Garden puttering….
Garden puttering. Cleaned out potting bench and indoor shelf. Transplanted some creeping charlie into hellstrip -- only did about a quarter of the strip, may mix it up with something else in the middle (sweet woodruff, perhaps), and then more charlie on the other side -- pondering. Pulled first dandelions of the season -- I like them fine in a far away field, not in my garden.
Dug out some crab grass, and poisoned the burdock. I know, I know, but I used a very tiny, focused amount of poison just on the burdock leaves directly, and it's right next to the road, so very far away from the back yard where we grow our veggies. Last year's digging efforts completely failed at containing the burdocks -- I have cried mercy, and surrendered.
I am trying to learn to love the maintenance tasks -- they are not as immediately glamorous as putting in flowers, but they do give long-term satisfaction. It's awfully nice looking out at a patch of dandelion-free ground, even if you know that pleasure will not last. But I'm going to put some mulch down shortly, which should help!
Yes to Sweet Woodruff! It smells so awesome in the evening, crowds everything else out and recovers from being trampled on. Oh, and it is easy to contain within the area you want to contain it in.
Yes to Wood Violets! They are native to your area and love shady bits! And the sound of their seedpods pinging open on hot summer days will be music to your ears! (Note: I planted 2 plants and they languished for years. Then one year, they took off. Now I have them around most of my shady areas (under the apple trees, in front of the bushes in the front of my house, etc). They spread but are also easy to control. Pretty plants.
As far as veggies go: yes to peas! So yummy! Yes to carrots, fun to pull. Yes to beans – they may not eat them but they will probably pick them. Yes to pumpkin! Planting onions around the edge of the veggie bed may keep some animals out (like rabbits). Ditto garlic. And then you can send the kids out to pick you green onions when you need them.
Potatoes are really fun to grow, but they work better in a big tub, where you can keep mounding more dirt on them to maximize your fall harvest. When you are ready to harvest, turn the whole tub upside down and let the kids pick through the mound to find the potatoes.
You can try growing stevia in your herb garden and letting your kids suck the sweet leaves. Most of the kids in my neighborhood also have a thing for munching on sweet sorrel and the root bear herb (can’t remember the name). Salad burnette (sp?) is a green herb which tastes vaguely like cucumbers and is rather pretty.
Ah, and pole beans, climbing up high bamboo poles tied together like a teepee. A hideout and snack, all in one.
I’m almost done with my spring weeding which means I’ll soon be to planting. Hopefully!
And Yes to cherry tomatoes, so your kids can pluck and eat them still warm from the sun!