Last year Eve came up with the idea for a beautiful wildflower garden. Because we live in an area with shared common grounds, I floated the idea by the neighbors and everyone loved it. Eve, being Eve, went no further with it.

This spring one of the neighbors reached out to Eve and asked if they could work on the garden together, starting with a simpler plan. The neighbor also has a little more garden knowledge than us, or at least a little more garden ambition! She rented a rototiller and the two of them dug up a large patch of land in the side yard. Two weeks later (today), they re-tilled and planted seeds. A few other neighbors came out to join in the fun as well. I popped in and out for moral support and to take pictures. :) Eve wasn’t excited for the hard work and hot sun, but I think she will be excited when the garden starts to grow. I’ll let her get some decorative stuff for it as well, which is the part she really wants. :)

Eve and I planted a garden this morning in the backyard. This garden area is now on it’s third incarnation. It started as a veggie garden way back when, then turned into a dirt box for a few years where the kids played with their trucks and dug holes to China, and now it will (maybe) become a beautiful flower garden.

I’m teaching Eve the laziest gardening skills. Last weekend we pulled up as many weeks as we could and used the shovel and rake to level out the space (no more huge mountains and deep lava pits) and loosen up the dirt. Then a week went by and the weeds grew back. This morning we went out again, pulled up more weeds, and planted seeds. During the week Eve had drawn a few plans for the seed planting, based on the heights of the flowers and the angles of the sun, but when we went out this morning she ended up just sprinkling them in loose rows. We’re working with seed packets from last summer, so I don’t know if they’ll even grow! Once all seven types of flowers had been sprinkled about the garden we dumped a giant bag of potting soil (also from last summer) on top and use the rake to spread it all around, destroying any semblance of seed rows we had. Then we sprayed the whole thing with water from the hose. Easy peasy!

I told her we should make a journal and keep track of what we planted and when, but probably we’ll both be too lazy busy to make that really happen. Hopefully nature will cooperate with us and Eve will have her big, beautiful flower garden this summer. If not, maybe I’ll teach her the right way next summer. :)

Eve and I planted cherry pits and popcorn kernels this morning. I will have one very excited girl on my hands if they grow!

I made her wear her boots so she didn't get all dirty before school, and she chose her raincoat over sunscreen. :)

We planted chocolate mint and freesia today. The chocolate mint (repotting, really, Lex and I bought the plants already growing at the Home Depot!) went into an old pot of dirt that had something else growing in it last year. I don’t remember what. For the freesia bulbs I dumped a bag of manure on the wood mulch where our tree came down last year. Then we tucked the little bulbs right in and poured a bottle of water on top. I’m a top-notch expert gardener, have you noticed?

Garden girl

Lex and I packed up and started to move on to something else. Eve sat there for awhile, patting the dirt. Then she said, “Aww… I love these flowers. [brief pause, more patting] I want to hug the cow poop.” How can you not laugh at that girl!?!