Days of Gardening and Fun!

I have spent the past several afternoons working out in my garden. This is the time of year when the plants begin to slowly dry up and without me giving them any extra water, they are really looking rough. It is time for me to "ease" their (and my!) "pain" and pull them up.

" A Tiger Swallowtail on the Anise Hyssop"
I had a pair of these flitting around my garden yesterday afternoon. At one point I was even able to get one to crawl up on my finger, but it only stayed a moment and was back to busily tasting flowers!!

"The Shade Garden"
Last summer Trevor had brought home several peonies that they had dug up from a job site. I adopted two of them and planted them where I thought they would be happy. However, I have noticed that they are becoming rather "burned" in their present location, which is in the full sun. I had a part shade spot that was begging for something to be planted in it so I started digging holes. I also moved a struggling columbine plant and finally planted a Heuchera , or coral bells in this area. I accidentally cut off one of the peony stems so I planted it to see if it would grow. It is looking rather limp at the moment.

"Garden Re-Vitalization"
I realize that I need to be adding nutrients to the garden dirt each fall and with that in mind I began turning the dirt over and adding compost to it. The ground was really hard so this took several afternoons.
Do you see the structure made of logs under the tree? That is my "garden compost bin". It's made from the logs of our former compost bin that were sitting out and which needed to be put to a good use!

"Preparing a Bed for the Pansies"
Pansy season will be upon us before we know it so I went ahead and worked up their bed. I have seeds to start them from and am wondering if any of y'all have started them this way. The package says that I can plant them directly into the soil and that they can take up to a month to sprout. I've heard that they can be hard to start... does anyone have any advice?

"An Adventure"
After Sawyer got up from his nap yesterday, we headed out side to run some of his excess energy off. Me being me, didn't want to just sit and watch.... I wanted to do something! So Sawyer helped me pack up my "sewing utensils" and off to the great outdoors we went.

"Being a Little Boy"
Sayre had found and re-painted this little trike for Sawyer and he absolutely loves it! I made the mistake of calling it a dirt bike and he told me "no, it not dir-bike"; it seems to have changed into a four wheeler instead of the dirt bike that it was yesterday!

"Making the Time Count!"
So while Sawyer played, I cut out the last skirt that I have to make. I was even able to begin work on it before it was time to make supper!

"A Late Afternoon Snack"
Sayre fixed the three of us "saltine sandwiches", made out of ham, cheese, and lettuce, for our afternoon snack yesterday. There is milk in the tea pot and Sawyer enjoys pouring everyone cup fulls. We had a ball snacking in the sewing room!
One of these days fall will arrive and we can have Plantation Gingerbread with Whipped Cream for our afternoon snacks.... That, friends, is bliss!