Our Garden {2013}

Early 2013 Garden

Last year was my first attempt at gardening and I would say that it was pretty successful despite the drought and animal invasions.  This year I have added spinach and roma tomatoes to the line up.  Last year we did not get to eat one strawberry because the rabbits beat us to them, but the plant spread and has yield enough to share.  We have picked about two pounds so far and they are so yummy!

Strawberry Plant

This is a picture of our second round of picking.  And no editing! These are that vibrant in real life!

Near the garden we have a few pine trees and Matt was startled one day when he discovered a nesting duck while mowing the lawn.  There are six eggs.  Madeline named the mama duck Ella.

Ella covers the nest when she leaves. 

Garden Update

We are in the middle of a drought and although my grass looks like this:

I am thankful that the garden is thriving.

Squash

Cherry tomatoes and they taste way better than the ones from the store.

These are my two tomato plants. They are HUGE.

My first carrots!  As I was pulling them out of the ground I was reminded of one of my favorite children's book, The Carrot Seed.  

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Two weeks ago one of my beds looked like this:

This is what it looked like today:

I cannot believe how fast my little veggies are growing!  Even the broccoli is holding on to dear life after it was ravaged by caterpillars.  

Garden Woes and Wows

Last Friday when I checked on my garden I noticed that a critter ate half of my plants! So far we have lost a whole tomato plant, sweet pepper, most of a broccoli, half of my carrots, and some ripe strawberries.  We have seen the culprit, a cute, furry rabbit.  I bought some Havahart animal repellent that cost $16 and was dismayed to wake up the next morning and see that the buffet was open again!  After a little research I decided that we need an enclosure and headed off to Lowes for some wire and bird netting.  This only cost $15 dollars and so far has worked at keeping our friend away. I have seen him the last two mornings, but he has hopped away empty handed.

Since we are on the subject of gardening here is my attempt at a container garden.  I have two of these on my porch.  I love the yellow ones!

Fields of corn is a familiar sight around here.  I love open, flat fields of growing corn.  This is what home looks like to me.  My mom would always say, "knee high by the fourth of July" when we would drive by and I hear myself telling my kids the same thing.  

Happenings

This week Matt and I added new mulch to the yard. Last year we removed the faded, moldy, red mulch and replaced with black mulch.  This time we purchased the mulch by the cubic yard rather than bags from the local big box store and saved oodles of money and less work ripping the bags open! We removed two bushes and will replace them with... something. The next big outdoor project is painting all of the trim and the garage door. I want to stay as close to the original color so I will be browsing paint colors soon.  

My peas have sprouted! I am so excited! The weather has been so cool the past couple of weeks that it is taking longer for my seeds to sprout.

I may have mentioned earlier that I am taking two courses to renew my teaching license.  I am on the final assignment for the first course and I have given myself a deadline of April 30th.  I better get a move on.  After I complete this paper I have an entire course that I have to get finished in 6 weeks!!! So I have had to cut back on projects, but I have a couple in queue that I am so pumped up about!

Updates

Matt made my bench for the garage yesterday!  We still have to fill the holes and stain, but I am loving it already.

The grids are on the garden beds, but it is still not time to plant.  It was 38 degrees this morning when I dropped Wyatt off at school.  I have to pull the grass that is growing and add another bag of soil.

Why am I showing you this picture?  Well, every time I have family over this is what my buckets look like when they leave.  I am not sure if it Amanda or Michael, but next time I am going to keep my eye on them!

Starter Plants

I planted my starter plants. Broccoli, bell peppers, and tomatoes need to be started indoors.  I forgot to buy a tray for the little pots and I needed something and decided to use Matt's grandmas' cut glass bowls. I think that these are antiques. They give the pots a little class don't you think?  I am loving this website that tells you what to do each week for your zip code and sends reminders via email.

Get your Garden On

Last year I really wanted to grow something and contemplated the Topsy Turvy things, but did not care for the reviews and decided that this year I was going to try square foot gardening.  Of course I have a garden board on Pinterest to get me started. I am awaiting this book at the library, this is when I wish I had a reader.

Source: amazon.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I also found this great blog that is a HUGE resource for SFG.

Source: mysquarefootgarden.net via Stephanie on Pinterest

We are going to start out with one raised bed and see how it goes. Next year we will add on if we are successful.  I do not have a green thumb so this will be an adventure. 

Hubby was able to score some of last years' soil for only .50 cents a bag. This is the time to check out your local stores as they are clearing out the old to make room for the new.

Right now what I should be doing is figuring out exactly what I want to plant and get the starters going. This website gives you a schedule depending on your zip code. How neat is that?!  Are you an avid gardener?  What tips can you share to a newbie?