Spring Social Distancing -- Hanging in The Garden

This past weekend, we pretty much lived in the backyard. The weather was beautiful and with everything cancelled (+ the social responsibility to say no to play dates), we had an unprecedented amount of time to just be outside. Yes it was hard for the kids to see and hear their friends over the fences, but we're all in the same boat - if it's serious enough to cancel school, it's serious enough for us all to do our part and stay home, stay separate.

Spring is starting to emerge in earnest.. We had our first daffodil. The fancy crocus are up. The quince and hellaboris are about to bloom.

Matt helped me build the new 6 ft arch and the new obelisk for the raised bed garden. They look great (though a bit hard to see in pictures... when they are covered in vines hopefully they will photograph better). Oliver helped me plant spring peas, snap peas and lettuce. Normally it's too early to plant these, but our weather this year is unusually warm so I'm taking the risk.

I potted pink and purple pansies. Half for the deck and half for the front porch steps. They are providing a much needed pop of color and I love the color combo of the mauve pink and the pale purple. (Also - I'm in love with these $3 self-watering flower pots in aqua from Target)

We all took turns relaxing in the hammock chair. This was a Christmas present from Mike and we all LOVE it. We actually had it inside in the corner of the living room in January/February because the boys were constantly sitting in it. Now that it's warm enough to enjoy it on the deck, we all fight our turn. The deck is too hot in the summer to enjoy the chair, so we'll move it into a shady spot in the yard. I have mosquito netting on my IKEA shopping list as well so we can enjoy it without a million bites.

Our Fall drainage project is still on hold, but we should be able to pick that up in a couple more weeks. At night the temperatures are still dipping below freezing, so the ground is partially frozen in certain parts. But we are more eager than ever to finally wrap that up and hopefully have fewer water issues in the way back of our yard!