little gardener.

Last time I wrote on the blog, we were held hostage in the house by 10 foot piles of snow outside, while soaking up as much sunshine through the windows as we could. This morning, while Delia napped, Silas and I spent time outside, bare feet in the grass, watering our little pallet garden, our rows of baby sunflowers, and the rhododendron bushes in the front yard.

He takes his job of gardener very seriously, making sure each growing leaf gets a good long drink of water, checking on the tiny green strawberries, and trailing the hose behind him as he goes. His little toes get covered in wet grass and dirt, as he goes through the checklist of each plant in our yard. Chris usually waters the plants with him, but ran out of time this morning, so I just observed as he did the job just as his Daddy has shown him so many times.

One of the first DIYs on my list for the spring was this pallet garden. I wanted to create it last year, but I couldn't find any pot holders like I had seen people using. And then I stumbled upon Kelly Moore Clark's pallet garden post, and the lightbulb went off-- they're hose clamps! Genius. So in case you are wondering where the heck people buy those pot hangers, the answer is-- the plumbing section at Home Depot. This project is ridiculously easy and cheap, and perfect for small spaces.

 We have plenty of space in our yard, but I just love the architectural quality of it. We'll probably end up moving some of the plants to bigger garden beds or pots soon, since they'll grow better with more space. That poor rosemary was sad when we bought it at Home Depot and didn't stand much chance of survival from the get-go. But oh, how I love the fuzzy texture of those sage leaves, the scent of that mint, and those gorgeous orange and fuschia flowers.