Dirtywork

I can't work in the garden without getting covered in dirt, and bringing a lot of it indoors. No standing and hoeing out those pesky weeds for me. I have to scoot around on my behind, fgrabbing hold of the weeds with my hands, getting some extra oomph with my small hand shovel when necessary. I also crawl from row to row, and do some kneeling too. I just get downright dirty out there, and I'm not proud of it! But desperate times demand desperate means, right? Right. And these are desperate times. Time to plant if you're going to plant! We're on our third wave of planting, and we've even already done a bit of harvesting. Sugar snap peas and lettuce were the firstlings of our crop. It was only a small bowl of peas though, accompanied by a horrible, nasty intruder! I held it up between my thumb and forefinger to ask what it was, hoping against hope that it wasn't a slug. Dan took it from me and showed it to Brianna, and confirmed my fears. Serves him right, he then had to listen to the shrieks of two women instead of just one. I can't believe I held a slug, or that I ate the first pea without washing it, maybe even one of the ones that the slug had slimed. I always pop cherry tomatoes right into my mouth without washing them, but after this, I'll be rethinking that habit. Oh, I can hardly wait till August, when everything's in full production. I'm so grateful for all the weeding help from Colin, Shane, and Brianna. They're faster and more efficient than I'll ever be!

Slugfest, but not in our peaceful kingdom.

Until today, I'd held off on planting any flowers this year. But I know how much Brooklyn and Lilly love picking them when they come for a visit. So, I found a spot or two for a few four o'clocks, verbena, celosia, nasturtiums, zinnias, and petunias, after all. Brianna asked if we could eat them. She's so funnny, she wants all of the space for vegetables only. Well, grapes and berries would also pass muster, but definitely not flowers. Happy compromise, nasturtiums are edible, both the leaves and the flowers. And they say the flowers are so pretty in a fresh sallad.

Dan and I have also become avid couponers. We can't say how long our new hobby will last, but we'll have fun with it for as long as we enjoy it, and then discontinue it without a qualm. We gave it a try way back when the kids were very young, but since we didn't know the finer points of getting the biggest bang for our buck, the benefits weren't enough to keep us going with it. Now, thanks to some good web sites and blogs, we are becoming highly educated couponing machines, so we'll see if we can clean up with coupons, and cancel out some of that dirt. Just yesterday, we purchased 6 $25 gift certificates for $2 apiece to use over the next year at several restaurants. We're not usually much on dining out, but I guess we can manage it if we have to. Besides, Colin and Shane can easily use them all, if we let them, on dates or other outings.