If there’s one thing you can usually count on, it’s rain over Memorial Day weekend.

But if you’re a glass-half-full person, you also enjoy the fact that it makes the world look green and summery almost immediately after the showers end. Although it’s still raining today, I believe you can actually smell the summer outside, and I’m excited.

The excitement stems in part from the fact that it’s now gardening season (see what I did there?). I am not a Suzy Homemaker/Pinterest Mom in any way, but I do love being able to plant herbs and flowers with my family every spring. We have a fine backyard, but I prefer to plant in containers — and I’d recommend this for fellow non-Suzy Homemakers, because it keeps the whole thing so much more manageable. Just go out to your favorite local garden store (or Home Depot, if you must), and buy a big pot, a bag of planting soil and plants of your choice — I like immediate gratification, so I tend to not plant seeds — and don’t forget to water. Easy.

Since we enjoyed an early bout of warmth in Minnesota this year, we planted early, so things are already looking pretty green at the Stern household. You can see our mint (hooray for all the future mojitos I’ll drink this summer!), parsley and cauliflower (yay for fresh summer salads!) are already starting to take off:

Mint, parsley and cauliflower with a photo bomb from our puppy (and a mouse with blue wings — part of the Enchanted Guardians, discussed later in this post)

And here (with a photobomb from our cat on the porch) you can see the tomatoes, Brussels sprouts and raspberry bush as well:

I usually save flowers for the front yard, and this year, inspired by the Enchanted Guardians fairy garden campaign we’re doing with our client Department 56, I decided to add a little whimsy:

Would you like a fairy door of your own? Department 56 has a fantastic selection.

Granted, I am nowhere nearly as accomplished a fairy gardener as the nine gardeners we contracted to participate in Department 56’s Fairest Fairy Garden Showcase, but I (and my kids) love the idea that fairies might reside here and help keep a mystical eye on our pots — and maybe throw in a little pixie dust if we forget to water them.