In the Garden

Here is the "before" picture of our vegetable garden-to-be. Stace worked his butt off Sunday and Tuesday afternoons, clearing out the area you see here. It was full of dandylions, crabgrass and a few flowers. We bought a big book on gardening and will make a trip out to a nursery Friday to get our soil amendment and some advice. This weekend I hope to put in some carrot and spinach seeds. Apparently in our area, those are winter crops so it's a little late to be planting them, but hey, it can't hurt. I'm hoping to grow tomatoes, bell peppers and zucchini (courgettes) as well, in upcoming months. We also have planted a single grapevine.
Here is the ornamental plum tree outside Cora's window, in full bloom. It is really gorgeous. Our apricot tree (visible here) is budding too, with two or three beautiful flowers already. I'm looking forward to having fruit from our own tree!
But alas, so far, my herb garden isn't working out so well. First (no photos of this), I planted the seeds of parsley, sage and thyme in these three pretty ceramic pots with a matching tray. It was a housewarming gift. I also bought basil seeds and a pot, and planted them as well. Over the weekend the weather was so warm, I set the pots in the open doorway in the sunshine. The wind slammed the door shut, breaking one of the matching pots and the tray, and marking up Stace's newly painted red door. Then, today, while I was researching gardening in the other room, Cora was busy ... transplanting ... the sprouted basil seedlings ... to the floor and windowsill.
And we put in a few pansies in the back yard...