Spring Fever

(Written by Dan...a rarity, I know)

Every spring since we made the garden, we've added on to it. This one was no different, as the gorgeous weather we've had gave us spring fever. We've been spending lots of time outside, and decided to use it to add onto the garden. Here are my 3 beauties as we searched for new rocks:

Also, we got tired of the dead and ugly portion on the outside of our house that receives 0 sunlight all day. So, we got going on making a shade garden. Luckily, the woods not only provides free firewood but also free edging in the form of rocks. It was tougher than we thought, as there were huge rocks only inches under the sod. Then, before we could finish, we got buckets of rain and it made a big, sloppy mess:

It was tough finding enough shade plants/flowers, but we got it all planted and mulched last weekend. There are some bulbs planted that you can't see, but it will look better once things start filling in. (Sorry, Mom/Barb, no hostas yet...they didn't have them in yet!)

The other project was adding on to the garden. Even Ari joined in the fun:

It's about one third bigger. Again, it had rained and was a goopy mess:

My little helper:

This is more Jenny's domain, so she handled the planting and organizing:

Here's a random one, but I can't get enough of how cute Ari looks in these purple Chuck Taylors (thanks, Rebecca!):

All of this said, we're enjoying our new & improved backyard. We've eaten outside on the picnic table next to the garden and (Jenny's allergies-willing) the girls enjoy it. The grass is growing, soon we'll have our shade garden blooming, and the vegetable garden we'll be eating!