In the Garden

We stayed right at home today for our nature study: we worked in the garden. Monkey went out with his Daddy first, and did some fixing on the deck while Daddy mowed the lawn. It was awesome enough to make me stop my own getting ready to outside to take a few pictures!



When I got out, the first thing we did was fill the small birdfeeder. The big one needs it too, but I decided that it needs to be washed before anymore birdfood goes in. The poor thing has gotten sort of nasty. But this one is still OK, and we miss having the birds by the deck, so we filled it right up. Monkey is getting to be able to do more and more of this by himself. It's so fun watching him become more independent!



Next, we turned our attention to the garden. After being out of town for most of the month of May, it was in sad shape. The weeds have been very happy while we were gone, and at first they were so big and so many that I had to do something about the ones growing in the path before I could seriously think about getting rid of the ones growing where I want to put my plants. This was a little disheartening, but we made a good start. Monkey and I quick went to the yardwaste site for some barkmulch, and then worked on killing weeds. There are a few good plants in there, mostly perennials that we put in last year & the year before, so Monkey got some good practice in distinguishing weeds from plants we want to keep as he was digging. He even pulled a few for me, which made me happy! While he was doing that, I knocked down the weeds in the path, covered up the old path with cardboard to keep those pesky weeds from coming back, and then covered the cardboard with the mulch. Monkey spread the mulch for me.



All that took about an hour, bringing us to lunchtime, and also using up all the energy I had. Hopefully tomorrow morning we can get a bit more done before the rain we're supposed to have for the next few days settles in on us. All that rain would be really wonderful for new plants!