Garden day

We did it! The garden has begun its spring cycle here. Cap put together our new self-watering planter (which did leak some when the first batch of water was put in...after it was filled with soil too...)

I pulled out the dead leaves and what was left of the annuals and found some things had returned. These wee ones were discovered in the sunflower pot. I think they might be beans, but really have no idea.

The lavender...every dead stem I snipped released a wonderful last breath. Some of the stems had new green leaves so I kept those in. I don't know if lavender is a perennial.

This, I think, is echinacea. I'm going to ask Felicia to take a look at my photos to help me identify the herbs from last year's class.

This, I think, is bee balm.

And, this, I know, is mint. First picked some leaves to make himself some tea.

There was a slew of the sprouts I found in the sunflower pot in the bean pot. There was such a mass of them, though, that I decided to compost them. We have anew bean plant that I want to put in this pot (if it ever sprouts).

We disrupted an ant nest in this pot. Sorry guys. I was happy to see very healthy looking earthworms in our old pots and planters. I'm thinking of releasing some ladybugs into the garden in a few weeks.

First loves to garden. Here he is filling up the new planter with "Bumper Crop" a premix of organic compost, shells, peat moss and soil.

There's the planter full of good soil.

The chives, which returned beautifully.

Our red currant tomato seedlings and their companion plant, the marigold.

On the left is one of four seedlings I picked up from Pat's front stoop. She is an amazing local organic gardener who gives away hundreds of seedlings each spring because she ends up with more than she needs. I'm on her e-mail list and love reading about how her garden is growing, her gardening tips, announcements of what's available for free on her stoop, and updates on local environmental politics.

In the middle is our bean seed, hopefully germinating peacefully. It's supposed to heat up this weekend so I am hoping it gets the warm nudge that it needs.

On the right are the gorgeous chives.

These are Malabar spinach sprouts. They are supposed to climb, so I put in some bamboo poles. I wondered how much of the paint/dye would leach into the soil...

Kinder is not so interested in gardening. He had fun climbing,

doing (unconscious) yoga,

and bringing me gifts.

My parting shot: the bottom of First's first cup of this season's peppermint tea with honey.