Letting nature take over (WARNING: picture heavy)

The weather is really starting to feel like late spring these days. Our official last frost date is still a week or so away so I am not feeling rushed into the garden. Actually, it seems as though nature is taking over the job these days. I am astounded at the amount of voluntary or semi voluntary plants I am seeing all over the yard. To start with, I think we're going to have to fight back a few big patches forest of black eyed susans in the front yard. I see it everywhere, even as low as the back of the veggie garden. I guess I should take it as a sign to build a rain garden if the seeds are washing out this far down ...

Our bird feeder is full of sunflower seeds and right above an area of very fertile soil which stays mostly in the shade of our house and deck. Apparently, the birds have been eating and planting as well. Who knows what these are going to turn out to be ... if anything at all. All I know is that I am letting those sprouts do their thing as a testimony that nature obviously doesn't need man to do anything but sit back and stay out of the way!

Yet another proof that things go on just great without help ... the old compost site is becoming a forest of tomato and zucchini (I think) seedlings. I hope they are the ones attracting the squash vine borers this year instead of the ones in the boys' garden or our family garden for that matter.

The boys' garden is also crawling with voluntary tomatoes and what I believe are pumpkins and gourds of some kind.

The oat that was originally planted as cat grass and the broccoli is also growing well there

I have become more and more interested in wild
edibles and foraging for food is something that really appeals to me. I recently read a blog which talked about harvesting lambsquarter, a very common weed, and eating it instead of lamenting about its invasiveness. I found out that, just like garlic mustard, this weed is very easy to uproot. I haven't gotten around to using garlic mustard in recipes yet but I did take a bite of lambsquarter yesterday. It tastes very fresh and I am still alive so I figure it's pretty safe. I found a couple of blogs that talk about using lambsquarter in recipes: Green Smoothies Blog and Leslie Land.

The rest of the garden is also taking off ... voluntary tomatoes galore in the raised beds, some sort of hollow vine crops appearing out of nowhere!

Bush type tomatoes

large tomatoes

squash? pumpkin? I dunno.

Strawberries are going crazy

hmmmm ...

Salad table? CHECK!

Blueberry bushes settling in? CHECK!

gorgeous azaleas to boot!

Some green leaves on all the bushes!!

But nature isn't all about growing plants and gardens. It's also about boys growing and having fun!!

Posing for the camera

Biking brothers

Laughing Ty

Look at the airplane!!

Owen and Ty playing in the rice while the old dog lounges in the sun.

the result of an afternoon with a couple of the boys' friends

Ty pedaling hard

Owen exploding in laughter

Proud biker 

but not looking where he's going!

I love so much when he lets loose and laughs hard

beautiful smile 

pushing hard

racing to the finish!


Chasing bubbles is pure bliss ... sorry about the choppiness, I was filming and bubbling at the same time :)