Wow! What a spring! Without the withering temperatures in April, May and even so far in June, and with lots of rainfall, the flowers in our gardens were and still are absolutely beautiful (the lawns look pretty good too). Kristine took lots of pictures so that I could see what it looked like outside. The tulips and various other spring flowers were in full bloom and bold with colour. These tulips look like fucia (spelling)… I think. Or because I am a guy, maybe I should just stick with “pink.”

Both girls have been helping Kristine quite a bit to keep our lawns and gardens looking pretty good. It looks like our long-term focus on environmentalism has become part of life around here.

I know that I have forgotten something, but here is what has been going on outside this spring…

1. Kristine put nematodes on our lawn in May, and will repeat again in August. Keeping the lawn watered for 10 days after each application helps to ensure that the nematodes survive and get rid of the white grubs. Catherine and Erin helped to keep the lawn well watered. Nematodes are a little easier to find this year since Toronto now has a long overdue prohibition against using chemical insecticides and herbicides.
2. Just recently Kristine cut the lawn and spent a lot of time trimming and pruning back the chinese elm hedge around the front lawn. Looks really good!
3. We decided to put in a full vegetable and herb garden this year, in addition to the four or five flower gardens which Kristine plants and maintains. I think that the girls have also helped keep the weeds somewhat at bay.
4. Erin spent some time yesterday helping her mother with weeding the lawn – I hear she actually enjoyed it!

The exciting part of all of this isn’t just that the results look great this spring, but also that I have improved enough that Kristine has enough time to actually do something she enjoys – for the most part 🙂 – and also that Catherine and Erin seem to enjoy helping (perhaps maturity, society’s increasing environmental awareness, the Michelle Obama White House “garden” effect).

Looking forward to the gardens as they move past spring blooms and into different flowers (lilies, etc…) and growing vegetables. Maybe even “ultra boy” tomatoes in July!