In Which Connor And I Do 80 Bazillion Things




So day two of Jessie's Outdoor Workathon went pretty well!  

Connor and I spent the morning putting a brick border in along one side of the shade garden.  I say "Connor and I" because he sat on my lap while I worked and in between digging and laying bricks I buried Connor's feet in the dirt, had him help me hold the shovel, and let him feel, smell and (depending on the plant) taste the lovely green growing things around us.  He really liked the feel of the rough bricks, and if I set one in his lap he'd run his hands carefully back and forth across it.  He also seemed to enjoy helping me put the soil back in place once I positioned a brick correctly; I think he liked how cool the earth felt on his hands, even if he didn't really care for it on his feet.  We talked about the life cycle of plants and about the earthworms we found, which he thought really tickled.  I figured if I'm going to be doing things in the garden anyway I should try and include him as much as possible.  Now if I can get him to weed I'll be golden.

Then he helped me give everything a good soaking-- including himself and me.  Connor goes kind of crazy when I put him in charge of directing the hose; it takes him a while to realize that water comes out the end.  Oh well.

So we mostly finished up that project-- the last few bricks will wait until the arbor is in place, which will happen as soon as Jeremy digs me some post holes.  I took that picture just before I started digging in the bricks.  When you consider that a year ago that space was wall-to-wall ivy and weeds, I think things are looking pretty good!  Once the plants fill out this may be one of my favorite beds in the garden.  I love that it runs right along our wheelchair ramp so Connor can see everything as we go down.  Once the arbor is in place, I mulch everything, we stain the fence and power wash the ramp and concrete pad, this area will be completely finished!  That makes me really excited, because it'll be the first area of the yard I can say that about.

After lunch we drove out to Portland Avenue Nursery and did some shopping for still more fun things to put in the ground.  I bought three trellises to go on the fence near our deck; they were priced at about what it would cost me to make them, so I figured I'd save myself the trouble and just get them ready-made.  I also picked up three clematis to go on the trellises, a few small plants for my last empty terracotta pot and a couple more plants for the shade garden, which is filling out nicely.  Connor and I came home and planted everything except for the clematis; they won't go in until I have the fence behind them and the trellises stained.  After that we did a little bit of therapy and then hopped back in the car for our weekly trip to the grocery store.

We got back home just as Jeremy pulled into the driveway.  It was still plenty light outside, so while Jeremy and Connor played together I went back out and touched up the outside of the fence with a second coat of stain.  The days when Connor's feeling good, the weather cooperates and it's still light outside when Jeremy gets home are all too fleeting, so I have to make the most of them!  I came back inside around 9:00pm, thoroughly worn out but satisfied with the amount of work I got done. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be relatively dry, if a little gloomy, so we'll probably be out there again!

~Jess