Gardening is hell on your fingernails

I've been splitting my time off between working in the studio in the morning and working outside in the afternoon.  I work in the studio in the morning when it is cool.  By the afternoon it gets direct sun and heats up.  That's when I move outside.  I've been working on the beds in the front of the house.  A little mulch and a couple more plants and it will be done.  Then on to the back yard.  I don't think I will get back there until after Cain Park...which is mid-July. 

Here are some pictures from the front.....

The iris came from my Mom's garden.

All these flowers are perennials.  We've decided to reduce the number of annuals to a mimimum.  I plant a few geraniums in the front and something in the flower planter on the front porch and that is it.  We dont want to spend alot of time planting flowers that aren't going to come back.

And my nails......dirty and ragged.  What is it about digging in the dirt that just tears them up???