{SPRING}

Spring is, by far, our favorite time of year. It is the smell of worms, the tulips breaking through the frozen ground, and the wonder of things to come. We just love watching things thaw out and get their color back. It is when everything comes alive again - including us. Whenever there is a hint of sun outside, we are there. We have already cleaned our flower beds, put in a watering system for each garden, and had a few dinners on the patio (under the heater, of course).  Spring just makes us feel good.

Last summer was the first year we really had a lot of gardens. I guess once we got started, we just couldn't stop. In general, we have many flowers that are natural to the Midwest, so they grow fast and like our hot summer days. The only thing is, we (actually, just Tim) spent so much time, money, and effort keeping our gardens watered. Whenever we went out of town, we had to either ask the dog sitter to water the plants, or rig up some hoses to reach everything. We decided this year that we would put soaker hoses throughout the garden. We have spent the last few nice days doing just that. It didn't take much time and the pay-off is going to be huge.

We are definitely learning as we go. I think that's the most fun part. It's just trial and error - each year we learn from the one before and it gives us so much more to look forward to.

Below is a picture of the hoses. We still need to mulch over them