WIP Wednesday

Yay - outside WIP!!
We've been busy outside working away - between thunderstorms at least.
The herb garden is thriving already. I had bee balm, sage, oregano, parsley and onions (to keep the rabbit away) return with a vengance this year. I added some chives, basil, thyme and lettuce. We've got new neighbors on the right side of us and they have two kids around Guthrie's age. They helped me out with the planting of the lettuce. I don't think they had ever planted anything before. It was fun and I've had to thin it out quite a bit.I need some mulch, huh?

The big veggie garden took a little more work to get into shape and should be planted by early next week. I was hesitant to plant any earlier as the weather was so strange and a couple of years ago we had snow as late as the end of April. Iowa didn't have any apples that year. So, here sits part of the garden empty except for some errant beets and strawberries I won't remove until after they've fruited. Because I just can't stand to get rid of them.
Although I'm a little more heartless this year as they've become more aggressive. Invasive strawberries. How bad can that be? Everything is pointing toward both a good strawberry and raspberry crop this year. We'll see though. I haven't had good raspberries yet I'm going to give them 2 more seasons and then reassess.

This has been the best thing between the last thunderstorm and then next one. Our irises have had time to bloom - unlike last year when they lasted all of 24 hours. And the plant has at least doubled in size. Yay!In other garden news, apparently I'm toying with the idea of creeping jenny as the best cover crop ever. I will never be rid of it.

During the rain though I've been working on these two projects. Remember the slippers I talked about before? Well, I think I've finished the base of one of them. It only took like 2 months and 8 tries. Now I've got another one to try and make exactly like this one. Good thing she won't need slippers until the fall!And then I finally got the guts to start a sweater for Laithe. I'm making the 6-9 month size so hopefully I'll be done with it by then. I'm loving crocheting with this Bamboo and Ewe. The wool makes it substantially easier to work with than straight bamboo. I'll keep you posted.