Monday, June 05, 2006

Garden update

I have time for only a quick post before I leave for work. This is the first full day of summer vacation for the twins. They have been trying to find a summer job without luck, so I'm taking one boy with me to work in the gardens today and the other boy will come tomorrow.

At home, most of my spare time has been spent in the garden, although you wouldn't be able to tell by the weeds, at least they are still wee weeds. We've claimed more of the grass this spring. In the front yard, we incorporated the purple maple tree into the beds with mulch. The result is that I need to redesign the garden somewhate to make it look unified and this may be the year of paths. In the backyard beside the deck, Steve built me a 3' by 10' raised bed for a kitchen garden last week and the boys partially buried six clay drain pipes ( 15" wide) for herbs. On Friday, he and the boys filled the planters with soil and spread mulch. On Saturday I filled it with plants. On Sunday I checked to see if there was any produce (nada).

It started to rain heavy while the boys were burying the tiles. Since I'm so unreasonable, I made them continue working. (No lightening.) Everything was a muddy mess, but they seemed to enjoy it. I would go out and stand under the eaves to supervise, I mean encourage them. When do the frontal lobes kick in? Since I was joking with them, Ricky thought it would be funny if he hurled a mudball at me. Luckily, he missed, but I turned around to see mud dripping down the freshly cleaned patio door and the side of the house. Of course, this was the moment their father came home. You can complete this story.

I found this unusual wee flower in front of the yellow flags. I still need to key it out. Posted by Picasa

The delicate purple flower that combines so beautifully with the yellow flags is the deadly nightshade. Posted by Picasa

The yellow flags are in bloom beside the lake at work. Posted by Picasa

View from the paddleboat on upper St. Joe Posted by Picasa