We’re slowly working on reclaiming the garden spaces around our home that have been awash in weeds since the big Boulder flood came through our yard and home in 2013. Last year we pulled all of the weeds in one bed and planted a bunch of strawberries. While they haven’t spread as much as I thought they would, we’re thrilled that they came back again this year (I love perennials) and seem to be doing well. We also have a thriving bed of mint. Not exactly enough food to nourish us, but enough to make a nice treat and some lovely tea.

Last year I also started working on weeding some other beds (to be read: digging out plants with roots up to 1 foot long; I’m not sure exactly what got washed into our garden beds during the flood, but let me tell you that they are VERY hardy), but I didn’t get far enough to get rid of all of the weeds, and this spring the entire beds were weed-filled again.

This year, I’m slowly working on clearing those beds again, and today I managed to finish clearing the weeds out of one more of them. While this may not seem like a lot to you, it feels like a big accomplishment to me. Gardening with a toddler in tow is not an easy task (kudos to you who grow mountains of food with lots of littles underfoot), but now that he’s a year older, I’m finding I don’t need to watch him quite so carefully and I’m able to accomplish a bit more of my own agenda when we’re outside.

In celebration of completing the weeding of the garden bed, we decided to transplant some of the iris from a much-overgrown flower patch in the middle of our yard. So my 6-year-old and I set to work, first digging up the iris, and then replanting them in the newly cleared bed next to the house. This accomplished two things. First, it should make it so next spring we should have a bunch of lovely flowers right next to our house, and they should keep coming back year after year after year with fairly minimal maintenance (have I mentioned that I love perennials?). Second, my husband wanted the oval-shaped flower bed removed from the middle of our yard because it’s tough to care for and to mow around. So by relocating the plants, we’ve simplified his mowing.

As we work, my boys learn about nourishing ourselves and nourishing the soil. We talk about the abundance of living things that live just beneath the surface of the earth and make life viable for all of us. Could plants grow without the abundant bugs and [mostly] micro-organisms that make our soil living, rich, and fertile? They’re also learning about caring for plants, the life cycle of plants, and planting for the future. And, importantly, it’s a time when we can spend time together as we dig in the dirt, and what kid doesn’t like that, at least for a little while?

We still have a couple more garden areas to clear, and then we have the fun task of deciding what to put in them. I’d love to plant some other things that will return every year, perhaps some rosemary, sage, and chives. I find it to be a glorious harbinger of spring to find our garden re-emerging from the soil after a long winter. The first cup of fresh mint tea always tastes the sweetest, and my 6-year-old checks our strawberry patch every morning hoping to find the first bright red berry. He’s determined to find it before any local wildlife eats it.

Over time, I hope to plant more edibles and be able to grow more of the food we eat. For now, I’m content to continue to clear the weeds from our garden beds and start anew with plants that will continue to bring us joy year after year.

What are your favorite perennials to plant? I’d love suggestions for other edibles that feed us for years to come.