I love this time of year! The weather has been awesome and there is so much action in the garden! I'm always amazed at the plants that come back every year even when they look so dead over winter. The onions are taking off, the shelling peas are starting to emerge and the radishes are hopping. New beginnings....
It feels like we've turned a corner and the cold days are behind us. Yahoo! I have a truckload of dirt coming for my raised beds (a little late this year) and some seeds to plant. I didn't start anything inside this year because, well, the spirit just hasn't moved me. I spent my first long stretch in the garden yesterday and it was needed. Weeding, pruning, tidying up, watching the cats play in the dirt, listening to the birds and a woodpecker who enjoys hammering the side of my neighbor's house with reckless abandon. I saw my first bumblebee and unfortunately many slugs trying to devour my emerging flowers. It was a peaceful meditation, just me and the dirt.
Hope you're enjoying some sunshine your way!
Ah the gardening season is upon us! Let the planting begin!
Ah, finally spring is around the corner! I have my seed catalogs, garden planning notebook, seed packets spread out around me. Is there anything better after a seemingly endless winter?
This is what the garden looks like now: things are starting to inch up out of the ground. I have some serious pruning to do!
Things will be hopping again in June!
And I wonder why I always find cat hair in my paint...
I've been painting a lot of windows lately- looking out over gardens, out onto the ocean... And I have a few ideas sketched out to print on tea towels too if I ever get around to it.
And on a side note I am feeling rather excited/petrified that I just purchased this printer. Quite an expense but worth it (I justify) if I want to start making my own prints and cards. One step closer to re-opening my etsy shop!
It seems like someone flipped a switch and the sun is gone. So inside I go for tea, warm socks, Torchwood reruns.... I'm getting used to painting almost daily which feels good. The birds are enjoying the sunflowers so today I am thinking about birds, especially the murmuration of starlings we saw in Rome. Spectacular!
This is my first successful season of sunflowers... Drop Dead Reds, this dwarf variety and a few others. I love having my own stash of flowers to bring inside to enjoy.
The garden is starting to wind down and quickly becoming an overgrown mess! In the spring I am all energy- pruning, weeding, planting. In the fall I have no more motivation to deadhead let alone plant anything for a cool season harvest. well, maybe some kale...
I've been fantasizing about moving to a hobby farm lately. I need more room....
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”
~Henry James
Things are finally hopping in the garden!
We've had a crazy amount of sun in these parts and now my flowers and veggies are taking off. I never get tired of watching seedlings grow: a meager seed, given a little soil and water, start inching their way toward the sun. Gets me every time...
And this is a little something I made for my mom for Mother's Day.
Hope you guys are getting some sun your way and if you're a mom (hell, even if you aren't a mom) I hope you don't lift a finger this weekend. Happy Mother's Day!
