Early Gardening

Wow! I never realized how energizing a beautiful weekend could be. Friday, I got a call from the school that Will got in trouble. Had he been older, he may have been given community service as a means of discipline for damaging property that wasn't his. After talking with the principal for a while, then talking with Allen a lot, we decided that Will needed an at-home community-service day. This beautiful Saturday started by me making a home-made window-cleaning solution since we had run out of Windex. Surprisingly, a solution of warm water, vinegar, and corn starch worked great, so I'll probably never need to buy Windex again. Right after our late breakfast, I taught Will how to wash windows, and he spent several hours cleaning the inside of all our windows and the outsides of all the lower floor windows. My sweet husband pulled out the ladder to help with the hard-to-reach spots and now the windows are beautiful. It is surprising how much light gets in when they are clean, but I'm even more excited that I'll be able to get some bird pictures without going outside.

While we were outside, I cleaned out the gardens, getting rid of sticks and dried grass. I would have cut back all the dried and seeded basil, but the pretty goldfinches seem to favor the basil seeds, so I'm leaving that up for now. Ben, Maddie, and Jon were tickle to get to help with all the pre-spring cleaning, so we got a lot done in about half the time it would have taken without their help. When Will finished the front windows, he wiped down and swept the front porch and helped pick up sticks from the front yard. Meanwhile, Allen worked hard at clearing sod from a few new front flower beds. Sunday, we finished most of the projects: we lined three of the four front beds with brick, we planted cabbages and pansies in the front, and I got lots of seeds planted in the back garden. Soon, we will line the fourth flower bed with bricks, too. Most of the seeds for the front gardens are supposed to be planted after the frost, so the pansies and cabbages should help fill in the dirt until the sprouts start showing.

The weather was sunny and around 70-degrees and working outside was the perfect pick-me-up that I needed after the cold, miserable temperatures. On the inside, the cats and I are delighted to get to look out the clean windows and watch the wildlife. The windows are so clean, that I can't tell that my photos were taken through two layers of glass.