Grant got up with the boys and I slept in until 9:20 or so, which was a lovely treat. I showered and dressed and came downstairs for breakfast which I ate while I tidied up the kitchen a bit and started some bread in the breadmaker and some beef stew (for pot pies) in the slow cooker.
The weather was mild (about 5°C) so I put on a hat, fleece, wellies and my gardening gloves and went out to work in the garden with my little helper, Noah. We spent about 45 minutes out there. He helped me lift some of the blue bark mulch off the back section of the garden while I got on with settling in some beautiful old bricks to create a new garden bed next to our new fence (this is a "before" shot):
We then had to break for lunch and Grant left for work and I dropped Noah off at preschool. I came home for some lunch and did my online grocery shop (will be delivered tomorrow morning) then it was back out into the garden for about an hour and a half. I dug over the entire front bed and removed a couple of scruffy plants that were in the corner. They weren't particularly attractive and every inch of planting space counts in our small garden and I'd rather have something edible or at least pretty growing there.
I must say, the bed is a lot easier to dig over the second year running! I planted some carrot seeds in the right hand side (up to where you can see the stick poking out) - they are Nantes Frubund variety and can be sown from February to September so here's hoping for a great carrot season starting as soon as possible! I ran out of seeds and must buy some more.
I also worked on the back a little more, finishing the side bed - I plan to sow grass where the blue bark mulch is which is why I've started lifting it:
Did you see the little primrose lurking in the bed on the left next to the post? It came up next to the fence! The first spring flower in our garden and I didn't even plant it:
I also put in some bricks underneath our gate:
The red-bordered ones were the only ones in place before I came along:
In other news, here are my two blueberry bushes waiting to be potted up - they are Darrow and Northland varieties:
They have started showing signs of waking up for spring:
Our strawberry plant is also waking up - and note the little baby strawberry plant in the corner, from a runner, which I'll pot out separately (yay for free plants):
On Saturday evening I started some peas and celery on the kitchen windowsill:
I am so excited for our garden this year! I need to get some more seeds started soon.
After picking Noah up from preschool we came home and we baked a cake together and just chilled in the afternoon - I pottered in the kichen, sliced the bread and took the photos above. I still need to clean this up:
