Father's Day Yardwork

 Some might think Father's Day weekend is a time for the dad in a family to sit back, relax, and let everyone else do the work, but that didn't happen in our family this year!

A couple of months ago, Jason started digging up our lawn's perimeter in preparation for a large, wrap-around flower and shrub garden we'd envisioned to liven up our backyard. 

The more I thought about it, though, the more I wondered if we should put in all the time, money and work to create a huge garden from scratch--especially after having to leave our last one behind.

I had another idea: a pumpkin patch. 

Pumpkin plants cost almost nothing to grow, but they are so fun to watch as they flower and produce pumpkins. The pumpkins themselves become nice porch decorations in the fall, and then we can carve them for Halloween. We already had the seeds from last year's crop, too!

Three weeks ago, Eric and I started the seeds in little pots and put them out on the sunniest spot of our deck. They grew quickly and needed to get into the ground ASAP. Saturday was the first opportunity.

First we had to clear out all the grass, sifting it through a big wire mesh frame that Jason had made.

 Then Jason brought in some garden blend soil, which we spread.

Alaina, Eric and Ben helped us put the plants into the ground--we had 20 altogether!

But Jason didn't stop there. He went and got some dark compost mulch for our front gardens and then pruned our huge magnolia tree. At the end of the day I asked if he was trying to do as many "dad" things as possible to boost his image for Father's Day :) 

Anyway, I think we all agree that our yard looks much better now ... and if you look at Jason's face in the pictures, you can see he had a good time, too!