sissy-boy homeland was a beeeUtiful store in which I could afford nothing. but I enjoyed browsing this store sans boys!! Our time in Maastricht was also very rainy and cold so we bustled through the city, went into a couple of shops and grabbed lunch before heading back to Brussels to warm up! We didn’t take many pictures there because of the rain. On our way home we stopped at the Floralia Brussels tulip gardens. If you live in the area I would definitely recommend it!  But i also have to give a shout out for Dallas Blooms in the Dallas Arboretum! We have such fond memories there and I must say they could definitely compete with any of these Euro displays! We hit it on the first weekend so many things had yet to bloom but it was still so pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

home again, home again clippity clop!

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I have been planning all summer to do a weekly update on our little garden but for some reason can’t get it together. Maybe it’s because the gardening process has been rewarding but far more humbling that I thought. I see my perfectionism coming out with my plants kind of like I do with my kids with other areas in my life. 

I work and work and I want it to look good and bear great fruit! We have 4 giant tomato plants…maybe bush is a better term. They went from tiny things to monstrous plants. I counted a couple of weeks ago that we have 40 tomatoes growing, not counting the flowers that appear to be getting new babies going. We tried a topsy turvy planter for some cherry tomatoes and that too has gone a bit crazy. It has been fun for the boys to watch them grow and change color. Jackson is the family cherry tomato picking…or the only legit one. Owen attempts to help but normally picks the green ones, takes a chew and I find them in the atrium after he tosses them.  Other than the tomato plantation we have a zucchini plant that has been attached by ants, a pot of sunflowers, and lots of pots of herbs and flowers.

I have found gardening to be a fun way for the boys and I to have time outside and to enjoy picking together. But my, oh my it has been more work than I realized. Every time I think we have the plants all set they go and grow again and need to be retied, etc.   I am looking forward to having plants in the ground someday (maybe next year?!) but for now it is all a potted garden.  I bought pots for my tiny plants anticipating growth but in no way anticipating this much growth. So I am gone back and forth trying to decide off and on whether or not to move them. I decided a few weeks ago to just let them go. If they die from small pots, so be it. Hopefully they won’t do that until we enjoy some tomatoes. But the cost of new pots was pushing the project from frugal to gourmet.

The beginning…

see, out of control.

So they all got a good pruning and we bought poles to tie them to…

I was hoping to be eating lots of tomatoes when my parents are here. A few are working on becoming red but I have a feeling we will be eating fried green tomatoes!

And here are our first fruits!

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For my entire life I have seen dandelions as weeds….until coming to Bern. In Switzerland they eat dandelion leaves in salads. In our garden there are lots of leaves and no flowers because our boys pick them..and we don’t use the leaves for salads. A few nights ago I was on a walk in the evening and saw loads of lanky dandelions, naked of all of their leaves.  Guessing one of our neighbors had a nice salad with their dinner. I have heard people here talk about eating them with egg and bacon but when I googled it it seems like there are lots of salads out there using dandelion leaves. Who knew? I didn’t.  So, if you are running low on greens and have an abundance of weeds, I mean dandelion leaves, get picking!

After writing this and getting distracted I opened a bag of salad mix for dinner and I am pretty sure we had some dandelion leaves in there. I can’t say I noticed anything extreme but I still don’t think I will join our neighbors in picking our weeds.

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it’s here. Spring is in full swing in Bern. People keep saying it could snow until Easter but the plants and flowers (and me) are choosing to ignore that. We have tons of daffodils and tulips blooming around our home. The tree in our atrium has turned from giant pussy-willow looking buds to beautiful white flowers. Talk about a fresh of breath air after the long winter. The winter wasn’t particularly harsh just long and grey.

We have been in the atrium and yard eating lunches and playing as much as possible. On the weekend we have been getting lots of outside time with hikes to the woods and river and riding bikes on our sidewalk. Owen is exploring his new world with the assistance of his brother. I have been working on potting herbs and flowers over the last couple of weeks. Here is a funny progression of pictures to see what I caught Owen doing….

“What do you mean I can’t undig the flowers???? I am HELPING!”

And some pretty Spring shots. The tulips are just opening up today so I will post some pictures of those soon.

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