Seeds and Weeds

I had a moment this afternoon when I looked down at my own hands and saw my mom's instead.  I was planting seeds for my vegetable garden.  The sound of the seed packets tearing open, seeds pouring out into my palm, the smell of fresh potting soil brought me back to my childhood.  I spent hours watching my mom prep her garden with her efficient system of pencil pokes, tweezers, and concise documentation of what and when and where. The florescent lights of her plant growing stand glowing purple from the basement.  Their buzz a constant reminder that, although fleeting, there would indeed be an Alaskan summer - regardless of the feet of dirty snow still melting slowly towards break-up.

This is my first year of starting my own vegetables.  In past years I've paid a premium for grocery store stand starts and slapped them in to my raised beds with mostly crappy soil and a long summer of sporadic and generally neglectful care.  I hope this year starts to right those wrongs.

Here's my fresh start:

Fortunately my perennials have benefited from more of my attention since we started landscaping this blank slate 6 years ago.  You can see my tendency to error on the side of form over function. 

I wrestled a wheel barrel full of the dreaded buttercup out of my strawberry bed while the girls napped off their fevers this afternoon:

The honeysuckle has FINALLY taken and looks like it will go crazy along the top of the fence:

Here are a few more shots from the street:

Climbing Hydrangea

Euphorbia

Euphorbia and Rosa Rugosa

Euphorbia

Allium

Last summer I put some attention towards the shady spots of my garden:

Drew got a start on building a screen to cover up the propane tank.  I like watching him think through a project and use his tools and stuff: