Garden Roundup (not the weed killer... the tell-all!)

My windowsill geraniums are blooming and almost ready to move to the great outdoors.

My second round of peas is in the ground and poking ever so cautiously through the mulch, on the lookout for hungry renegade hens. I killed no pea-shoot-eating chickens after the last garden disaster... and I am proud of that fact. Instead of seeking revenge, I got busy and I risked my healing hip and a ridiculous new knee injury to plant a couple thousand more peas. And I must say, it is truly more than two thousand little peas I put into the ground in hopes of 30 to 60 pounds of harvest to freeze. My book said it would take that many to feed a family of four. Now, we are a family of six, but I thought to myself (rationalized is more like it) that the girls don't eat as much as some older children. And I seriously couldn't plant any more.

Today I did put in the girls' sunflower house though. This year it's moved out of the vegetable garden and into the front yard. My husband and father-in-law rototilled about eight feet by ten or so. It took four packets of sunflower seeds to go around the house. I can't remember whether I left a door or not! I guess we'll see when they start sprouting. The other seeds I put in today include nasturtiums and other edible flowers. I planted them all around my Meyer Lemon tree, which my husband just moved outside in its massive pot. Last year I used ivy geranium and lobelia around it, and that was pretty. But I'm leaning heavily in the direction of food-not-lawns so went with edible violas and nasturtiums instead. Same pop of color and trailing beauty, more salad!

The lettuces and spinach are all going strong. My kale and chards and cabbages I started a little late but they are finally sprouting.

Tomorrow it's potatoes. We picked up some peat moss for more lasagna-style mulch on the raised beds but I want to grow my potatoes in straw bales this year. The woman at my feed store is doing it, so I must try it. It looks so cute... and talk about an easier harvest! Just break apart the bale and pull out your new potatoes clean and ready to go. I will take photos for y'all as soon as I set them up. The only problem I see with this is that I already put in a few potatoes in a raised bed, so I'll have to remember to harvest those too, only with a pitchfork.

I do love gardening season!

Hah. Someone remind me of that when I'm complaining about my creaking and protesting joints.

Today while I gardened Laura played in her new favorite Flintstone-style car and the big girls hosted a lemonade stand. Another first for the season. Of course some neighbor boys joined in the fun and I nearly lost a year off my life when there were two children suddenly 30 feet up in a maple tree. Why me? The little monkeys, neither of them mine, climbed down much more slowly than they'd gone up. I waited to freak out (externally) until they were safely on the ground.