread, of how they will be full of beautiful buds that I will pick to enjoy on my kitchen table.

And then, as predictable as the sunrise, I get busy with other things. School is out, the laundry is piled up, there are picnics and ballgames and who knows what else. And I loose track of how long it's been since those cheery blooms were watered, 'really, it's been 2 weeks since I did that, seems like 2 days.' I promise myself that I'll get to it tomorrow but then they say we might get some rain so I'll wait. I'd much rather let the good Lord do the watering, He's much better at it anyway. You get the picture. And so, by the 4th of July I have a few weary looking, droopy, stems scattered here and there, as the weeds, hearty as ever, fill in in between.

That would be a silly face, not a tantrum. Just in case you weren't sure!

And that's when I admit to myself (again) that flower gardens and I were just not made for each other. My 'green thumb' is completely MIA. And the best of intentions never get me anywhere. I promise myself that next year I will not spend good money on those things just to give them over to a torturous death. I mean, really, I should know better by now! Maybe someday when I don't have little children any more I'll have pretty gardens but not now.  But.....(see first paragraph! :)

Actually, last year I did pretty good. I bought just a couple of things to put in planters on my porch, that's it! And though they never got what I would call, bushy and full of blooms, they did kinda survive most of the summer.

 

This week we finally borrowed a truck and got a bit of mulch for the flowerbeds around the house. After all the cleanup, weeding, whacking and projects we've done outside, it finally starting to look like somebody cares. The mulch added such a nice finished touch, I just couldn't resist putting some color to it. So off to the greenhouse I went.

Only time will tell, will this year be just like all the rest? or will my resolve hold on for 3 weeks instead of one. Ha! I do have two very willing little waterers now. Jobs that involve water always seem to be more of a hit. But they also require a change of clothes and possibly a mop on the kitchen floor by the time they are finished. And my experience with little boys is that the job they beg to do today they whine miserably about next week. Maybe this is unique to my house??

I LOVE flowers, I do, and maybe someday I will have time to water and weed so that my gardens will look like the ones in my dreams. But for this summer, I'll settle for 'hey, at least a few of them made it!'

Or maybe next year I'll stick with this  ^^^ kind of decorating.  Nothing to kill.

While I was planting I discovered I little nest in one of the bushes by the front porch. Poor Mama bird may be regretting her choice to reside there. I've come to the conclusion that we will scare each other, she and I, every. single. time. I go out past there. She flutters out to a nearby tree and squawks at me until I move away from her territory. It would be fun for the boys to watch little birdies hatch though, if she doesn't get freaked out enough to abandon it.

Since this....

....is fast becoming our Sunday evening entertainment of choice, some bright bushy blooms would add and nice touch to the atmosphere! Don't you think??

 
 This is what has been keeping me busy this week. Almost 70 lbs. picked (with a couple of good helpers!) 27 quarts in the freezer for smoothies, 20 pints of jam and one tasty shortcake (so far!) Mmmm! With the hectic summer of moving we had last year I didn't do much canning and freezing, knowing we'd have to drag it all with us.  So it's great fun to watch the freezer begin to be restocked!