On this lovely, sunshiney Mama's Day weekend, I wanted to be outside as much as possible, with family by my side. Being in the garden is just about the perfect way for me to spend my time, and with Papa minding the littles nearby, I got to dig and plant and water to my heart's content.
Garlic's thriving...

Blueberry bushes budding out...

Granny's maple tree seems decorated for this special day ~ I love the garlands it is wearing!

I have been spending much of my time on this patch of the garden beside our two big garlic beds. This is the back gate (though, the gate is still in Josh's shop being made), and I am digging and digging and digging out the couch grass and tenacious bracken. After this monotonous and finicky task, I lay landscape fabric and then gravel and then woodchips. I guarantee this insures no weeds get in. It is a tremendous amount of work, but it is so worthwhile for there are no weeds to be battling. My window for finishing this 12' x 11' space is closing as soon the mosquitoes arrive and surely I am not that crazy to do this while fending off hungry bloodsuckers!

Other garden chores happening around here include breaking down the eggshells we have collected since January. If anyone visits my home, they often quietly note the overflowing pile of eggshells toppling over in the cookstove warming oven. We save all the eggshells to be ground into somewhat of a powder to sprinkle generously in the soil as we plant out the tomato starts. Apparently, the calcium in the eggshells prevents blossom end rot...and I think it works because I've never had that problem with them. I also add it to the beds that will have tomatoes the next year, and then the compost gets the rest. But, the job of grinding the shells is a popular one...

I'm a believer in using what you have around your home to help your garden grow. Eggshells for fertilizer, comfrey leaves for garden teas, toilet paper rolls for collars against cutworms, matchsticks for pepper plants, manure for making the black gold...it goes on and on. I am always testing out folklore advice, and jotting notes down in my gardening journal.
This week, we also planted our greenhouse full of tomatoes, peppers, basil and cucumbers. And wouldn't you know it...that first night we had a spring killing frost! I scrambled out of bed and raced down to the greenhouse to assess the damage, which wasn't too bad. Somehow the frost crept in and claimed two tomatoes, two peppers and four basil plants ~ all of which I have replacements sitting under the lights inside here. Thank goodness for being cautious!

Do you see all that green mossy looking stuff on the right and at the bottom? That is volunteer dill plants...thousands of them! A few years ago, I didn't take the plants down before they seeded and now we have so much dill it is ridiculous! Even after all the stepping on it (though we try and be careful), it still springs up anew...hardy stuff, that dill!
And finally, Josh and the children went to a local planer and filled up the truck with sawdust. Such fun to back it into the spot by the blackberry spiral and jump into the mountain of sawdust they scooped off! Well, such fun the first time, because sawdust down your boots and shirt and even in your undies is a wee bit uncomfortable. Lesson learned, this year. Next year, they will undoubtedly relearn that one...again.

I moved almost the whole pile onto the pathways of the spiral in under 24 hours...oh, my back is tired! It is a little crazy this whole spiral, but I confess to loving it! Last year, we had 3 canes give off berries that allowed a few desserts and one freezer bag filled, in addition to a lot of eating. 3 canes!!! I have already counted 12 canes for this year, with over 30 growing for next year. I look forward to the jungle this will become. It is a lot of work to maintain the pathways here, but while the children are little, it is so worth it. They have such fun in here and that keeps me going.
It is incredible the amount of work that growing food requires, but it is such honest, hard work that I love! My body aches now, but this past weekend of digging and hauling was so incredibly satisfying...with papa taking care of the littles nearby, hooting and hollering. Indeed, a blissful mama's day for me. I hope you all enjoyed your days with your sweet ones, too!