There has been great progress on our new decks over the past three weeks. They are starting to lay the boards on the one off the kitchen French doors. They plan to complete this deck before they tear down the deck by the front door, ensuring we have access in and out of the house without going through the master bedroom.

We plan to eventually put a hot tub in the back portion under the redwoods. With that thought in mind, they are installing both power and water.

A walkway will connect the deck off the kitchen to the front deck. When completed, the decks will go around three sides of the house. It will dramatically increase our outdoor living space.

The deck facing the big meadow has been framed.

Meanwhile, the vegetable garden is starting to show some growth. Remember the mixed seeds I planted last month? I posted a picture on Instagram. The mix is inspired by one that Cecilia from the blog The Kitchen’s Garden wrote about. If you are not familiar with her blog, I highly recommend her as it is entertaining and very informative about sustainable living. She hails from New Zealand and has what she calls a farmy in the midwestern part of the U.S.

Cecilia’s Mixed Salad

It’s a mix of different greens for salad.

They are starting to come up. I was surprised to see the peas as one of the first types. I also see some lettuce and what might be beets or chard (a seed packet was added after the picture above). I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the seedlings are also arugula, but I can’t identify it yet. These were seeded about 2 weeks ago.

Cecilia’s mix

The mix planted last weekend (5 days ago) is also showing some tiny growth.

Cecilia’s Mix

Some of the dahlias are pushing through the dirt. Time to bait for slugs, they love dahlias.

Due to the colder winter and spring, everything is a bit late this year. We’ve also had quite a lot of (very welcome) rain.