Garden Fashion, Carpet Mulch, & the Grandsons

I have three 'good' pairs of jeans and I refuse to wear them to the garden. When I looked in my husband's closet, however, I saw stacks (yes, plural!) of old jeans that he's worn on construction jobs, which invariably results in giving them grease, grime, and permanent stains.

With a little help from a Sharpie, I think I've pretty much ensured that he won't be wanting to wear these particular jeans to work again. What do you think? :-)

If I were younger, it could be a little depressing that I can wear my husband's jeans.  As it is, I'm just glad I could find a pair of jeans and successfully liberate them from his closet. Although they're full of mastic stains, the plants won't care. And what I care about is that they don't have holes in the knees. They're perfect!

These crazy things are parsnips. They're volunteers from parsnips that went to seed last fall. I'll have to see if they actually amount to anything under the ground. We love parsnips, so it would be nice if they did.

I can't wait to be picking berries and making strawberry shortcake! I think I'll cover the rows with a netting, for this year I have no desire to share them with the robins.

My carpeted garden. Not everything is in yet, so not all the carpet is laid down between the rows. All the green stuff to the right is another thick row of parsnips. By the way, have you tried using carpet scraps between rows? I really like it, for when I have to kneel down to weed between plants, the carpet is soft on the knees. And it dries quickly after a rain. It makes a very effective 'mulch.'

2010, mid July

in the carpet garden

Summer is short, and we have to make the most of it. Around here, gardening has begun in earnest.

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Over Memorial Day weekend, our oldest son and the little grandsons were here with us. It is always fun to spend time with them. I have so many Soren-isms (from our 4 year old grandson) I'd like to share with you, but here are just a few, when he went for a walk with Kevin and me.

Upon seeing a butterfly on the driveway:

A buddo-fwy! It is full of buddo and it fwies. I wonder if there's a peanut-buddo-fwy.

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After we showed him an 'Indian Paintbrush' plant growing in the ditch, we told him we should take it back to the house and see if his daddy knew (remembered) what it was:


My daddy was in the owmie (Army).
But I don't know if he was in the Indian owmie.

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That kid just keeps me smiling. And I won't even relate the discussion between the boys while we were having lunch at the picnic table.  It was hilarious. I'm sure that if I were a really good grandma, I wouldn't laugh at the 'mean' things they say to each other, but sometimes they just crack me up! And they're very creative, even when they're insulting one another. :-)

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The following two photos are the four year old and the eight year old, with the photos they specifically wanted posted on my blog:

 This is the 2 year old, who has already learned amazing survival skills.

Remember, he's got two older brothers!

Glenn, fishing in the garden pond while

Grandpa keeps a watchful eye.

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