Gardening Projects

Last year's project was clearing enough rocks that I could start a garden (see some of the beginnings here). I had a nice garden last year and we harvested lots of yummy, fresh produce. I was pleased with how much was able to grow. I had wanted to use "Mel's Mix" from the Square Foot Gardening method last year, but I ran out of time and money to make it, so I just used regular garden soil. This year, Jon built me a second box and I gathered all the materials to make the special soil (lots of different types of compost, vermiculite, and peat moss). I spent a day mixing everything together and filling the boxes with the boys' help. I started most of my seeds indoors and half of our dining table was covered in baby plants. When it was finally warm enough to bring everything out, I was so excited! Most everything transplanted well (I had to restart the broccoli) and now I have a full dining table again! 

The project for this summer is going to be putting a short fence up around the garden to have a physical boundary for the kids and our puppy (who will join us soon!) to know where they are allowed to play in the yard. I've been working on getting the remainder of the rocks out of the dedicated spot and weeding again. Then I'll put down cardboard and newspapers and a weedblock and spread mulch all over. Jon and I also want to make a little spot with a bird bath and some flowers in there somewhere. I hope it will all be beautiful! 

The boys are a little sad to lose their huge digging area, but they have already dug two new holes so I think they're going to forgive me. The raspberry patch is in, but it still needs some supports. We planted a hydrangea in the corner above the spot where Ginger is buried. Jon fixed the gap in the fence. I've cleared a lot of the weeds, but there is still a lot to go. We've had some good weather, so that helps. There was a wasp nest on our strawberry box and I got rid of that. I certainly don't want the kids getting stung if I can help it. Little by little, our yard keeps improving. 

You can sort of see the boards lying across the lawn. That's where the fence will be.

After a little more weeding. The area around the blueberry boxes (on the left) is all cleared of weeds. I planted sunflowers along the fence again too. They were so pretty last year!

I love having a garden, and I love having my kids get excited about gardening too. They keep offering to plant dandelions all over for me. They are such darlings. I'm excited to see how different using "Mel's Mix" will be compared to using garden soil last year. I love learning about how to grow things better. I like the idea of being more self-reliant. I want to try to grow lettuce for 9 months out of the year. I need to learn more about preserving some of what we grow, but honestly, we use it up pretty quickly. I don't think any picked strawberries last longer than 20 minutes unless I hide them so Jon can have some after work. Mostly, I love eating things that I grew from tiny seeds. It gives me a huge feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment. 

I realize this post might have been sort of boring. Sorry about that. I was mostly putting it up for my mom since she doesn't get to see it and since she and Grandpa inspired me to grow my own food. Thanks for sharing your wisdom and offering support!!