All About that Borage

Yesterday, we planted borage in our kitchen garden, the strawberry patch, the vineyard and the fedge.

The chickens had been moving over the kitchen garden all winter, scratching, eating and fertilizing the ground. My spade slid into the soil with no resistance.

We decided to plant borage everywhere this year.  It proved to be a successful trap crop in the never ending war against the dreaded Japanese beetle.

The beautiful, purple herb lured the garden curse away from our other plants. The pests could not resist it’s dusky purple flowers.

I had two eager planting partners. Jake and Joe were quite the team.

They used new garden tools they got as an early Easter gift. Joe loosened up the soil with his little rake, Jake sprinkled powdered egg shells over the roughed up patch and they both dropped seeds and covered them with a layer of dirt.

While Boots basked in the warm glow of the sun, we were all hard at work digging and raking and planting.

The planting did not keep their attention for long. Joe found a caterpillar and, not to be outdone by his brother, Jake found a worm.

While I finished planting seeds, the boys huddled around their prizes, trying to figure out what to feed them. 

Or, rather, who to feed them to.

A lovely day for planting
For sowing many seeds
The sun shown down so brightly
A gorgeous day indeed