The yard work has begun!!
Well technically, the yard work started about a week ago, but I wasn't there for it....Haha. Bill had a day off without me. I wish I took "before" photos. I could've shown you what not to do with your garden at the end of summer. That would include not leaving all your plants to rot through winter. :( I'm sure it can't be good for the soil. It definitely gave the bugs more places to live and have shelter. :(
Every spring our yard is a mess. Even if all we have is a lawn. :) I'm sure we aren't the only family that has that problem. You use your yard all summer and then BAM, it's freezing! It comes out of nowhere and your winter coats just don't work as well as they should after 2-3 months of beach weather warming up your body. It's the same thing after Halloween and Christmas. Putting up the decorations is fun, but taking them down, you feel like you are living in the Arctic! Halloween decor gets put away at Christmas, and Christmas decor gets put away in June(Haha I'm not really that bad.....March at most). Although it is May right now and my little bush at the front door still has fake spider webs on it....don't judge me, you've all done it....Haha
So today was compost collection day, and Bill had 6 bags of yard waste to put to the curb. The sad part is, those bags were filled last summer but they sat behind our shed all winter. They just had to be re-bagged this spring because winter tore them apart. Then we filled our giant compost bin with all the garden clean up. The amount of bugs we found was crazy though. We definitely can't plant our garden this year until we deal with them. A few garden boxes have red ant colonies and most of them have slugs and snails. Gonna have to research the best way to get rid of them and not ruin our soil for planting. If you have any suggestions please leave them in the comment section :)
We have 7 garden boxes right now, but I am hoping we can build a few more and move the ones we have already. We didn't really know where the best spots in the yard were last year. 3 of the boxes grew practically nothing, so we definitely have to move those ones. We have about 200 seedlings ready to plant in a week or two, so we need to figure it out pretty quick. I am so excited!! Spring gardening is my favorite time of year(tied with beach weather....and I mean actually being able to swim without catching hypothermia).
The best part about yard work though, is that the kids almost always want to help. This is a pic of Madison helping fill all the yard waste bags....Haha! Tell me this isn't one of the cutest things ever!!
Disclaimer: this is not meant to be an advertisement for Walmart.ca....Haha!
I didn't realize how much stuff was sitting behind that shed. 6 bags worth is crazy!! This is what was left after Bill cleaned up the broken bags. You'll never guess what he found under it all?!?! Mouse trails! Or rats....who knows. That's the price you pay for not cleaning up I guess. We should be happy they never built nests in the garden mess. I don't think I would want to eat the food grown there :(
This is basically what Madison did the whole time. I love how, at 8 years old, she still acts like a kid. I see so many kids her age, walking around with their cellphones, ignoring the world. Madison and Ayla could still just spend all day playing super heroes or dress up. At the same time, they could easily sit through an 11 hour drive or watch Netflix for hours, but they prefer to reenact movies rather than watch them.
I think I said it before, but this is the reason I decided to start this blog. First, because I love to scrapbook, but I have no time. Second, because I love having to be accountable(I know that if I don't post something for a while, certain people will bug me about it....Haha). And third, it gives us the extra push to get out and do something fun! Can't write about the really good nap we had today....well I could, but you would probably stop reading. Lol. Thanks for giving me a reason not to nap. ;P
Wow - quite the gardening family - love it! Three hints about veggie gardening - good soil, plenty of water and enough sun (unless growing spinach which likes cooler climes). So keep enriching your soil with compost from your old plants from last year, leaves and grass cuttings and your kitchen veggie scraps. While waiting for the compost to be decomposed enough to use, buy bags of compost, not soil, to add to your existing gardens. Sorry if you knew all this already.
ReplyDeleteThe other big thing is that veggie growing is something that develops over the years - the first year is often disappointing. Dont be surprised and dont give up! Carrots, lettuce and peas are usually successful, with enough sun, water and love!
Go for it Rose family!
Nana Chris
I will always take advice from you :) Our garden turned out amazing last year, except for the back boxes. They were too tree covered to grow what we planted. We plan to move a few around before we plant in them again. I'm super excited. Madison and Ayla just play outside all day and snack from the gardens when they are ready.
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