The garden is filled to bursting after all the rain. I love the discoveries each new day brings. The weeds are growing like CRAZY. I am very pleased with the white clover I overseeded the lawn with. It is growing effortlessly (no effort on my part) due to all the rain. The clover is fixing nitrogen for me. I just learned what nitrogen fixing is, but I don't think I can explain it. (I'll try) Basically, most plants use nitrogen from the soil for their growth. Legumes form nitrogen as they grow, adding it to the soil. The other way to get nitrogen into the soil is to use fertilizer. Before fertilizers, farmers had to alternate crops to let cover crops or legumes recharge the soil with nitrogen. So my clover is going to cover the ground with pillowy leaves and improve the soil, YAY!
Kate finished her second round of dog training class tonight. She and Pepper scored higher than Papa and Ruby. Last obedience class, Kate worked with Gabe, Papa's 10 year old yellow lab. Gabe and Ruby escaped from their pen this winter and RAN (and ran, all the way to Kellogg), Ruby was returned, but Gabe was not. Kate, who mourns deeply the loss of every animal she ever met, still misses him. We also met with the orthodontist today to discuss the plan for Kate's teeth. Very complicated, but big advances have been made since I was the patient.
