Monday, May 17, 2010

Mother's Day

My sweet husband got me the best gift for Mother's Day this year. It was exactly what I wanted!

Our very first vegetable garden!

Every spring since we've owned a home, I've wanted a garden....but it has just never worked out. In '04 we were just moving in, '05 I was pregnant and throwing up all spring, '06 we were finishing construction on our new home and moving in, '07 I was pregnant and throwing up all spring, '08 - I honestly can't remember, but there was something, '09 I was pregnant and throwing up all spring, and here we are in '10 - finally we could do it!

Although my parents and grandparents had vegetable gardens when I was a kid, I was only marginally involved in the planting, weeding, and harvesting and really have no clue about how to be a successful gardener. I've been reading some and talking to neighbors and basically just dove in.

All of our back yard is shady most of the day and there is no suitable place for a garden....so we picked a spot on the side yard. It is shady part of the day, but we figured with the heat and humidity around here, it wouldn't hurt much. I guess we'll see.

Grant built two raised beds and labored extensively getting compost/manure mix and topsoil and mixing them together. We went to a local garden center and picked out our seedlings, hoping for the best.

The beds are 8'x 3'.

He put nice pavers in the middle so I can have easy access for everything.
The bed on the left has cherry tomatoes and zucchini; the bed on the right has Better Boy tomatoes, more cherry tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoes, basil, and 3 Bell Peppers. We also planted 3 Marigolds in each bed to hopefully ward off some of the harmful insects.

Grant also got the family a fire pit! We picked a shady corner in the backyard to set it up and it feels almost like we're in the woods!


The girls were completely thrilled with their s'mores.


Corban was proud to show off his "roasting" skills, learned just a few weeks ago on his Ranger Kids camping trip.

Ellia was content to just cuddle on my lap. It was a chilly evening, perfect for a fire.
Corban declared it was his favorite night EVER. The fire pit is definitely a hit!
It WAS a lovely day. I am an incredibly blessed mother.

2 comments:

  1. love the garden! And, it looks like you had a great Mother's Day :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are making some very special memories for your family. My kids still talk about those time when they were little. All kids love to roast marshmallows

    ReplyDelete

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