The garden is in!

In honor of Earth Day today, Helena and Juno helped me start our garden!

I decided to follow the square foot gardening philosophy for this, my maiden garden. I like square foot gardening because it's supposed to cut down on the weeds (because you grow so much so close together AND because you usually use a raised bed) plus it produces a lot of vegetables in a very small space. More bang for your buck and also less work!

I got my raised bed in a kit from Home Depot for $30. Then I dug out the grass where I wanted it so it was just a square of bare dirt. I layered and overlapped wet newspapers across the bare dirt as a weed barrier, then added two bags of organic garden soil and one bag of organic compost. I divided my 4x4 garden into a grid of 16 squares and used yarn and a staple gun to make a grid across the top of the garden.

Then it was finally time to plant!!

I did a lot of research and asked a lot of questions and decided to start some things from seed and buy some as transplants. I bought/will buy blueberries, strawberries, and cherry tomatoes; everything else I am starting from seed.

It's too early for everything here, so I just put in the carrots, broccoli, spinach, peas, and lettuce, and I'll plant everything else around Mother' Day. I'm especially excited about the blueberries and strawberries--they're perennial, so they, along with my raspberry patch on the side of the house and the peach tree that I am hoping to get for Mother's Day, will produce fruit for my family for many years! I will be excited for everything else, too, but I'm not expecting too much this year. If my kids can each pull out a carrot and eat a couple sugar snap peas straight out of the garden, I will be happy with that :)
PS Do you think cherry tomatoes will grow up that trellis or do I really need to buy a tomato cage for them?

Easter + a budding gardener

A few weeks late, but here is a picture of our family on Easter Sunday. Juno absolutely insisted on wearing those cowboy boots. They belonged to Jason when he was a toddler and all three of our girls have adored them. We had a lovely Easter with my mom who was visiting from TN and my siblings. 

Helena started getting really interested in gardening this spring so Grandma Jan got her a cute little gardening set complete with trowel, spade, watering can, and a few packets of seeds. She spends a little time in the yard every day "gardening".

Green thumb

I've been thinking about gardening a lot lately. There is something so appealing to the thought of going out into my backyard with a basket and filling it up with fresh vegetables for my family! Helena's been begging for a garden this year--she actually got some gardening stuff for her birthday and has spent many afternoons planting seeds. I hope she'll be my little gardening buddy this year.

I didn't want to bother with a garden unless I could do raised beds and they can get really expensive, so I thought we wouldn't be able to do it this year. But then I found this deal and couldn't pass it up! It's outside now, waiting for me to fill it up with soil and seeds. 

Now, I have never had any success gardening but I really want to learn. So please point me in the direction of good beginner square foot gardening websites or give me any tips!!