It rained all last week making the warmth and sunshine of the weekend that much more delightful. We happily devoured the season's first bowl of red, ripe strawberries from our backyard beds. Serving suggestion: Place strawberries on table alongside bowl of freshly whipped cream. The big (and little) hungry bears will know what to do.
Another harbinger of spring is Mrs. Robin sitting snugly on her nest-
Her three babies are getting so big they hardly fit in the nest anymore. Today we saw Mother Robin bring dessert to her babies - she delivered a beakful of grape jam to her good little birds to wash down all those worms they eat all day.
The lovely tree swallow eggs remain snug in their feather lined nest waiting to hatch-
And Lydia caught sight of three of the baby blues being fed by their mama across the street in the woods. It was the first we've seen of them since they fledged, so that was nice.
On Saturday I planted out all of my vegetable seedlings I've been coddling for months. I was tempted to do it two weeks ago, but thoughts of the stern Francesco De Baggio kept me in restraint. Though I've never met him nor even laid eyes on him, I kept hearing his admonition to 'not let my peppers see nights below 55' running through my head and I held off until this weekend. So now my tomatoes and peppers and cucurbits are finally in.
I have to show you my new cucumber frames Michael made for me. (I did oooh and aaah properly.) Behold-
Aren't they fabulous? By going vertical I can grow many more cucumbers, and they won't have to rest on the ground and get buggy. Cucumbers are one of the girls' favorite walk-out-to-the-garden-and-grab-something-to-munch crops, so I am very happy and thankful to have these. Michael says they were quite simple and inexpensive to make. The many little cucumber plants look so cute next to them, all lined up in a row-
I am also trying some companion planting this year to try to repel some pests. My favorite gardening book suggests marigolds to keep away cucumber beetles and nasturtiums to combat the dread squash bugs, so I added in some of those as well. But the weekend was not all work - there was plenty of time to sit and make clover chains in the sunshine. The girls made me a lovely clover circlet to wear so I was surrounded by the delicious sweet scent of clover as I worked.
We were also delighted by the spotting of several red admirals-
Fresh air and sunshine and hard work and new life every where - I do so love these simple pleasures of spring.
