A Garden for Gavin

This year we decided that Gavin should have a garden of his very own. It's a 2ft square garden and he is extremely excited about it. We thought we'd share the highlights with you.

Gavin helped Adam drill the holes and put the frame together. He also chose the paint color and did much of the painting himself. "I want to do it by myself!"

This is a gnome that I received for my birthday one year. I decided he'd be the perfect watchman for Gavin's garden. His name is G-Gnome, courtesy of Adam. Sometimes, I look out the kitchen window and see Gavin talking to him. 

Adding the dirt and compost

Raking the dirt and prepping it for planting

Gavin helped me start some seeds inside- he really enjoyed watching the pellets puff up when he added the water.  

"Grow little plants, grow!"

Gavin, sitting and chatting with G-Gnome. He planted carrots and lettuce by seed. And, by planting, I mean he threw handfuls of each randomly in the dirt. He also decided he wanted sunflowers, so he planted two of those seeds near the back. Then, when we were out at the garden store, he picked out a strawberry plant. Yes, all of this is in that tiny space, but whatever! I'm trying not to be a control freak. It's his garden and should be a space for him to enjoy how we wants. After all, that's the whole point! Happy gardening season to you all! 

Life with Olivia at 9 months

The title of this post should really be, "No, no, Livie..." The little gal is 9 months old and is all kinds of trouble! She started crawling a few weeks ago and is all over the place- very speedy! Not only that, she pulls herself up to standing, tries to climb the stairs, and like most kids, is drawn to anything that she shouldn't be into. It's been fun, though.

Here are her recent stats:

Weight: 19lbs, 8.8 oz (62nd percentile)

Height: 29 inches (89th percentile)

I made a little video with highlights from her 9th month. We love our little Livie Lou! Enjoy!

Glad I didn't listen to the groundhog...

I am so glad that I didn't listen to the groundhog. He was just flat out wrong- or as Conan O'Brien joked, maybe he froze to death and that is why he didn't see his shadow. Anyhow, contrary to the groundhog's prediction, spring has been taking its sweet time. The trees are still brown and the temperature is just now starting to warm. I have been cleaning up the gardens and ordering plants and bulbs from the nursery. I did plant out seeds for peas, spinach, lettuces, and carrots a week or two ago. These all love cool temperatures, so hopefully the seeds will germinate this week. It always makes me so happy to see those little sprouts pop up through the ground. Three years into vegetable gardening and it still seems magical.

A few weeks ago, I posted about forcing spring by bringing branches indoors to bloom early. This is my follow up post. It worked really well and I highly recommend doing this. It has been fun watching them come to life. I bought a large vase years ago and have never been able to find quite the right flowers to fill it. Branches are the perfect thing because they are more substantial. I chose a random collection of branches, but like how it looks. My favorite stems are from my climbing hydrangea- seem to be blooming better than it does outside!

Believe it or not, tomorrow is supposed to be 86 degrees- totally wacky. The following day's forecast shows a high of 61 degrees. Weird. Anyhow, until the outside comes to life, I continue to enjoy my forced spring. Or maybe with tomorrow's weather, we'll skip spring and run through the sprinkler... one never knows.

And the winner is...

Action shot of Gavin choosing the winner...

Congratulations to Emily! She won the random drawing for a perfectly, imperfect gardening apron! Hopefully, Emily will be modeling it while tending to her rose bushes in North Bend. Enjoy! Special thanks to Gavin who administered the drawing, as well as photographing the final product!