Both Productive and Restful

Michael and I opted to skip respite today as it was a holiday and we knew Arielle would appreciate the time with her guys. We had jobs we wanted to get done more than we wanted respite care this week. We also have several in our gang who don't love crowds. Focusing at home made sense. 

Allie cleaned the inside of the house, while Stacia and I hit the garden for an hour and a half. We planted one of the shallow beds with a Japanese carrot, Scarlet Nantes carrots, Red Russian kale, Dinosaur Kale, radishes and spinach.  Both types of kale were starts we had begun a couple of weeks ago, the rest were direct seeded. 

Things I had read said to cover the rows seeded with carrots with boards. This would keep them from washing away or birds from getting them. The clear plastic seems to do the same thing - so we covered all the seeded areas. 

We moved on to one of the deeper beds and filled it with beets. 

I must say I am planting WAY less in each bed with this little planting gadget. This is, by far, my best sleep shopping purchase. We got 30 rows in the bed...Everything we direct seeded today used the little red spots...16 per foot.  The kale was one plant per square. 

Stacia and I came inside and showered. GG woke from nap 2 of the day and I got him settled with lunch. Nolan was working on college at the table and kept an eye on GG while the girls and I enjoyed our "end of the year" tea party. I'll blog that next. 

Michael and Alex worked on getting this mini hoop house set up...we still have the other 1/2 to figure out how to salvage. This may not be a permanent plan as we really liked the idea of the big house Michael had made...but it will work for now...and we are ready to get things out of the greenhouse and into the ground. We'll put some warm weather crops in here...

CoRielle came by!!!! It's always fun when they visit. Benny stopped in the greenhouse...shew it's hot. 

Danny checked in on GG!

One of the fun parts of the boys' visits is finding little reminders of their visit after they go home...like these in the greenhouse.  This boy sure does love to surprise the gals in his life. 

Benny and Allie were here! 

Flowers for the dinner table. 

Flowers on the windowsill. 

Danny picked his first flowers for me today....

Oops - he pulls the heads off before gifting

Sweet boy! 

I fixed pork loin on the grill while Michael and Alex finished with the hoop house. The girls made broccoli, asparagus and chopped melons, and washed berries. I sautéed some Brussel sprouts. Yummy meal. 

The older 3 headed for bed as they will all be working in the a.m. 

When I went out to close up the greenhouse, check on chicks, turn off the sprinkler and make sure the fence was plugged in...I noted the completed hoop house. I don't like the way the placement blocks a sweeping view of the garden plot...but it hides a lot of the jungle mess behind it. LOL  AND this will make it possible to grow cucumbers and tomatoes.  I'm excited to start to salvage the mess the storm left behind. 

Tomorrow, I have a couple of appointments out and about...but I can hardly wait to start planting melons in the greenhouse and cukes in the hoop house. I've up-planted the tomato starts to a 2 inch cup....probably need to wait a bit before putting them in the beds....maybe. I'm not sure. LOL  I usually buy established pots of tomatoes.... I should probably hedge my bet and look for one in a 2 gal bucket to plant too. LOL 

Michael, Stacia and I stayed up and visited for a bit.  It was a good day...productive and restful. 

Why is it still light at 11:15 p.m. I really need to end this day.