gardening

E and I spent over an hour at Lowes this morning, just wandering around, picking out plants and getting seeds. I used the coupon in the circular this past week for $10 off $50, which was nice. I wound up with $47 so I just picked up a couple more impatiens plants to get to $50.

I decided to get some top soil mostly for aesthetic reasons as the soil that the church had dumped on the parsonage lawn is all red, and I’m tired of the children tracking it around. So I’ve spread a couple of bags of topsoil in the backyard where they tend to walk the most — up near the house, in and around my flower garden, which is where I spent all my energy/time this morning.

I planted a few more dianthus to round out a swath of them I have edging the flower garden. I moved a candy tuft plant in order to make them line a mini-walkway through the flower garden. I then planted a dozen or so impatiens and some petunias and some snapdragons. I’m mostly going for a color theme with all the flowers being pinks and purples. I took a chance on an azaela bush at the store and planted it out front. Again with the color theme in mind I successfully matched the color of the existing azaela we have out front: two hot pink ones. I did a bit of weeding in the front but mainly concentrated on the back yard flower garden. It took me an hour and a half, which wasn’t bad considering E was helping me. I’d dig a hole, then he’d drop the flower in. Eventually he took to just turning the hose on and getting himself and all around him soaking wet.

I didn’t really plan this, but I just wound up getting seeds for the vegetable garden. I still may get some plants, but I really am thinking that I’ll concentrate on growing from seeds this year and see how it goes. I got tons of things, from corn to cantaloupe to cucumbers to summer squash to green beans and lettuce. There were more but I can’t remember at the moment.

I also got a couple of seed packets of a flower mix so the children can throw them hither and yon out back on the little tiny plot the guy from church tilled for them on Saturday so they can have a wildflower garden (a mini-meadow, if you will).

Anyway, I feel great both physically (I’m tired and hurt a bit from hauling the soil around) and psychologically for getting some color into the ground out back.

Last night I came to the realization that gardening is really a hobby for me (as opposed to a money-saving, let’s grow our own food thing), which is helpful because I feel less guilty for spending money on it now.

gardening

A guy from our church came and tilled my garden for me this morning. I lifted the raised bed frame off that area and we got us a nice 8 or 9′ square garden. That’s going to be for vegetables. He also tilled me a tiny little spot over in the back corner of the yard where the children can grow wildflowers. So, we’ll have us a wildflower garden, too. I cleaned up, weeded and moved around some plants near the house so I can work on my own flower garden between the carport and the house. And we dug up the bush beside the back steps and I worked that soil pretty good so the children and I can have an herb garden. We are going to be gardening fools this year!