playing in the dirt

It seems that spring has finally arrived. Today, for the first time this season, we had one of those glorious days with perfect weather, and it sure was a long time coming. The kids and I spent most of the day outside, including a trip to a local greenhouse, where I spent too much money on plants and mulch (the pile of free mulch at the nearby park was all gone, alas). I do this every year - get way too optimistic about how much gardening I can keep up with and how well plants will do. Ah, well. It comes with a love of nature, I suppose.

Anyway, after a good day's work I have a basil patch with about a dozen plants in five different varieties, a row of snapdragons, freshly mulched perennials, and planters full of other herbs and shade-loving flowers. This year I vow (as always) to keep the weeds under control and make as much pesto as I possibly can.

A sizeable chunk of our yard is basically woods. There are more than half a dozen pine trees and a huge maple shading the back of the back yard. It was terribly overgrown with buckthorn until last year when we spent several back-breaking hours digging that out. Now it's a field of garlic mustard - a non-native invasive plant - which I have been pulling out as much as I can, and Virginia creeper. I want to take out the weeds and replace them with native woodland perennials. Buying enough to cover the area would cost a fortune, so I've been taking up friends' offers to divide plants from their yards. I've got things like wild geranium, phlox, that fake phlox whose name escapes me at the moment, columbine, jack-in-the-pulpit, and trillium (below). By now the blooms are sort of drying up, but the leaves are still pretty.



I'm also getting over my dislike of hostas, mostly because they look nicer than garlic mustard and they are indestructible.

My hands are chapped, there is dirt under my nails, and despite wearing sunscreen today my shoulders are a little pink. It's good to breathe the fresh air.

And believe it or not, I've been knitting. Lately I'm all about simple things that I can pick up and put down at a moment's notice, or at 5:45am when the kids get up and I'm too groggy for anything complex...so I'm afraid there's nothing interesting to show at the moment. Maybe next time.