"Freedom, Son, Is a Dirty Shirt"

That title is a verse from the song "Shackled and Drawn" which is on Bruce Springsteen's new CD that just came out...the whole verse says, "Freedom, son, is a dirty shirt, the sun on your face and a shovel in the dirt, shovel in the dirt keeps the devil gone..."

The song isn't about gardening at all but the verse was going through my head all weekend because that's what we did all weekend! We worked outside and planted our garden and planted flowers in our planters!  I get a kick out of the spring gardening experience.  I love going to the greenhouse and buying the plants and seeds and I love arranging the flowers in planters.  And of course I love the promise of delicious fresh vegetables as the summer progresses. 

Here is what we bought at the greeenhouse.  It is kind of early to be planting.  I know that I usually have planted flowers around Memorial Day.  The plants in the greenhouse we visited were not as mature as they usually are so there are fewer blooms on the plants and the tomato and pepper plants we bought are still very small. 

The plants always look so little and spindly during the early days!  It is hard not to put too many plants in one pot...I tend to make this mistake every year and one poor little plant ends up withering away as the stronger ones take over.  It seems like they fill out overnight and one day you just notice that they are huge.  Patience, patience...

This one looks good!  Haha, that one is a trick.  That is an assortment of house plants that were given to us when Ben was born.  It was growing in a little basket and needed to expand. 

There is a flower bed in front of the house that borders the walkway.  We planted irises in there a few years ago.  They have really taken over.  The plants are huge...taller than knee height!  The flowers are so beautiful...I wish bulbs would bloom all summer long and not just in the spring!

The color is so nice on these!

As for the vegetable garden, we decided to rent a plot in the city garden after two years of mediocre results in our back yard.  It only costs $10.00!  Most vegetables require more sun than they were getting back there.  We are still going to plant some seeds back there but the real sun loving plants went in our new plot. 

I can't wait for this to look like a jungle of tomatoes and peppers and celery!

The city gardens are very convenient...there are hoses placed throughout so you can easily water your plot.  It is going to be hot this week so I will probably stop and water most days so the plants can get established. 

Of course, yesterday was Mother's Day.  My first one!  I celebrated by going swimming at the Y (I have made my return to exercise even though wearing a swimming suit is not my favorite thing to do right now!) and when I came home I returned to this scene...

Justin was sleeping and these two were just chilling out with him.  Allan hates to miss out on any quilt snuggling action.